PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) -An investigation into racist remarks by state ports director Geno Marconi also uncovered allegations that he and other employees were using public vehicles for personal use, including forklifts to set private boat moorings.

Dick Green, who last month became director of the Pease Development Authority, which oversees the Division of Ports and Harbors, said he will review the report.

“I don’t know yet if there needs to be change,” he said. “Those things were cited in a 2000 audit, which I will check and at that point make decisions.”

According to the report, Portsmouth Harbor Master William Roach III told an attorney representing the governor that on Dec. 27, 2001, Marconi used a state truck to pick up sheetrock for personal use at Home Depot.

Marconi said he was at Home Depot on state business when he also loaded two pieces of sheetrock into the state truck for his own use.

then dropped them off at his home on his way back to the Port. Marconi said he was confronted about his actions and has not done anything similar since then.

Roach also told the governor’s office that Marconi used a state forklift to set private moorings. Marconi is quoted by the Attorney General’s report as saying a forklift was used to drop moorings and “it is not uncommon to assist private individuals/fisherman in dropping moorings off the side of the pier.”

“There is not a formal written policy regarding the use of state equipment, like a forklift at the port, to assist a private party in dropping a mooring off the pier at the Port,” attorney Lynn Hinchee said.

Roach told the governor’s office that Marconi permitted employees to store personal boats and other vehicles on state property, which Marconi affirmed. He also told investigators that personal boats are “sometimes” used for port business.

Hinchee told investigators, “there is no PDA policy which prohibits port employees from keeping their personal boats on port property.”

Roach also alleged that Marconi and others accepted improper gifts from commercial fishermen.

Marconi won reappointment as ports director earlier this week despite acknowledging using a racist term that refers to someone of Middle Eastern descent. He apologized for that remark but denied allegations that he hurled other slurs in the workplace.

The attorney general’s investigation concluded that the two people who complained about Marconi’s remarks were “fundamentally concerned about their personal economic interests and not about Mr. Marconi’s offensive language.”

Marconi has agreed to take diversity training and apologized to the Executive Council, which confirmed him unanimously for another five-year term.

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Information from: Portsmouth Herald, http://www.seacoastonline.com

AP-ES-09-16-06 1057EDT