Strange days at the state Department of Health and Human Resources. One of the oddest Statehouse stories of the year was the double-secret suspensions/work reassignments of DHHR attorneys Susan Perry and Jennifer Taylor and chief spokesman John Law.
The facts aren't really in dispute, that the three intervened to delay the awarding of a lucrative DHHR advertising contract.
As Perry and Taylor contend in their lawsuit against acting DHHR secretary Rocco Fucillo, the three were acting as whistleblowers, trying to avoid the latest in a pattern of screw-ups regarding bidding processes and awarding of contracts by DHHR. (To the extent that previous contracts had prompted an investigation by the state legislative auditor's office.)
Fucillo has alleged the three were attempting to rig the process in favor of one of the bidders, although DHHR investigators have yet to substantiate that claim.
On top of everything else, it came to light that Fucillo works primarily out of a DHHR satellite office in Fairmont and, until Gov. Tomblin put the kibosh on it, had been billing the state for commuting expenses, including meals and lodging for overnight stays in Charleston.
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It's not sexy, and at the end of the day there are no ribbon-cuttings or giant cardboard checks to be awarded, but the major legislative accomplishment of 2012 was passage of a plan to pay down some $4 billion of costs for future health-care benefits for retired state and public school employees, otherwise known as the OPEB liability.
As the first state to resolve its OPEB funding issue, the state will see short-term benefits in high bond ratings. In the long-term, it means future Legislatures won't have to raise taxes or cut spending to come up with some $600 million a year to pay for retiree health care on a pay-as-you-go basis.
It also means that state and public school employees hired before July 1, 2010, can be reasonably certain they will have PEIA health insurance available to them when they retire.
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Finally, the Tomblin administration wasn't kidding when it exercised a 30-day out clause to get out of a $24,500 lease for the party tent at the governor's mansion, a lease that originally extended to March 15, 2013.
With the last of the holiday parties on Dec. 15, workers from A-to-Z Rentals dismantled the 40- by 50-foot tent in the mansion courtyard on Wednesday.
Merry Christmas, and best wishes that, if nothing else, 2013 will be a year without elections for a change ...
Reach Phil Kabler at ph...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1220.
Looking back on the year at the Statehouse, top stories and events of 2012 (in no particular order of significance):
• Election rematches that weren't much in the way of matches. The 2012 general election featured rematches of special elections of the prior two years for U.S. Senate (Sen. Joe Manchin versus John Raese) and governor (Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin versus Bill Maloney).
Manchin trounced Raese, an outcome that the Morgantown millionaire seemed to acknowledge by scaling back campaign advertising in the fall (save for an infamous nine-minute "infomercial" that aired on his MetroNews statewide radio network).
Likewise, Tomblin doubled his margin of victory over Maloney, as the political action arm of the Republican Governors Association opted to spend less than $1 million on Tomblin attack ads (compared to $3.4 million in the 2011 special election.)
Maloney only ponied up $1.81 million of his own money this time (about 62 percent of his total campaign financing), compared to $2.45 million (about 75 percent) in the special election.
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• The biggest Election Day upset: Little-known Supreme Court clerk Allen Loughry, relying primarily on a limited amount of public financing, overcame better-known and better-financed candidates to win a 12-year term on the state's high court.
Loughry proved that a candidate can win not only with public financing, but by running an entirely positive, upbeat campaign.
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No joy on California Avenue, as Darrell McGraw lost his bid for a sixth term as attorney general and Jorea Marple was subsequently fired as state superintendent of schools.
Most observers thought McGraw would eke out yet another victory, especially since Republican challenger Patrick Morrisey did not seem to be a particularly formidable candidate -- and carried the baggage of being a relatively new transplant to West Virginia.
However, that was before outside interest groups spent some $6 million in attack ads on McGraw and McGraw ran a particularly poor campaign, relying on mailers and public appearances -- and at his nadir, was videotaped asking a Morrisey "tracker" if he was a stalker and then grabbing the video camera.
As for making sense of the implausible, the best explanation for Marple's ouster was that it was intended to eliminate a potential high-ranking ally of the teachers' unions in the 2013 session, as the Legislature addresses recommendations in the education audit on such matters as merit pay raises and promotions for teachers.
***
Strange days at the state Department of Health and Human Resources. One of the oddest Statehouse stories of the year was the double-secret suspensions/work reassignments of DHHR attorneys Susan Perry and Jennifer Taylor and chief spokesman John Law.
The facts aren't really in dispute, that the three intervened to delay the awarding of a lucrative DHHR advertising contract.
As Perry and Taylor contend in their lawsuit against acting DHHR secretary Rocco Fucillo, the three were acting as whistleblowers, trying to avoid the latest in a pattern of screw-ups regarding bidding processes and awarding of contracts by DHHR. (To the extent that previous contracts had prompted an investigation by the state legislative auditor's office.)
Fucillo has alleged the three were attempting to rig the process in favor of one of the bidders, although DHHR investigators have yet to substantiate that claim.
On top of everything else, it came to light that Fucillo works primarily out of a DHHR satellite office in Fairmont and, until Gov. Tomblin put the kibosh on it, had been billing the state for commuting expenses, including meals and lodging for overnight stays in Charleston.
***
It's not sexy, and at the end of the day there are no ribbon-cuttings or giant cardboard checks to be awarded, but the major legislative accomplishment of 2012 was passage of a plan to pay down some $4 billion of costs for future health-care benefits for retired state and public school employees, otherwise known as the OPEB liability.
As the first state to resolve its OPEB funding issue, the state will see short-term benefits in high bond ratings. In the long-term, it means future Legislatures won't have to raise taxes or cut spending to come up with some $600 million a year to pay for retiree health care on a pay-as-you-go basis.
It also means that state and public school employees hired before July 1, 2010, can be reasonably certain they will have PEIA health insurance available to them when they retire.
***
Finally, the Tomblin administration wasn't kidding when it exercised a 30-day out clause to get out of a $24,500 lease for the party tent at the governor's mansion, a lease that originally extended to March 15, 2013.
With the last of the holiday parties on Dec. 15, workers from A-to-Z Rentals dismantled the 40- by 50-foot tent in the mansion courtyard on Wednesday.
Merry Christmas, and best wishes that, if nothing else, 2013 will be a year without elections for a change ...
Reach Phil Kabler at ph...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1220.
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