Hiring of cabinet official's husband questioned
Seeking to beef up its Inspector General's office last year, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services created a new position of staff assistant for the watchdog office that inspects facilities ranging from nursing homes to day care centers, but also investigates fraud or misconduct within the cabinet.
Within just three months, cabinet officials found the right person for the job — Bob James, the husband of Teresa James, commissioner of the cabinet's social service agency, the Department for Community Based Services.
Hired June 1 of last year, the new job meant a pay raise and a promotion for Bob James, who had been working as a grade 14 policy analyst in the cabinet's Public Health Department at $37,000 a year, state personnel records show.
In his new, grade 17 job handling administrative matters, he earns $50,237 a year, personnel record show, an annual increase of $13,229. Teresa James' salary as commissioner is $107,000 a year.
The cabinet, in a statement from spokeswoman Jill Midkiff, said that officials see no conflict in having Bob James work at the same cabinet that employs his wife, pointing out it is not unusual or forbidden for relatives, including married couples, to work in state government or even the same agency.
Neither Teresa nor Bob James responded to a request for comment through the spokeswoman.
Midkiff said state personnel rules prevent spouses from directly supervising each other, which does not apply in this case.
And Bob James handles administrative duties such as budget and policy matters, not investigations.
"The cabinet does not believe a conflict of interest exists," Midkiff said.
But others outside the agency disagree, noting that Bob James works in the office that's supposed to have investigative authority over many of the functions his wife oversees, including the child protection system and federal benefits such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps.
"I really think it is a conflict," said Julie Denton, a former state senator from Louisville who served as chairwoman of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee until she left the Kentucky General Assembly last year. "The appearance is that they created a job for him. It doesn't pass the smell test."
Denton said it's especially frustrating for her, given the current high turnover of state social workers in Teresa James' department, who labor with low pay under punishing caseloads.
Social workers start at about $32,000 a year and, like most state employees, worked for four years with no raises because of state budget cuts until last year, when raises of 1 percent to 5 percent were provided, with the highest raises going to the lowest-paid workers.
For this fiscal year, which began Wednesday, state workers will get a 1 percent raise.
"It's just so demoralizing for these folks," said Denton, a Louisville Republican who now serves on the Metro Council.
Kelly Wiley, a Northern Kentucky lawyer who represents several social service employees at odds with the cabinet, said she can't understand the cabinet's decision to place Bob James in such a job.
"I absolutely think that is a conflict of interest," she said. "The purpose of the Office of Inspector General is to provide oversight of the cabinet."
With 266 employees statewide, the office licenses and inspects about 3,000 health care facilities and nursing homes, more than 2,000 day care centers and operates the Kentucky All-Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting System (KASPER) that tracks prescription drugs.
It also is responsible for "the prevention, detection and investigation of fraud, abuse, waste, mismanagement and misconduct" by cabinet employees and others, such as vendors or contractors, and can conduct "special investigations" of programs or other matters at the request of the secretary or other agency heads, according to its website.
In 2007, under former Gov. Ernie Fletcher, the cabinet's inspector general took on a major investigation into the Hardin County region of its state social service system after repeated allegations of serious problems involving the cabinet's handling of cases of child abuse and neglect.
It found widespread problems, including that some workers lied about cases in court, falsified records involving child abuse and neglect and treated parents and children poorly.
Lexington lawyer Robert Benvenuti III, then the cabinet's inspector general, said he used a staff vacancy to hire an extra investigator, a retired state police officer, to conduct the Hardin County investigation.
Benvenuti, a Republican now in the state House of Representatives, said he doesn't know why Bob James was hired or whether he was needed as a staff assistant.
"It could be justified if he has a special talent they need," he said. "But I think it's something that should have to be explained."
Personnel records from the cabinet show that in February 2014, the Inspector General's Office, under acting executive director Connie Payne, requested permission to create an additional staff assistant's job, saying it was necessary "due to the complexities of continuous program planning and quality improvement initiatives."
The job was authorized and Bob James, who had been working for the past year at the state Public Health Department, applied.
With a masters degree in business administration, good references and experience working at various businesses and nonprofit organizations, he was recommended for the job above one other candidate interviewed by a selection panel, according to state personnel records.
The letter recommending Bob James described him as "well-prepared," professional and ready to take on the administrative duties at the Inspector General's Office.
Still, Denton said she find the situation baffling, given the cabinet's many demands and the repeated budget cuts it has endured that have left it short of funds in vital areas.
"That cabinet is so crucial to the well-being of so many people in this state," she said. "It's sad."
Deborah Yetter can be reached at (502) 582-4228. Follow her on Twitter at @d_yetter