Alabama Medicaid Agency Hires Lobbyist, and Everyone Sighst
Bob Lowry did some excellent investigative reporting in this morning’s Huntsville Times. The truly sad part is that anyone whose been around state government long knows this kind of thing happens all the time, and just because someone is a registered lobbyist doesn’t mean she wouldn’t bring some expertise to an agency. The state merit system is not the end-all of expertise and merit employees are not necessarily superior to the alternative. I would expect Mac MacArthur to be upset, as he is quoted in this article. Whether the rest of us should be, is a harder question to answer. There’s certainly something to be said for making sure these kind of arrangements are out in the open, but the construction of the merit system means competent managers will always be looking for alternatives. If folks spent less time being outraged and more time focusing on the unmet personnel needs of state government, this wouldn’t be such a large issue.
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February 27th, 2007 at 9:19 am
This is only the tip of the iceberg as far as contractual improprieties at Auburn University Montgomery goes. It’s a damn shame that the local paper was bested by the Huntsville Times. It was an excellent piece of reporting.