New Furlough Schedule; More DOH Intrigue

By Alexa Schirtzinger on December 7th, 2009
Alfredo Vigil, Secretary of Health

Alfredo Vigil, DOH Secretary

State employees can work on New Year’s Eve, according to a press release just in from the Governor’s office; the Dec. 31 furlough day will be shifted to Friday, March 5, 2010. The furloughs, which apply to 17,000 state employees, “will save another $8.1 million – on top of the $8.3 million that will be saved by the elimination of several state exempt positions,” the release states.

The 4,100 employees exempt from furloughs include direct patient care in hospitals and health facilities—and while I’m not saying hospitals work better without receptionists, another exciting chapter of the DOH hiring-during-hiring-freeze story has unfolded.

Last week, I posted a legislative complaint sent to Gary Chabot, an analyst with the Legislative Finance Committee, alleging practices of nepotism and the moving of DOH funds “in a questionable manner.” Today, Chabot sent along DOH Secretary Alfredo Vigil’s response, sent to Vigil on Wednesday, Nov 25—one day after Chabot alerted Vigil to the complaint. (The e-mail’s after the jump.) Continue reading »

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Feet to the Fire

By Alexa Schirtzinger on December 4th, 2009
beffort

State Senator Sue Wilson Beffort, R-Bernalillo

Senator Sue Wilson Beffort, R-Bernalillo, is on the fiscal warpath, and she wants the New Mexico Department of Health to own up to nepotist practices in hiring—during a hiring freeze.

The Department of Health, Beffort says, hired approximately 91 new employees after Gov. Richardson declared a hiring freeze. It’s not the first time—at least 62 people were hired during the 2008 hiring freeze—but this time, Beffort’s righteously mad.

“I have been called by people in the Health Department that are demoralized by the nepotism that has been going on in hiring non-emergency people,” Beffort says. “After the hiring freeze, the Health Department hired, I think, 91 people. They said they were all critical people, so I backed down.”

She’s done backing down. Continue reading »

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