Governor fires Public Health Director

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[Bleedingheartliberal]

Today the employees of the Alaska Division of Public Health learned that their Director, Beverly Wooley, was forced to resign, or was fired, by Governor Palin. The Director's position is an appointed position, however, to my knowledge, a Director of Public Health has never before been fired. No one is certain why Bev was fired, however most speculate that it was around differences of opinion about womens' health. Public Health is quite active in issues related to family planning, sexually transmitted diseases, sex education, and other issues that the Governor does not support. Bev, on the other hand, has been a strong advocate for womens' health, both when she was the the Director of the Municipality of Anchorage Department of Health and Human Services, and also in her role as Director of the Alaska Division of Public Health (DPH).
 
She is an excellent administrator, a strong supporter of public health, and DPH employees were devastated by the news today. I have inserted the body of her message to the DPH staff below:
 

Dear DPH Team – You are an incredible group of individuals whose efforts make a positive difference in the lives of thousands of Alaskans every day.  It has been my honor and privilege to serve as your Director these past 20 months, but the time has come for me to move on.  I’m sorry I was not able to personally convey this news to many of you, but time did not allow.

I will be leaving state government service, effective July 1, 2009, per Governor Palin’s request. 

It has been a blessing to work with such a diverse array of talented people – the DPH Team!  Your compassion and commitment to public health is remarkable.  I am thankful for the time we have shared in service to the people of Alaska, helping to inspire and shape public health practices and policies for the benefit of all people.   

Even though your deeds to protect and promote the health and safety of our residents aren’t always acknowledged, they are appreciated.  Thanks to all of you for helping to make our communities great places to live, work and play.  Keep up the strong work. 

I’d also especially like to thank Dr. Butler for his strong leadership, immense knowledge and unwavering support.  He is undoubtedly one of the best Chief Medical Officers I have ever had an opportunity to work for.   

I will miss all of you, but I leave you with a very competent and committed DPH Leadership Team.  Working collaboratively, I am confident you will continue to provide Alaska residents with the excellent public health services they have come to rely on. 

I look forward to working with you again in the near future. Until then, I wish you peace and good health.  Take care of yourself and of each other.  Please keep in touch.  Beginning in July, my new contact information is:

(Deleted for privacy)

With warm regards,

Beverly K. Wooley
Director, Division of Public Health
Alaska Department of Health and Social Services
3601 C Street, Suite 756
Anchorage, AK 99503

As if this weren't bad enough, in the process of relieving Bev of her post, the Commissioner and (I assume) the Governor offered the DPH Director position to Dr. Jay Butler, the state Medical Officer. The plan was to combine the Medical Officer position and the DPH Director position. Jay had no desire to take on both roles, and since he was loaned to the state from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC, a federal agency) he has resigned his position as well and will be returning to Atlanta to a new position at the CDC. He announced his resignation a couple of days ago.
 
To my knowledge, there has been no intrigue such as was seen with the Troopergate situation, and the Governor has every right to appoint individuals who are of like mind with her regarding public health issues, but from my perspective, this is a huge loss to the state. All of this transpired just this week, and I have seen nothing in the press about it. But I think it is news worthy and I just had to get this off my chest.
 
At the present time, there is no indication who will be selected to replace Bev Wooley. Keep in mind this Division does everything from issue birth certificates, investigate outbreaks like swine influenza, provide mammograms to underinsured women, provide vaccines for children, to perform state-of-the-art laboratory testing and autopsies. Right now the Division is rudderless and pretty demoralized.

 



Edited by Irishgirl to insert quote box

[EyeOnYou]

   I cannot believe that something like this is going unreported!!!!!  Why has this information not been publicized?


I am not in the least bit surprised that Gov. Palin would behave in this manner.  This sounds like typical Palin behavior.  If she made this decision based on her own personal feelings on women's health issues, then she is proving yet again that she is only concerned with what she feels is important.

[pacos_gal]

I can see why ADN hasn't reported it.  They have to figure out how to spin it to make Palin look good, in face of what looks Very bad.  Firing someone who (it seems) has been a good administrator and who cares about the issue of Public Health, plus losing the states Medical Officer, both due to the same ill advised decision by the Governor.  I'm sure they will figure something out, but it might take a bit.  Then we'll see the spin.  In the meantime, maybe email this information to some of the news outlets.  Let them get started early before the spin kicks in. 
She sure likes to be out of the state when the dodo hits the fan doesn't she!

[clydedog]

Two valuable public servants gone  for no reason but pandering (one was a fed on loan? isn't that giving up some sovereignty).    Does she think what happens in Alaska, stays in Alaska. Force the news coverage.
 

[Kay503]

Isn't it usual in such instances of resignation/firing that the person being forced to leave their position is under a gag order, not to speak about their situation beyond a statement to their workers?

I doubt anyone will ever hear anything more about this except what Palin issues in one of her press statements -- which certainly won't give the real reason for the resignation/firing.

And, in a bit of snark, I wonder if the cow-loving close friend is considered to have enough "experience" to fill the position now that Wooley is leaving...

------------

Something similar happened to my sister, who was overburdened as a Dept. Head in a local hospital with the management of 4 different hospital departments, while every other department head was responsible for only one.  They asked her to leave the hospital immediately one day, with the reason that her position was being phased out, and her responsibilities would be taken over by other department heads. 

She barely had time to take her purse, and was ushered out the door, after giving up her badge and keys, and signing a statement agreeing to "retire".  She had to come back another day to pick up her personal items from her office.  The only substantive compensation she received was a comfortable severance package tied up with that above-mentioned gag order (and with retirement packages being dropped like hot potatoes by corporations in this economy, her forced retirement turned out to be a blessing in disguise).

News trickled back to her over the subsequent months (it's been almost 2 years now) that the hospital administration was in complete disarray, about to be taken over by the regional management -- a bit of vindication for the ruthless treatment she received.

The powers that be/were in the hospital administration didn't have a clue, apparently, that my sister was the grease that kept the wheels of progress at that hospital from completely seizing up.  She'd been there for more than 30 years, from immediately after college graduation as a RN, and knew EVERYTHING about running the hospital.  She was neither power-hungry nor ambitious, but always agreed to take on more responsibility if she was asked. 

Some insecure person viewed her as a threat, I suppose.

I'll bet a story like this is behind Bev Wooley's situation.

[caligrl wolves eat palin]

Hey you guys...FYI, I just googled Beth's name to get more info and this page pop's up on google!
Just a heads up didn't know if you guys know that!

[Bleedingheartliberal]

Caligrl wolves eat palin, did you mean "Bev's name" or "Beth's name?" I googled Bev's name and did find that this page came up about the 5th entry down the list.

[caligrl wolves eat palin]

Caligrl wolves eat palin, did you mean "Bev's name" or "Beth's name?" I googled Bev's name and did find that this page came up about the 5th entry down the list.

oops I did Beth by accident, but this came up I didn't know if you guys knew this forum is "spied" on by google?

[caligrl wolves eat palin]

Bleeding heart, your avi so cute, the dog playing in the toy-toy, lol!

[pacos_gal]

That's good that google shows this.  It isn't anywhere else, other than on a comment on Huffington Post. 
So now the question is, which crony will she hire to fill the spot?   Someone from her high school (that's been done to death),
or someone who once did her a favor, or the spouse of someone who did her a favor.  The possibilities are endless. 

[EyeOnYou]

I am simply astounded that this is going unreported by the local media!  How can this be ignored???

[EyeOnYou]

Well I finally found this topic mentioned:


Alaska Ear
http://www.adn.com/news/politics/alaska_ear/story/822070.html

[caligrl wolves eat palin]

And Phils blog today, also too!
http://progressivealaska.blogspot.com/2009/06/palin-fires-womens-health-champion.html
On the letter he posted, I noticed this part "I look forward to working with you again in the near future. Until then, I wish you peace and good health."
I wonder what she meant by that?
No Palin in the near future???
One can only hope.....!

[pacos_gal]

And Phils blog today, also too!
http://progressivealaska.blogspot.com/2009/06/palin-fires-womens-health-champion.html
On the letter he posted, I noticed this part "I look forward to working with you again in the near future. Until then, I wish you peace and good health."
I wonder what she meant by that?
No Palin in the near future???
One can only hope.....!

That is interesting.  Would she be offered the Chief Medical officer post since Butler is leaving?  Would she even want that?  I don't know if that is a step up or not, but McAllister got moved, so maybe there are some other people being moved too.  Just speculation on my part.

[caligrl wolves eat palin]

And Phils blog today, also too!
http://progressivealaska.blogspot.com/2009/06/palin-fires-womens-health-champion.html
On the letter he posted, I noticed this part "I look forward to working with you again in the near future. Until then, I wish you peace and good health."
I wonder what she meant by that?
No Palin in the near future???
One can only hope.....!

That is interesting.  Would she be offered the Chief Medical officer post since Butler is leaving?  Would she even want that?  I don't know if that is a step up or not, but McAllister got moved, so maybe there are some other people being moved too.  Just speculation on my part.

I could be wrong...but I got the impression gino wanted butler to do his job and hers and he did a "thanks but no thanks"!
I could be wrong?

[Bleedingheartliberal]

Caligrl wolves eat palin, you are correct. The administration wants to eliminate the Medical Officer position and select a doctor for the Division of Public Health position. They offered it to Dr. Butler, but he knows what a thankless job the Directorship is, and decided to go back to the CDC. I don't blame him. They offered the Directorship to another doctor in the Division, and he too declined. I don't know if they will be successful in finding a doctor who wants that job. It makes banging your head against a brick wall sound like fun, from my perspective. But Bev Wooley liked the challenge and was doing a great job. You can cheer her on at the Women's Run next weekend. She will be wearing a pink hat and has a team that built itself up around her (rather than her starting a team herself).

[justsaynoemore]

Now it gets even better - The NY Times reports today that Governor Palin didn't fire Beverly:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/13/us/politics/13palin.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2&hp

[Jan Arnold]

I have also been following this story and have also wondered why it was not getting more visible coverage. This woman had worked - and done a great job - for many years. I would guess, in addition to other benefits, she has lost retirement- some great payback for 20 years of devotion to her job and to the state of Alaska. And, sadly, I guess it is legally ok for Palin to have let her go, even for the despicable reason that she was not enthusiastic enough over Palins pro-life agenda - but, even if legal, it was a morally wrong dismissal. And now to spin it that it was the department that let her go when it was well known it was Palin who wanted the change...one more blatant example of this woman reinventing the truth at every turn.

[InJuneau]

jan--she prob. didn't lose her retirement, as I'm sure she was vested into the PERS system.  Getting fired doesn't take that away.

[Jan Arnold]

Hi InJuneau!    It is to know that she will not loose her retirement - Reid and I have always been self employed, so I don't know how those things work and whether she got any kind of severance. But, will her pension be reduced since she left earlier than she would have if she had kept her job until her normal time to retire? Anyway, it just seemed like a terrible injustice for her to have been let go if she has been the dedicated employee that the articles have indicated.  Further, it seems like states can ill afford to loose people in those positions who are efficient and content in the position.