Dissolved
panel claims foul play
Angry directors of a $21.6 million state purchasing program that
gives jobs to handicapped workers asked Comptroller Bob Milligan on
Wednesday to investigate a "coup" in the final days of the
legislative session. 6/13/02
$3.1M
of state property 'lost'
DMS self-audit uncovers documentation problems Florida's housekeeping
agency needs to keep better track of state property, according to its
own troubleshooter. An audit of the Department of Management Services
estimates that 900 items of state property worth more than $3.1
million could be missing. And that's not counting "small,
attractive items" costing less than $1,000 - ranging from palm
terminals to handguns - that weren't properly entered into property
record systems.
The Capitol Police
When Gov. Bush decided the Capital Police would be taken out from
under the Department of Management Services and placed under the
Florida Department of Law Enforcement ...
Teachers'
insurance a boondoggle
When Gov. Jeb Bush said new programs should be the first ones
sacrificed to the deficit, did he really mean it? Not exactly. On
Nov. 19, his Department of Management Services awarded a
$1.2-million contract for professional liability insurance for
teachers, a new program, even though the Legislature had voted in
the first special session last month to rescind the appropriation.
In the new special session, only the Senate still wants to kill it.
The House voted 68 to 50 to defeat an amendment aimed at using the
money to restore deep cuts in programs for deaf, blind and
developmentally disabled children. Merely seven Republicans voted
for the children. Bush's press office says he regards the insurance
program as an aid to teacher recruitment and retention.All the same,
it's a boondoggle; the Senate should hang tough.
Most teachers already have liability insurance as a union benefit.
The state-paid insurance was sponsored by Republican legislators
whose transparent motive was to weaken the union. Surely there are
better uses for the state's money.
Former
chief blasts old boss
Capitol Police's ex-commander says DMS leader undermines managers
--
The ousted chief of Capitol Police testified Friday that Management
Services Secretary Cynthia Henderson routinely undercuts her
managers with an iron-fisted control over matters affecting state
employees.
Auditors
find state needs to bid more to save
At a time when money is tight and every dollar counts, state
agencies last year spent $400 million on goods and services without
putting them out to bid. That worries the state's chief financial
watchdog, who is recommending Florida purchasing laws be reworked to
increase competition.
The audit noted that the Department of Management Services
maintains a Web site that includes a comprehensive list of potential
vendors. But when it comes to abiding by the law requiring public
notice of any potentially noncompetitive bids for more than
$150,000, the agency posts those notices on the wall of its offices
on the third floor of a satellite office building that requires a
pass to get into.
Bill
Cotterell: You're better off without this free tuition
Today is the deadline for state employees to apply for tuition
vouchers for enrolling in state colleges (more about that later),
and getting into school is tougher this year.8/13
Human resources hero
With all those holiday fliers in the mail, many Floridians may not have received the latest copy of Human Resources Outsourcing Today, a magazine geared toward finance and personnel officers.
Cover model for December/January is none other than Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, acclaimed for providing "the highest quality HR services while saving Florida's taxpayers millions of dollars."
The mag lauds Bush and the Republican Legislature for turning over state personnel services to Cincinnati-based Convergys Corp., a move proponents say will save the state $173 million over seven years. The state workers union condemns it, saying it could cost 800 state jobs.
"It's quite a marvelous feat," said Jay Whitehead, the magazine's president and publisher. "It's also a model for what President George W. Bush is doing in Washington."
The elder Bush hopes to outsource as many as 850,000 civil service jobs considered "commercial" tasks easily performed by private sector firms.
Although outsourcing is expected to expand during the governor's second term, it also helped pave the way to Bush's re-election. Many companies that landed state contracts contributed to the state Republican Party.
12/1/02 (more)
In response to Cynthia Henderson's letter (“DMS firing did not
affect Bush's political capital” Letters, July 28), oh pul-eeze.
Under Henderson's tenure:
Competent, experienced managers have been forced to resign and
were replaced with politically connected novices with no more
management skill than you have.
 | Unqualified managers were given $1,500 to $3,000 bonuses and
raises in June while a few employees received $500 bonuses.
|
| Morale is at an all-time low and good employees are leaving in
droves.
|
| All authority has been recentralized and work has ground to a
halt.
|
| Because of Henderson's mandatory ethics training in April,
employees are not to accept gifts of more than $25 or anything
that could influence a purchasing decision. However, vendors are
allowed to wine and dine Henderson.
|
| Employees were promised wonderful training opportunities.
However, training vouchers will be available to only a few
employees who are being laid off. ....J. SMITH
|
I just wanted to let everybody know State Workers really didn't have
any input into how "Service First" was set up. We already
had the bill in our office (Human Resource Management) analyzing it
when Jeb asked for input from State Workers. The emails are after
the fact. Secretary Henderson chose not to use our bill analysis.
We had the bill in our office at least a month before he asked for
input on the bill. So tell me how could state workers have
formed what was already there????
.... Just another State Employee, 6/8/01
