logocapitol dome inside
Capitol News Update     

 

October 15, 2012 

 

       The Human Services Commission, after consultation with Governor Fallin, has selected Ed Lake, 64,  to be the new Director of DHS.  Mr. Lake began his service with the Tennessee Department of Human Services in 1973 as a child welfare worker.  He was Deputy Director when he retired in 2011 after serving 38 years with the Department.  The Commission took its time and conducted a wide search for a successor to Howard Hendrick. 

 

       DHS has been under heavy scrutiny for several years now because of numerous well publicized deaths of children caught up in the child welfare system and criticism of the methods and management of the agency.  A class action lawsuit filed on behalf of children in the system was settled earlier this year.  The legislature and governor have tacitly agreed to appropriate about $100 million to DHS over 3 years to fix the system.  A down payment of $25 million was appropriated this year.    

 

       Reform costs money, but more importantly, the money needs to be spent wisely to create a child welfare system that will help families and protect the children.  Given this opportunity the Commission correctly decided this is the time for someone who is a human services professional to lead the agency.  

 

       This isn't the first time DHS has been the subject of controversy, or for that matter, class action lawsuits.  In 1978, Steve Novick, an attorney for Legal Aid of Western Oklahoma, filed the Terry D. lawsuit on behalf of youth institutionalized in juvenile institutions operated by DHS at the time.  After several years of litigation a consent decree was entered, and the Federal Court supervised Oklahoma's secure institutions for many years.  Reform legislation was passed, and most of the state's secure institutions were closed in favor of community treatment.  Lloyd Rader, the longtime director of DHS fought the lawsuit and resisted the changes.  Unfortunately I think Terry D., and Mr. Rader's reaction to it, blemished his long career making it seem he had stayed too long as director, which perhaps he had.    

While the Terry D. lawsuit was ongoing, parents of developmentally disabled children institutionalized in the Hissom home in Sand Springs, began to complain to DHS.  During this turmoil, Mr. Rader retired, and Governor George Nigh intervened with the DHS Commission and prevailed upon them to bring on former Governor and U.S. Senator Henry Bellmon as DHS director.  Bellmon was unable to make the changes needed, and the parents filed another class action lawsuit in 1985 that ultimately resulted in the closing of Hissom in 1994.  When Bellmon, after his service as DHS Director, was elected governor, he brought in Robert Fulton an administrator with the Federal Department of Human Services to run the Department.  

 

       Through the years I've seen two former state Senators, a former governor and U.S. Senator, a former federal Human Services administrator, and a former Federal Aviation Administration administrator serve as DHS director.  Most, if not all, have been hired by the commission at the suggestion of, or at least with the concurrence of the governor.  This time the commission and governor have opted for someone with on-the-ground experience as an actual human services worker.  I think it sounds like a good choice. 

State to get $5 million in child welfare services grants

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Oklahoma is to receive more than $5 million in federal grants to help fund services for foster children and families.

The Oklahoma Department of Human Services is getting $3.2 million to fund a five-year project to provide mental and behavioral health services for children, youth and families. Several agencies are to partner with the department in providing the services.

A $2 million grant is being awarded to NorthCare for a three-year program to provide care coordination to foster families in Oklahoma County.

Both projects are to support the state's child welfare improvement plan known as the Pinnacle Plan.

Tenn. official offered Okla. DHS director post

By Sean Murphy 

Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY - The panel that oversees the embattled Oklahoma Department of Human Services offered the agency's top job on Wednesday to a 38-year veteran of a similar state agency in Tennessee for an annual salary of $185,000.

After a closed-door meeting, Oklahoma's Commission on Human Services voted to give retired Tennessee DHS Deputy Commissioner Edward Lake until Monday to decide whether to take the position. The salary is $20,000 more than what the previous DHS director made, and the commission also offered Lake a one-time $5,000 sign-on bonus.

"In our view, he's a proven change agent and a proven leader," Commission Chairman Wes Lane said. "In talking to people he dealt with in Tennessee, he was a guy who was greatly respected by all the parties, the Legislature, the governor.

"We just have great confidence that he is the right man at the right time."

Lake was not immediately available for comment Tuesday. Lane said the Henderson, Tenn., resident planned to discuss the offer with his family over the weekend before agreeing to take the position.

Lake began working at the Tennessee DHS as a child welfare worker in 1973, and he held positions as a food stamp office supervisor and county and regional social services director, according to information provided by Oklahoma's DHS. He served two stints as the agency's deputy commissioner, the position he held when he retired in 2011.

Commissioners have been searching for a successor to Howard Hendrick, a former Republican state senator who retired in March after 14 years as head of the agency, which has 7,000 employees and an annual operating budget of $2.2 billion. Since Hendrick's retirement, the agency has been headed by Gov. Mary Fallin's Secretary of Finance Preston Doerflinger.

If he accepts, Lake will take over an agency that has come under fire in recent years following the high-profile deaths of several children who were in state custody.

DHS also recently settled a federal class-action lawsuit over alleged maltreatment of children in state care that resulted in an overhaul of the way the agency cares for foster children. The so-called Pinnacle Plan, which will be implemented over the next five years, is expected to cost $153 million.

Oklahoma voters also will decide in November whether to abolish the Commission on Human Services and its ability to set policy, and shift oversight and power to the governor's office, which would be responsible for appointing the agency's director with the consent of the Senate.

Lane said Lake met Friday with Gov. Mary Fallin, who supports hiring him as head of the agency.

"No matter what happens in November, Ed Lake will have her support," Lane said. "If the commission goes away, Ed Lake will remain, if he accepts."

Lawmakers file abortion law appeal brief

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Two Oklahoma lawmakers have filed a friend-of-the-court brief defending a state law regulating abortion-inducing drugs that was struck down as unconstitutional.

State Reps. Pam Peterson, R-Tulsa, and Rebecca Hamilton, D-Oklahoma City, filed the document Tuesday in the state Supreme Court, where the ruling that struck down the law was appealed.

The law was passed by the Legislature in May 2011. It required doctors to follow strict guidelines authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and prohibited off-label uses of drugs such as RU-486.

It also prohibited changing a recommended dosage or prescribing it for different symptoms than the drug was initially approved for.

Peterson and Hamilton said they believe the law is a reasonable way to ensure the health and safety of women seeking chemical abortions.

U.S. House speaker taps Mullin for weekly address

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) - U.S. House Speaker John Boehner has selected a congressional candidate from Oklahoma to deliver the Weekly Republican Radio Address.

Boehner said in a statement Thursday that he's selected Republican Markwayne Mullin to deliver Saturday's address in response to the president's weekly address. Boehner said that - as a small business owner - Mullin understands the need to shut down the "jobs-destroying red tape factory in Washington, D.C."

Mullin is a plumber from Westville who faces Democrat Rob Wallace of Fort Gibson for the 2nd Congressional District seat that stretches across 26 counties in eastern Oklahoma. Mullin, Wallace and independent Michael Fulks of Heavener are seeking to replace outgoing Democratic U.S. Rep. Dan Boren.

Boren - the only Democrat in Oklahoma's congressional delegation - announced last summer that he wouldn't run for re-election.

General revenue receipts increase in September

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - After a disappointing revenue report in August, state finance officials are reporting that collections to the state's general revenue fund returned to positive territory in September.

Figures released Tuesday by the Office of State Finance show that collections to state coffers last month exceeded those from September 2011 by $15.6 million, or 3 percent. The increase was welcome news, since August revenues were down 6.8 percent from the prior year.

Finance Secretary Preston Doerflinger said three of the four major sources of revenue for the general fund showed growth last month, including combined income, sales and motor vehicle taxes. Only collections from the state's production tax on oil and natural gas were down, and Doerflinger blamed much of that on the expiration of a moratorium on energy tax credits.

Have a good week.  Give me a call at 918.671.6860 if I can be of help in any way

                  Steve Lewis

 
This Week's Meetings


 

2012 DEADLINES
 
 




This Week's News
State to Get Child Welfare Services Grant
Official Offered DHS Director Post
General Revenue Increases