|
|
QUESTION: Two weeks after he announced that Florida's top elder-care
official had accepted a new job in a field ``she loves,'' Gov. Jeb Bush
acknowledged Wednesday that Gema Hernandez had, in fact, been fired.
``She wasn't very good at managing people, and she wasn't very good at
managing relationships that are important to protect these programs,'' Bush
told reporters.
The governor reiterated three times Wednesday that ``she was fired,''
striking a much different tone than a written statement released by his
office Sept. 20 lauding Hernandez's accomplishments as secretary of the
Florida Department of Elder Affairs.
In the written statement, Bush was quoted saying he was ``pleased to
announce'' that Hernandez had accepted a teaching post at Florida State
University, adding ``she will be missed.''
Hernandez, who said she was not permitted to speak to the press about her
departure the day it was announced, later told The Herald in an interview
that she had been forced out because political allies of the governor
opposed her agenda.
Asked to respond to Bush's acknowledgement Wednesday that she had been
fired, Hernandez said: ``We knew that.''
Hernandez added that there was no proof that she had been a poor manager.
``There was never any performance evaluation,'' she said.
A registered Democrat who had been the highest-ranking Cuban American in the
Bush administration, Hernandez had spent much of the summer battling with
several Republican legislators who were upset that she was trying to revamp
the way Florida delivers care to poor, frail elders.
Hernandez established test programs in two North Florida communities to
explore creating competition among the agencies that use taxpayer money to
serve seniors.
She had accused the private agencies that contract with the state in each
community, including United Home Care of Miami, of spending public money on
lobbying, food, executive salaries and other administrative expenses rather
than on care. Hernandez's criticisms were echoed in written reports produced
by her office and the governor's inspector general.
Some private agency administrators accused Hernandez of conducting a ``witch
hunt,'' and several state legislators complained that she did not have the
power to create the pilot programs without lawmakers' approval.
But on Wednesday, the governor said he thought the pilot programs were a
``good concept,'' and said there were ``mixed signals'' on whether the
Legislature really needed to approve the programs before they could be
tested.
The firing ``wasn't related to her vision, it wasn't related to her advocacy
for elders,'' Bush said. ``Gema Hernandez is a brilliant person, and she is
an eloquent spokeswoman for older Floridians.''
But in the end, Bush said, he had to consider her relations with lawmakers
and other agencies. Hernandez had angered at least one key House committee
chairman with a sarcastic letter.
ANSWER: Evidently he will hire some bimbo girlfriend of his now that Kathryn Harris
is leaving.
|
|
|
|
