Official, lobbyist best of friends (Florida)

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Thu, Jul. 15, 2004




DCF PROBE


Official, lobbyist best of friends

Before his suspension, the No. 2 child welfare official in Florida forged a relationship with a lobbyist whose clients included companies eager for business from his agency.

BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER AND MARY ELLEN KLAS

[e-mail]


The suspended deputy secretary at the Department of Children & Families, who had the authority to approve millions of dollars in contracts to private companies, routinely wined, dined and golfed with a lobbyist whose clients have become among the largest contractors at the agency.

Ben Harris, the 28-year-old computer whiz brought from Oklahoma by DCF Secretary Jerry Regier, had such a close relationship with lobbyist Don Yaeger that he was invited to Yaeger's Super Bowl Party, joined a foursome of lobbyists at a golf tournament hosted by Yaeger, and paid Yaeger $600 to reimburse him for tickets to concerts and sporting events.

Harris was suspended July 2 by Regier and is under investigation by the governor's inspector general for travel and gifts he received from companies that do business with the agency.

Dozens of e-mails obtained by The Herald detail Yaeger's access to DCF's second-most-powerful administrator, who had authority over technology contracts and the privatization of Florida's child welfare effort.
(snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/9156465.htm
(Free registration required)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Very odd times in Jeb Bush's Department of Children & Families:

Article published Jul 1, 2004
State looking into complaints about how DCF awarded contract

The Associated Press

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. State investigators are looking into complaints that the Department of Children & Families unfairly awarded a $21 million contract to upgrade the agency's computer system to a company whose board of directors included DCF Secretary Jerry Regier's former boss.

Investigators are also looking into a trip Ben Harris, DCF's deputy secretary for operations and technology, took to Australia at the expense of a company that has a $500,000-a-year contract with the agency.

The contract investigation began after a "whistle blower" complaint over the award to AMS Inc. AMS didn't submit the lowest or best bid for the contract, according to DCF's initial calculations. But a second set of criteria, which included "intangibles" such as DCF's confidence in the agency, ranked AMS above the other two bidders.

Still, questions are being raised about Regier's relationship to former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, who sat on AMS's board at that time the contract was awarded. Keating has since left the company. Regier was Secretary of Health and Human Services in Keating's administration before joining DCF in August 2002. Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Keating had recommended Regier for the job.
(snip/...)

http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/politics/9053855.htm


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DCF investigation reaches into Regier's computer
By wire services
Published July 10, 2004


TALLAHASSEE - Investigators looking into contracts awarded by the Department of Children and Families have seized material from the work computer of the agency's secretary, Jerry Regier, a newspaper reported Friday.

The Miami Herald reported that investigators from Gov. Jeb Bush's inspector general's office confiscated some contents of Regier's computer and some from Deputy Secretary Ben Harris' in connection with an investigation of how the agency awards contracts to outside vendors.

Harris and information technology director Glenn Palmiere are on paid leave during the investigation into allegations they made a trip to Australia, paid for by a contractor, to tout the company's product. Regier spokesman Bill Spann declined to comment.

Bush earlier this week said he wasn't aware of any investigation of Regier himself.
(snip/...)

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/07/10/State/DCF_investigation_rea.shtml

[Joy Anne]

1. Eek!

They're privatizing child welfare?