Aldona Wos « The Progressive Pulse

Government transparency still dangerous, apparently

April 23, 2013 at 4:09 pmCategory:Uncategorized

It looks like state legislators may be taking their cue from North Carolina Secretary of Health and Human Services Aldona Wos on an important issue: public access to government information.

A few weeks back, as you will recall, Wos solemnly informed reporters that transparency can be ”dangerous” in government. Today, the state Senate put Wos’ philosophy into action by passing legislation to do away with public notice requirements for several local governments.

WRAL.com has the story: Read More…

More bureaucratic micromanagement at DHHS

April 17, 2013 at 2:37 pmCategory:Uncategorized

by Rob Schofield

Is anyone else out there starting to get the impression that North Carolina DHHS Secretary Aldona Wos is bit of a…a…how shall I put this?

A control freak?

First, it was the ill-fated dress code edict. Then it was the rather remarkable comment about the “danger” of government transparency.

And now it’s… Signature-gate!

As of next Monday, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Servces will apparently have a new, official three-page policy specifying how Department employees will sign their names on emails.

As you can see by clicking here, we are not making this up.

According to the document obtained by NC Policy Watch, as of April 22, DHHS employees must comply with the “DHHS Email Signature policy.” Read More…

Competing Medicaid op-eds: Specifics best platitudes

April 15, 2013 at 11:56 amCategory:Uncategorized

by Rob Schofield

Over the weekend, the Wilmington StarNews published a pair of competing op-eds on the subject of Gov. McCrory’s Medicaid privatization plan – one by Adam Linker of the N.C. Health Access Coalition and another by HHS Secretary Aldona Vos.

Unfortunately, the two pieces serve as a kind of microcosm of the first few months of the McCrory administration’s public performance. Read More…

McCrory, Wos announce plan to privatize Medicaid

April 3, 2013 at 2:44 pmCategory:Uncategorized

by Sarah Ovaska

Gov. Pat McCrory announced an ambitious plan Wednesday to privatize the state’s Medicaid system, a move that he said will mean better treatment for patients and save taxpayer money.

But medical groups are already questioning whether the proposed changes will improve the quality of health care, or a way to slice off profits from a taxpayer-funded program for companies.

The head of the N.C. Medical Society Robert Seligson issued a statement Wednesday saying the group was interesting in learning more about the privatization plan, but was prepared to be critical if it didn’t put patient care first.

Gov. Pat McCrory and N.C. Health and Human Services Sec. Aldona Wos at Tuesday’s press conference.

“[I]f the administration’s idea of reform is bringing in out-of-state corporations so they can profit by limiting North Carolina patient’ access to health care and cutting critical medical services to our state’s most vulnerable citizens, that is not change we can support,” Seligson said.

He added, “We question the wisdom of handing off this important function off to Wall Street.”

McCrory, the state’s new Republican governor, made the announcement Tuesday with his Health and Human Serves Secretary Aldona Wos and said the privatization and move to managed care will be a solution to fix a “broken Medicaid system.”

“The system does not treat the whole person,” he said.

Scrutiny over Dianna Lightfoot moves to voter registration questions

February 8, 2013 at 11:26 amCategory:Uncategorized

by Sarah Ovaska

Dianna Lightfoot is facing more questions, after a Winston-Salem news outlet discovered she’d registered to vote using an address of a UPS store.

Dianna Lightfoot

Lightfoot, 61, of Winston-Salem, resigned yesterday morning after being appointed two days earlier by new N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Aldona Wos to heading the state’s pre-K and child development division. Lightfoot’s resignation (more about that here) came after comments and positions she’d taken criticizing government-run early education programs and Tea Party-related causes surfaced. Those comments included a comment from her now-deactivated Twitter account in which she referred to women appointed in the Obama Administration as a “butch bunch.”

The news about the voter registration issues was first reported Thursday morning by the Camel City Dispatch, a relatively new independent, non-profit news website in Winston-Salem that found Lightfoot registered to vote in the spring of 2012 using the address of a UPS store at 353 Jonestown Road, a UPS store where Lightfoot has an address. State elections law requires that individuals use their residential, and not mailing address, when registering to vote.

Providing false or misleading information on a voter registration form can lead to a lower-level felony charge.

The news was later picked by the Winston-Salem Journal, which ran a story today that included an interview from Lightfoot’s mother who said Lightfoot had been devastated by the intense media attention this week.

DHHS has not chosen a successor to Lightfoot.

UPDATE (added since original publication): Robert Coffman, the director of elections in Forsyth County, said he will refer to matter to his three-member board, who can then ask for the state board of elections to look into the matter, or the local district attorney. Prosecution over voter registration address matters are rare, he added, and his office is waiting to see if the voter, Lightfoot, contacts them to change her voter registration to her residential address. That hasn’t happened yet.

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