Montpelier, Vermont - January 17, 2012
In a 4-1 vote the Green Mountain Care Board voted reluctantly to end its hunt for a PR professional one week after it began. The group is in charge of redesigning health care in Vermont while containing costs.
"We are not spin doctors. We are independent thinkers who take very seriously our need to include the public in our efforts," said Anya Rader Wallack of the Green Mountain Care Board.
The reversal comes after intense criticism from Gov. Peter Shumlin, who helped set up the board.
"As governor I do have a responsibility to let people know when we're making a mistake with taxpayer dollars, whether it's money I control or money I don't. And I want to make very clear that we shouldn't use taxpayer dollars to hire public relations people," said Shumlin, D-Vermont.
"As far as I'm concerned, the administration completely overreacted," said Con Hogan, a member of the board.
Hogan and others on the board fired back Tuesday, saying under Act 48-- the law governing health care reform-- the board must gather public input about the design of the program. The members say five people can't do it alone and maintain the $50,000 they set aside for a communications consultant would have been money well spent.
"I believed it was and I still believe that. I am offended by anyone making a statement to the contrary," said Dr. Allan Ramsay, a member of the board.
The Green Mountain Care Board members are now concerned that this new decision will create even more controversy. The members say they want to make it explicitly clear that they are an independent body and that this decision did not come as a result of pressure from the Shumlin administration.
"The issue of whether we hire communications help has become a distraction. I don't think it's a well-warranted distraction. I don't agree with those who have criticized us for doing this, but we don't have time for distractions," Rader Wallack said.
The board members aren't the only ones feeling the heat over recent PR job postings. The Agency of Natural Resources and Commerce were each looking for positions totaling about $90,000.
"I was extremely disturbed to find that my administration had three ads in the newspapers hiring PR personnel. I've put a stop to it," Shumlin said.
Deb Markowitz, the secretary of the Vt. Agency of Natural Resources, says it was the wording in the ad that troubled the governor. She says the posting was for a communications coordinator to do administrative assistant work, not public relations. Markowitz says she plans to fine tune the job description to make that clear. The position has been suspended until the governor can review it.
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