Expect Gov. Nathan Deal's staff to pay closer attention to the timing of his board appointees.
That's at least what the governor said Monday about the "coincidental" timing of the replacement of two members of the state health department's board hours after a $26 million rate hike stalled at a board meeting.
The two board members - one who raised questions about the rate hike and another who voted against it - were notified they would not be returning to the Department of Community Health board shortly after the vote stalled.
"We have made judgment calls on the replacements for them and many other boards, and we usually release those on a Friday," said Deal. "It just happened to be coincidental with a meeting of the DCH board. It had nothing whatsoever to do with any of their votes."
The board members, Jamie Pennington and Bill Wallace, both served more than a term. Deal was quick to point out that both have donated to Deal's campaign, which, as we have noted, is a strikingly common theme among appointees to top state boards.
"Both of them had been supporters of me, and as far as I know they still are supporters of me," the governor said, saying both had served more than a full term. "On boards like that when you have people qualified and have never served, you owe it to them to give them an opportunity to do so."
The governor said a failure to pass the hike would be a "grave concern" since funding for the increase wasn't included in the spending plan. When we was asked if Deal thought the timing was "cringe-worthy," the governor chuckled loudly.
"I've taken that up with some of my PR people as to the timing of it. You can't avoid that. We don't know the agenda of the boards is gonna be, they set their own agenda, the timing of when they meet and what they're discussing," said Deal. "It would really be micromanaging on our part if we thought we could know all of those kinds of details in advance."
Long-time Deal spokesman Brian Robinson was in earshot when the governor uttered those words, and the eyes of some reporters instinctively turned his way.
It wasn't me, he whispered.
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