Senator takes aim at Health funds

The state Department of Health found itself under the "Watching Your Tax Dollars" spotlight last week, when a state senator questioned two of its contracts.

Sen. Mark Schoesler, the Senate Republican floor leader, used his publication to highlight a $6,000 agency contract to a communications coach, and a $1.1 million convenience contract with an event planning company.

The convenience contract with Preferred Planners allows the company to plan events without the agency sending each event to bid. It began in 2005 with an $800,000 limit for two years and has been renewed twice on a one-year basis.

"I'm not ready to add this event management contract to the examples of wasteful spending, but it certainly looks like something worth watching, and I may have some pointed questions for the Department of Health next year." Schoesler wrote.

The department has paid Preferred Planners $355,000 so far, and it has been well-spent, said Tim Church, spokesman for the agency.

"We don't have professional event planners on staff. They'll handle everything from finding a location to renting the space, finding speakers, that sort of thing," Church said.

An example, he said, was a conference of caregivers, patients, case managers and agency staff on HIV/AIDS issues. The company found a space for the conference, rented it, hired speakers and sent the department one bill.

"At a state level, one of the big things we do is coordinate across the state, make sure the people in Yakima are getting as much advantage of HIV/AIDS treatment as someone in Vancouver. … Often the best way to do that is to get them in the same room on occasion," Church said.

Schoesler was more critical of the $6,000 contract with Michael Shadow, who teaches communications courses at the University of Washington.

The senator said Shadow was paid to train staff on "how to prepare for and write budget decision packages."

The contract's justification was that the agency hasn't been successful in winning funding for some proposals to the Office of Financial Management and the Legislature, Schoesler said.

"Translation: we aren't getting as much money as we want, and we can't figure out on our own how to strengthen our case for more funding, so we're bringing in the 'sultan of suave' to train our people to make our decision packages persuasive," Schoesler wrote.

Church said Schoesler is misinterpreting the contract.

"The goal of that training was not to get more money. The goal of that training was to make sure our technical people are doing a good job of explaining themselves," Church said.

"Public health — there's a lot of topics that are very complicated and tough to understand. Many of the people we hire here are technical experts," he said. "While they are incredibly talented and expert in their field, sometimes they need a little help in explaining what they do to someone who is not a water systems expert or a radiation expert."

Schoesler didn't contact the department about the contract with Shadow, Church said, but the agency does think it was worth the money.

"We'd gladly talk about it anytime. We want to make sure we're spending the people's money carefully. We think we are," he said.

In his article, Schoesler pledged to keep an eye on future budget requests, ending with: "Instead of dreaming there will be more money to grab next year, state agencies like the Department of Health should be focusing on their core priorities and looking for places to hold the line or even reduce spending."