Miles Conway says Gov. Susana Martinez’ administration is actively working against the Department of Health.
When Andrea Alano submitted her resignation to the Medical Cannabis Program in late November, she was the last of the program’s permanent staffers to resign.
Within a six-week period, Alano, Program Manager Dominick Zurlo and coordinator Donna Armijo had all quit [SFReporter.com, Dec. 2: “Final Medical Cannabis Program Staffer Resigns”].
The three staffers couldn’t be reached by SFR, but Melissa Milam, the former head of the program, says they “couldn’t take it anymore.”
“This is not an anomaly,” Milam tells SFR. “This is a pattern of [DOH Secretary] Catherine Torres running off good people from the Department of Health.”
DOH spokeswoman Aimee Barabe denies this and says each staffer made his or her own decision to resign. But to some observers, it was yet another example of Gov. Susana Martinez’ abandonment of the program. To others, it is evidence of a backlash against much more than one program within the Department of Health. Miles Conway, a political coordinator with the Communications Workers of America, says the administration is targeting the entire DOH, in which vacancies are currently widespread.
“It’s hard to imagine there’s not some deliberate strategy to set the Department of Health to fail,” Conway tells SFR.
Conway cites the 396 DOH vacancies within his union, which represents more than 1,000 state health employees, as an example. Similarly, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents 1,100 state health employees, estimates its DOH positions are at a 30 percent vacancy rate. AFSCME spokesman Jakob Schiller adds that DOH vacancies are “definitely” on the rise.
Conway says the state is trying, via ongoing contract negotiations with CWA, to outsource many state jobs to the private sector [news, Nov. 30: “Tense Talks”]. As an example, he points to Martinez’ efforts to hire contractors in the Public Education Department after firing 33 PED employees in June.
Barabe couldn’t confirm the DOH’s total number of vacancies, and the governor’s office didn’t return SFR’s phone calls or emails before press time.
To many, the DOH’s vacancy rates are causing problems.
“I’m hearing that things have never been as dismal as they are now,” state Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino, D-Bernalillo, who serves on the Legislative Health and Human Services Committee, tells SFR.
Bruce Trigg, the former medical director for the sexually transmitted disease program for regions 1 and 3, which include Albuquerque and Santa Fe, echoes Ortiz y Pino’s sentiment.
“The system is completely crumbling,” Trigg, who retired last December, tells SFR.
The DOH’s many vacancies mean serious public health problems, such as STDs and drug addiction, are going untreated, Trigg says. In Albuquerque, he says, the Stanford Public Health Office stopped giving out morphine treatment to heroin addicts in jail, a program with which he used to work. The DOH took nearly a year to fill his position, he says.
Trigg is also highly critical of the DOH’s recent return of nearly $4.2 million to the state’s general fund.
“They boast that they can give back $4.5 million,” Trigg tells SFR. “But how can they not say what is being done at the department?”
Barabe says returns to the general fund are common for every state agency. Last year, the DOH returned a similar amount to the state.
But Ortiz y Pino shares Trigg’s criticism.
“It would be like public schools returning money when they’re not doing what we asked them to do,” he says.
Trigg says many of the open positions are tied to a top-down culture of intimidation that’s prompting staffers like Patty Alsberge, a former clerk specialist with the DOH Children’s Medical Services program, to quit. Alsberge left her job this past spring after claiming her superiors had retaliated against her. According to emails obtained by SFR, Alsberge’s alleged offense involved riding as a passenger in a state-owned car that was left running in the DOH parking lot.
In April, Alsberge rode passenger while her co-worker drove and eventually parked a Nissan Altima near DOH offices. According to Alsberge, she and the driver locked the doors, mistakenly thinking the car, a hybrid with a push-button ignition, was turned off.
Two weeks later, Alsberge was put on administrative leave. She says she wasn’t given a chance to tell her side of the story to her bosses.
“There’s a process when employees get in trouble,” Alsberge tells SFR. “Your immediate supervisor is supposed to have a sit-down conversation with you. That didn’t happen.”
A lengthy grievance process followed the suspension, and Alsberge spent most of the spring getting the incident removed from her record. By July, she had had enough and left the DOH. Her former position remains unfilled, she says.
This isn’t quite what happened to me. My superiors were unable to address my administrative leave and driving suspension because they were not involved in either. Both actions were put into place by Cabinet Secretary Dr. Catherine Torres. Dr. Torres cited me with misuse of state property. During the grievance process I continually requested the written incident report. On June 6th, in an email from Annette Wilder she admitted DOH never bothered documenting how the car was found and what was done with it. The entire process was sloppy from the beginning; my last name was misspelt, my letter of reprimand inaccurately stated I reported the vehicle missing. When I requested a correction I was refused. My superiors were not permitted to support me. Had it not been for my union representative, everything would have remained in my personnel file. Every year I worked for DOH I was given an exemplary rating. I loved my job, the program I worked for and most importantly the people I worked with. Dr. Torres actions were that of an inexperienced manager with no over sight what so ever. I left in disgust with the knowledge this individual would continue to wreak havoc on the department.
Thanks for being so brave Patty.
I knew about all the things that are making DOH employees feel in-secure of their jobs. When a Doctor comes and tries to micromanage a Dept. that big. She needs to know about State policies first. The New Mexico State personnel board is run by policy and procedure and regulation. Mrs. Catherine Torres has made DOH a place of running it like a businees where she can just fire people or move them out of position,why, because she said so. She has made grown ladies cry because they wanted to take time off to attend their childs fuction and denied time. She in turn has staff pick up her children at school on State time. Mrs. Torres has made employees retire early because they cannot stand the way she acts and how she runs the DOH. Mrs. Torres is a a Doctor, but from what I hear she is not a proffesional in any sense. She not allowing staff to enter the builiding before 7:30am. She is making it hard for commuters, because she not letting them leave early to catch the Railrunner, so everybody is cramped in the cars or they have to wait for the next train. Mrs. Torres won't even say good morning, Hi, or bye. She is no better then the rest of the staff, she needs to thank them for the job they do. Not give them the guilt or fearful of going to work. This "doctor " is going to have lawsuits against her if she does not watch her lack of skills in being a Secretary for the biggest Dept. in State Government. I hope she reads this because, maybe this will open her eyes and make her aware of working with her great staff she does have now. Including her followers and the ones who spy on the employes to earn points.
DOH Nanny? What pay band is that?
It is true people working for Torres are quitting in droves. No one wants to work for a crazy woman who yells and screams at staff when she can't get her own way.
Also she brings on staff who have a proven track record of poor management. Vette was given a vote of no confidence in his last job.
Open Letter to Cabinet Secretary Catherine Torres, MD
from Employees of the New Mexico Department of Health
Dear Cabinet Secretary Torres, MD,
By your actions, it is clear that your goal is to dismantle the Department of Health. If this is indeed the political will, we would like to suggest that you include the staff responsible for their respective programs in the process in order to prevent further harm to citizens. We caution you that continuance of the approach you are taking will prove injurious to the good people the DOH serves.
We would also suggest that instead of alienating, persecuting and punishing those loyal state employees that have the fortitude to remain with the DOH that you partner with them to humanely dismantle their programs or work WITH them to institute changes that serve the political will and the good of the state.
We would like to clarify that the employees of the DOH are not the leaches and criminals you portray and treat them as. The DOH employees that you have unjustly vilified are PEOPLE whose expertise you should rely upon. In fact, many of these PEOPLE:
· Are highly educated, nationally recognized in their fields and are selflessly dedicated to public service
· Have sacrificed to serve the public health and earn considerably less than their private sector counterparts
· Are totally committed and dedicated to the programs they run and the citizens they serve
· Have taken on additional duties and responsibilities as staff declines without compensation or complaint
· Regularly work a 50-60 hour week without recompense or complaint
· Personally purchase many of the supplies and equipment used to do their jobs
· Regularly subsidize the travel required for their jobs as per diem does not cover a modest hotel room and meals in most areas of the state
· Utilize their own vehicles without reimbursement when state vehicles are not available or unreliable
· Would gladly assist you in any way and were always willing to support you and the new administration in the best interest of the State of New Mexico
You have discarded all the good the department had to offer and embraced the bad. The staff that you have chosen to align yourself and fraternize with (bowling, movies, dining) are the staff that are responsible for the DOH’s past problems and troubled reputation. You had a perfect opportunity to make improvements at the DOH, but instead you “friended” the problems and encouraged their malfeasance.
What you probably do not know is that these loyal, trusted advisors openly discuss communicating everything you do and say directly to Duffy Rodriguez at DFA. Who they say is really running the DOH. The joke is on you.
You should also be aware that the hard working employees in your department are fully aware that you:
· Scream at nearly every employee you come into contact with
· Leer and scowl at employees as you pass them in the hallways or ride with them in the elevators
· Are seen and heard unprofessionally yelling and crying in the Runnels Building
· Attend department sponsored events and do not interact with employees who are participating
· Plan department sponsored events and notify employees that they are required to attend, giving them less than half an hour’s notice
· Have without thought or regard ruined employees’ lives each of whom were only trying to their jobs
· Demean and misuse the highly qualified DOH staff by using them as your personal chauffeurs and errand runners
· Locked down the building and selectively allowed early access to your trusted advisors and leaving commuters who are at the mercy of public transportation to wait outside in the cold for admittance, like dogs
· Changed policies, without informing the staff, and directed supervisors to discipline employees for infractions that they are unaware of
· Dictated that the DOH staff will socialize with you when outside of work and demanded respect when giving none
· Informed division heads that employees are to be turned in who question your draconian and immature management style
· Directed that the short staffed OGC, HRB and ASD spend their valuable time reading fellow employee’s emails instead of doing their jobs
· Ruthlessly gutted programs without knowledge of their workings
· Disregarded the seasoned, balanced and knowledgeable counsel of OGC, HRB, ASD administrators and division directors when it did not support your vendetta de jour
· Arbitrarily stalled contracts and agreements placing programs and facilities at risk, diminishing their ability to operate effectively and severely compromising the health and safety of clients and patients
· Failed to work collaboratively with other Cabinet Secretaries and their agencies, leaving the DOH in a schism
· Left the state at huge financial risk to be accountable for the numerous personnel policy, legal and constitutional violations perpetrated under your administration that were done against counsel
· Last and most important, you have CRIPPLED the DOH, a department that is critical to New Mexico!
We, the employees who you have repeatedly disrespected, devalued and abused are undertaking a campaign to bring your transgressions in the DOH to light. It is not only the right thing to do, it is also our first amendment right. We are contacting Governor Martinez, SPO, our legislators and the media. If your unprofessional and mean spirited behavior is not stopped and the focus of your management is not shifted to public health and away from petty, vindictive and immature pursuits, the citizens of this great state will be the ones to suffer. They are already suffering your wrath.
Cabinet Secretary Torres, MD, got any humanity? Is there a point at which you are capable of switching your focus from redesigning perfectly good logos, installing a sink in your office, disciplining employees for wearing jeans, re-tooling the standard Windows log-on, spying on employees and yelling at EVERYONE to concentrating on public health? You say that you are “cleaning house”, but who throws out the good china and keeps the dirty paper plates? The damage you have done to the DOH is devastating and grows worse by the day.
DOH Staff
CWA: I am not brave; I’m no longer employed by the state of NM. State employees sign an agreement they will not speak to the media. On paper, it makes sense. No one wants a disgruntled employee venting dirtying laundry which may or may not be true. But the beauty of it also prevents full disclosure of what happens in state agencies.
Dr. Torres unprofessional behavior and appearance is common knowledge; she has no impulse control coupled with the inability to self-regulate to extent of explosive behavior and wearing inappropriate fitting clothing. The Albuquerque Journal reported prior to being appointed to the largest NM state agency, she had 4 years of management experience. Four years is plenty of time to learn what all first timers learn; managing a team is one of responsibility NOT one of power and abuse. Although, four years is not enough experience to administer an agency as large as the Department of Health.
Children’s Medical Service (CMS) provides care coordination to chronically ill New Mexico children. Region 2 is operating with 30% vacancy rate without lowering their client numbers. Dr. Torres, who is a pediatrician, has an obligation to answer to New Mexico’s most venerable, why these positions are not being filled.
I want to be clear to prevent retribution from Dr. Torres; no one at CMS or DOH Region 2 has any beforehand knowledge of my post.
I hope Dr. Torres was a better pediatrician than she is a bureaucrat.