Crony Statism: DHH secretary’s brother-in-law facing ethics charges

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - State health secretary Kathy Kliebert’s brother-in-law is facing ethics charges for failure to disclose his employment by state Medicaid contractor, Magellan Health Services Inc.
The Louisiana Board of Ethics says Galen Schum failed to file financial disclosure statements required of public servants and members of their immediate family who derive anything of economic value, directly, through any transaction involving the agency of the public servant.
The Advocate reports (http://bit.ly/1MWM6qP) the board said Schum should have reported his relationship with Kliebert as well as the $140,000 in income he made as a Magellan employee.
Magellan got a lucrative state contract to coordinate services for poor residents with mental health and addictive disorder problems in late 2011. It received $544.8 million through the multi-year contract that began March 1, 2012.
The Schum charges mark the second time in as many months a Department of Health and Hospitals’ family relationship has figured into ethics charges involving Magellan.
In January, the Ethics Board filed conflict-of-interest charges against a state health agency employee overseeing Magellan Health Services’ state contract. The board alleged that Michelle Barnett violated state ethics law by receiving a “thing of economic value” by virtue of her husband receiving income from employment by Magellan. The board also charged her husband, Tom, with failure to file required reports disclosing his salary from Magellan.
Kliebert did not respond to a request for comment on Schum’s charges.
But the department, through spokeswoman Olivia Watkins, issued the following statement: “This is an important reminder that Louisiana’s ethics laws apply not only to current state employees, but to our family members as well. The department recently issued additional guidance to our employees and reminded our staff that their families should be aware of these requirements too.”
Kliebert said last year that the Magellan contract would not be renewed. Instead, private insurance companies providing Medicaid health coverage would take over gradually this year.
Schum was hired by Magellan in 2012 and resigned Jan. 31, 2014. The board said Schum should have filed disclosure statements by May 1 deadlines in 2012 and 2013 revealing his relationship with Kliebert, his employment by the firm and income received from it.
The board said Schum made $61,818 in 2012; $78,388 in 2013; and $6,078 in January 2014 before he left the firm.
The Ethics Board posted the Schum charges on its website Thursday. The board asked the Ethics Adjudicatory Board to conduct a hearing and “assess and appropriate penalty.”

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Crony Statism: DHH secretary’s brother-in-law facing ethics charges

Crony Statism: DHH secretary’s brother-in-law facing ethics charges

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