Posted on 01/29/2009 11:32:23 AM PST by neverdem
ALBANY — Gov. George E. Pataki’s appointment of Antonia C. Novello, a former surgeon general, as state health commissioner in 1999 was seen as something of a coup for New York.
An appointee of President George H. W. Bush who was the first woman and first Hispanic to serve as surgeon general, Dr. Novello was praised even by the Clinton administration for her “vigor and talent” and promised to bring new attention to pediatric health.
But the New York State inspector general’s office says that she turned her staff at the Health Department into her personal chauffeurs, porters and shopping assistants during her seven-year tenure, and has referred a criminal case, including potential felony charges, to the Albany County district attorney.
A report from the office of Inspector General Joseph Fisch to be released Tuesday depicts Dr. Novello as preoccupied with shopping and routinely abusive of her authority over employees, ordering them to buy her groceries, pick up her dry cleaning and even water her houseplants.
On one occasion, Dr. Novello purchased a heavy statue of Buddha during a shopping excursion in Troy, N.Y., then required a Health Department security guard to move it into her apartment, and then a few days later move it to another spot in her home because she didn’t like how it looked, according to the report, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times. The guard told investigators that he often had to ask his teenage son to help him move her furniture around.
Dr. Novello also ordered a Medicaid fraud investigator in her department to drive her on trips to Macy’s and Saks Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. On numerous occasions she had state workers drive her or her mother from the Albany area to Newark Liberty International Airport...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Notice how they had to mention both Pataki and Bush the elder early on in the article?
Andrew Cuomo and Fannie and Freddie, How the youngest HUD secretary caused the mortgage crisis
Paging the NYT...
FReepmail me if you want on or off my New York ping list.
Let me get this straight here.
You'e telling me that a political appointee, one commended by Clintoon, abused power?
I'm sorry. I just can't believe that.
The NYT missed the important part: she is Don Novello’s sister (you know - “Fr. Guido Sarducci”).
Steelfish, thanks for the thread.
mewzilla, thanks for your links in comment# 3.
Thanks for the ping!
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