DHEC Director Templeton to Face Tough Questions at Hearing On TB Handling

When DHEC director Catherine Templeton appears before a Senate committee this week, it won't just be to answer questions about the spring TB outbreak that sickened 50 in Greenwood County.

The Medical Affairs Committee will meet on Thursday at 1 p.m. in Room 308 of the Gressette Building on Statehouse grounds in Columbia. Templeton will be the main witness.

Sources tell Patch that Templeton, hired for the post amid a mild uproar last year, will also be questioned about personnel decisions at the agency, including hirings, firings, job openings and pending lawsuits.

In the wake of the discovery at Ninety Six Primary School in the spring, three DHEC staffers—Anne Ashley, Malinda Martin and Latrinia Richard—were fired for mishandling the response. All three are now suing DHEC for damages and to be allowed to return to their jobs. In interviews, Templeton has acknowledged that her agency made mistakes in handling the crisis, but stood by the termination of the three staffers, even though it has been suggested that they took the fall for agency officials.

Shea Rabley, the director of the state's TB office who retired shortly after the outbreak, is also filing suit against DHEC. Rabley told Fox Carolina that her team followed tuberculosis protocol “to the letter.” Rabley’s suit claims that Templeton violated a confidentiality agreement by telling media outlets that Rabley was one of the people who lost their jobs for mishandling the outbreak. Rabley said she filed a grievance after her termination and later agreed to retire rather than be fired with the understanding that that agreement would remain confidential.

“I have a lot of questions about how this was handled,” said Sen. Joel Lourie (D – Richland), who is on the Medical Affairs Committee. “Were the people out in the field given enough support from Columbia? Why were the people that were asking for help the ones that were terminated?”

On Monday, the Greenwood Index-Journal reported that Templeton had instituted a new whistleblower policy at the agency.

The questions for Templeton about personnel may not end with recent actions.

Templeton also may be asked about a series of personnel decisions she made to DHEC after taking over in early 2012. Templeton came to DHEC after leading the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (LLR).  Her arrival at DHEC was not without controversy, as some legislators, including Lourie, questioned whether she had the necessary background in public health to lead the agency and if she could do the job from her home in Charleston.

Several former LLR staffers followed her to DHEC and were given raises to do so. According to public record, Barbara Derrick, the deputy director of administration, held a similar position at LLR, where she made nearly $93,000. She now makes more than $127,000. The State reported that Shuster knew about the TB outbreak in April, but parents were not informed about it until late May.

Austin Smith was a Program Manager at LLR where he made $70,000 and now makes more than $100,000 as Counsel to the Director with DHEC.

Critics of Templeton have said she replaced or forced out longtime staffers and brought in personnel with little or no background in public health policy. Of the eight people listed as Director’s Office Staff, five are attorneys. Only one, Jamie Shuster, has experience working in public health. Shuster came to DHEC from Gov. Nikki Haley’s office, where she served as Director of Budget and Policy, making $65,000. In her role as Director of Public Health at DHEC, Shuster makes almost $120,000.

An person familiar with the pay rates for state agencies cautioned against comparing salaries from one agency to another, particularly when one is a cabinet-level department and the other, like DHEC, is not.

Another issue Templeton could be asked about is staff turnover. Some DHEC veterans left and do not appear to have been replaced. Doug Calvert, former Chief of Staff, and Bob King, head of environmental control, both left in 2012.

Dr. Jerry Gibson, the state epidemiologist and director of the Bureau of Disease Control, left DHEC for a job with the CDC in May 2012. He was not replaced and his job was only recently posted as open, according to Lourie. who said Gibson would have overseen the entire TB department.

Lourie told Patch that the thrust of Thursday's session will about how the TB outbreak was handled, but he did not rule out questions to Templeton about personnel matters.

"You have veterans at DHEC getting a one percent annual raise while large raises went to top level management and now the agency is in chaos. That concerns me greatly. The same thing has happened in other agencies the governor has put her fingerprints on,” said Lourie.

Gov. Haley’s spokesperson Doug Mayer criticized Lourie for attempting to politicize the TB crisis.

“Sen. Lourie was one of three senators to vote against confirming Director Templeton, so it’s hardly a surprise he is trying to turn a public health matter into a political issue,” Mayer said. “In reality, the Senator is a longtime Columbia insider for who the status quo - where agencies served legislators well and the public poorly - was the best he could hope for.  Change isn't easy for those like Joel Lourie who benefit from a broken system, but change is exactly what Columbia needed and exactly what has happened under Gov. Haley.”

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