Count Rep. Bobby Cleveland among those who don’t approve of the salary Secretary of Finance Preston Doerflinger is making as interim health commissioner. The Board of Health set Doerflinger’s salary at $189,000 on Tuesday.
“I am absolutely outraged by the news that Preston Doerflinger will now be making nearly $200,000 as the interim head of the OSDH. This salary agreement gives Doerflinger a substantial raise over what he was earning at OMES.
“Taxpayers are now footing an enormous bill for an interim director who meets not a single qualification for the commissioner of health outlined in statute. Oklahomans are paying Doerflinger to ‘fix’ the Health Department’s financial crisis, yet Doerflinger failed to catch this multimillion dollar mismanagement when he was at OMES, supposedly overseeing the whole thing.
“The salary announcement comes while the Health Department continues plans to lay off over 200 hardworking folks in this state. Oklahomans deserve better. The board’s decision to fork over $189,000 annually to Doerflinger makes one thing perfectly clear: mismanagement and ineptitude pay in Oklahoma,” said Cleveland in a statement issued after the Board of Health meeting.
So why stop with $189,000? Why not $219,000 or $249.000? And what about a housing allowance, a wardrobe expense account, a state vehicle (with a gas card), and a yearly vacation stipend? Oh, and don’t forget the free game and show tickets to everything happening in OKC—after all, it’s important to have a representative of the state health department at such events, isn’t it? Really, why should they stop at $189.000–I mean, it’s not like, it’s THEIR money…in fact, why should there be ANY connection between what is reasonable, feasible, and prudent and what these people ultimately fork over? They can always just claim that they’re half broke because of budget cuts and lay off more rank and file workers to cover the expenses, can’t they?
Bobby Cleveland is upset–and I’m sincerely glad that he is speaking out. But my question is JUST WHERE ARE THEY GETTING THE MONEY TO PAY FOR THIS NONSENSE? Doesn’t SOMEBODY higher up the food chain have to allocate this money? And if so, is there no supervisory power anywhere to oversee how this board is handling its funds? Or do they just get to take tax payer’s money and hand it out like this, and all we get to do is complain? Looks to me like it’s time to revamp the system–and what I REALLY want to know when they’re going to do a systemic overhaul money gets allocated and handled so things like this don’t keep happening.
There is no oversite, besides this is one of Failen Fallons friends and buddies so they must keep everyone happy. Oklahoma has become a cash cow for GOP. Get it before its all gone. No one has to worry they will raise his pay to even higher levels in months or yrs to come and those benifits will rise also.