New Hampshire Health and Human Services Commissioner Nick Vailas resigned yesterday amid questions over potential conflicts of interest.
Nick Vailas stood shoulder to shoulder with Governor Benson as he announced his exit from state government.
The resignation came in the wake of revelations LAST WEEK that Vailas planned to start a PRIVATE health insurance company.
THIS WEEK REPORTS EMERGED THAT THE COMMISSIONER co-chairs a political action committee on behalf of the ambulatory surgery industry.
Governor Benson refused to characterize Vailas's side endeavors as in any way inappropriate.
Instead, Benson said his hand-picked Commissioner needed to go because he'd lost his desire to do his job.
"This morning Nick came and saw me.....And I could tell that his passion and enthusiasm was gone......And I'm an entrepreneur......You live on passion and enthusiasm.....I didn't even look into any other things that have been swirling around.....But he just told me it wasn't going to happen anymore......And so reluctantly I understood that when you lose your passion and zip for what you are doing as an entrepreneur you can't do it. You have to leave.......So I didn't look into it and I'm not going to look into it. It's a moot point at this point and time....It's over."
For his part, Nick Vailas also stressed that state service may not always be an easy fit for self-styled entrepreneurs.
?The job is not what I expected the job to be......When you are Commissioner of Health and Human services.....and you are trying to make changes.....you find you have restrictions.....you find your hands are tied, virtually, from trying to make changes.....and that's not a comfortable position to be in..... And what you end up doing is you become more concerned about conflict than about getting the job done.....than you are getting the job done.....It becomes political.?
BUT THE OUTGOING COMMISSIONER DIDN?T SEEM TO UNDERSTAND THAT CO-CHAIRING a national political action committee representing a regulated industry might also be seen as political..
?I had been asked to serve from the American Ambulatory Surgical center association to serve on a political action committee on a national level.....regarding moving the agenda of ambulatory surgery centers forward......It did not interfere with my job whatsoever.?
Be that as it may, questions of passible interference DID CONCERN state Democratic party chair Kathy Sullivan.
SHE ANNOUNCED earlier in the day THAT SHE WAS filing of a right to know request seeking the release of information on concerning Vailas's schedule.
SHE WANTED TO KNOW THE DETAILS of his proposed insurance company.
AND SHE WANTED COPIES OF his correspondence with the trade group.
Sullivan said she bore Vailas no ill-will, but said his poor judgment made him unfit to remain in state government.
?It is unfathomable that he did not recognize this as a serious conflict of interest.?
According to fellow democrat......and Manchester state senator Lou D'Allesandro.......part of the problem may be New Hampshire's weak public ethics laws......D'Allesandro says the state would be well served if those were revamped.
?We should codify something so that it's very clear. You know, what is it that you do?....When you come to state service you perform state service -- and we should have meetings with these people before they come onboard and the Attorney General should make it very clear that this is what you've accepted and these are the rules you have to live by as you are moving forward......?
Any such initiative, however, seems unlikely to be embraced by the Governor.
CRAIG BENSON GENERALLY TOUTS HIS DESIRE TO BRING CHANGE TO STATE GOVERNMENT.
BUT When asked if ethics statutes ought to be strengthened, THE GOVERNOR seemed pretty comfortable with the status quo.
"I mean either you hire good people or you don't.....I think....And we do have a set of rules and structures that have been around for a long time. "
Nick Vailas will remain at Heath and Human services in a volunteer capacity until a replacement is chosen.
