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Ex-elder affairs secretary says she was let go
By JULIE HAUSERMAN
© St. Petersburg Times, TALLAHASSEE -- When she stepped down last week as the state's top official on matters involving the elderly, Gema Hernandez said she was going back to teaching, her first love. But now, Hernandez says she was forced out of her job as secretary of the Department of Elder Affairs because she tried to get to the root of mismanagement among politically connected organizations that provide services to the elderly. "These providers are politically powerful. These providers make political contributions," said Hernandez, 55, a Democrat who was one of the highest ranking Hispanics in Republican Gov. Jeb Bush's administration. Hernandez provided documents Friday that she said show questionable spending by the groups that provide elderly services, including thousands of dollars spent on lavish parties, fudged travel reimbursements and high executive salaries. One document showed $7,086 spent one year on a "coffee fund" at a Miami community agency for the elderly, and another $33,000 in unauthorized travel expenses. Hernandez estimated that, statewide, mismanagement has wasted some $3-million that could have gone to services for the elderly. She said one agency was charging $85 a hour for people to take an elderly person to the doctor or on errands. "You can have a senior companion to escort someone to the doctor for $6.50 an hour," she said. "I'm not crazy. I'm not a kamikaze. What I found compelled me to try to do something," Hernandez said. "I'm afraid, with me gone, these investigations are going to be dropped. These things have been hush-hush for a long time." Katie Baur, spokeswoman for Gov. Jeb Bush, issued a sharp response that underscored the tension between Hernandez and the Bush administration. "We tried to provide Secretary Hernandez with a graceful and professional exit from her job as secretary of elder affairs," Baur said. "Unfortunately, she has chosen to make allegations of activities that occurred under her leadership. If there were mismanagement issues, they happened under her watch, and, if after careful review they are deemed valid, we will do everything possible to review them." Hernandez said Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan called her into his office last week and said he had arranged for her to get a teaching job at Florida State University. "He said, "I'd advise you to take it.' I said, "Do I have a choice?' And he said no. I knew at that point I had no option," Hernandez said. Baur responded: "I cannot characterize any conversation that (Hernandez) had with the governor or the lieutenant governor or anyone else. We felt this was a wonderful opportunity for her to go back to teaching, which was something she loved. We thought, and she thought, that this was a perfect opportunity to move on." Since she joined the Bush administration, Hernandez has clashed with state lawmakers, regional elderly services officials and her own staff. She said that's because she was trying to shake up a system that had major problems already when she took over the job as elder affairs secretary. "I tried to change the system, and I failed," she said. "If I get a call from someone making allegations of price-fixing, it is my ethical responsibility to investigate." Before joining the Bush administration, Hernandez was a public policy and business professor at Nova Southeastern University in Davie. She will now teach at FSU's School of Public Administration.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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From the Times state desk Lucy Morgan
From the state wire
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