LITTLE ROCK — Legislative auditors on Friday delayed until next week the release of a special report on Medicaid that Republican lawmakers had wanted released sooner, drawing praise from Gov. Mike Beebe and criticism from Sen. Bryan King, chairman of the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee.
Beebe praised the auditors’ decision as “a positive development” signifying a new spirit of cooperation between the auditors and the Department of Human Services, which administers the $5 billion Medicaid program.
King, meanwhile, accused Beebe of playing a “D.C.-style politics” of personal attack.
The Green Forest Republican described this latest partisan scrap as “just Act Three” after previous tussles with the governor over the state forestry commission and Beebe’s political ally and Department of Career Education Director Bill Walker’s hiring of a former employee to be an interpreter for the deaf.
“When something might not turn out the way they like, they start the personal attacks,” King said. His concerns about the forestry commission’s budget and Walker’s hiring practices turned out to be justified. The legislative audit committee chairman promised the same would occur with the Medicaid report when it was released.
Matt DeCample, Beebe’s spokesman, responded to King’s statements with an emailed statement.
“You would think the news of constructive discussions between [the Department of Human Services] and Legislative Audit staff would please the Chairman rather than illicit a tantrum. Our understanding is that any delay in release will be brief, and there will still be plenty of time to review the findings as we discuss Medicaid expansion.
“I’m not sure how DHS officials working closely with Audit staff to address concerns and better ensure accuracy can be perceived as ‘D.C. politics,’” DeCample wrote.
“Bypassing some of the Bureau’s long-established procedures to rush the release of an audit that may then contain inaccuracies sounds much more counterproductive. It is the thorough and fair procedures of Legislative Audit that lead Governor Beebe and many others to hold them in such high esteem,” the statement from the Democratic governor’s office read.
The audit’s release, originally scheduled for March, was moved up, King said, so that lawmakers could have information on some of the problems in the state’s health insurance program for the poor and disabled while they decide whether to enlarge the program by 250,000 people earning up to $15,415 a year.
Moving up the report’s release “was the only thing” that might be construed as political pressure placed on the auditors, who King said were “professional and thorough.”
But comments from the governor’s office and the Human Services Department on Wednesday describing the report as flawed and the circumstances around its release as alarming and troubling were unfair, he said.
Beebe’s comments were designed to throw the Legislative Audit Division’s independence into doubt and unfairly tar the GOP’s motivations, he said.
“You can put me on the record on that. I’ll defend myself every time,” King said.
Medicaid expansion has dominated the legislative session so far, King said, and he believes his colleagues need all the available information about the program that already covers 780,000 Arkansans.
Human Services Department officials said earlier this week that the report used flawed methodologies and a sensational tone intended to put the agency in a bad light.
On Friday, Human Services spokesman Amy Webb said her agency’s staff had “very productive” discussions Friday about the report with legislative auditors.
“Legislative Audit staff has been listening to our concerns and we’re working together, the way we need to be working together,” she said.
Webb said she expected the report to be released “sometime next week.”
DeCample also praised the cooperation between the Human Services Department and legislative auditors.
“It’s definitely a positive development,” DeCample said. “The governor has said all along that we’ll work with DHS to address any concerns that the auditors have. It does seem to be a more constructive few days.”
At a news conference Friday at the Capitol, House Speaker Davy Carter said the report “will either be relevant or it won’t be ... but the information’s the information.
“I’d rather have it now than at the end of the session, particularly right during this debate that we’re having,” Carter said.
Roger Norman, director of the Legislative Audit Division, didn’t return calls seeking comment. A statement from King and Rep. Kim Hammer, a Benton Republican and committee vice chairman, said the division “believes the Department’s responses deserve careful review and evaluation.”
The statement praised Norman’s “attitude and due diligence about these matters.”
King said the Human Services Department didn’t get its comments to legislative auditors until late Thursday and he took issue with the agency’s characterization of the report.
“It’s not a single audit. All the 2012 fieldwork had already been done,” King said, adding the special report didn’t need the same level of agency review that the yearly audits of the agency required.
As for Beebe, he should reread his State of the State speech’s section on civility, King said.
“If he wants to talk about this, he can always call me,” King said.
Information for the article was contributed by Sean Beherec of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 02/02/2013