AUSTIN – A well-connected former political aide landed a lucrative job at Texas’ sprawling state health commission without having to apply, and then got his boss to give him a lump sum of nearly $100,000 in taxpayer dollars to fund his tuition at a graduate school program, officials acknowledged Friday, sending shockwaves through an agency already embroiled in a no-bid contract scandal.
Records obtained by the Houston Chronicle show that the personnel issues may stretch even further than the state has indicated.
The former aide, Casey Haney, worked in the Legislature for then-state Sen. Kyle Janek and then-state Rep. Jack Stick before being hired in 2012 without a formal application process to work with both of them as the commission’s $159,000-a-year deputy chief of staff. The academic reimbursement came months later, a $97,000 gift for him to pursue a Master of Business Administration degree.
via Friends, coworkers of state officials got free tuition, other perks – Houston Chronicle.