$100,000-per-year DHS official re-assigned

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By Blackwell Thomas | Wednesday, March 7, 2007 1:03 AM CST | () comments

SPRINGFIELD — A top assistant with the state’s largest agency was removed from her post Tuesday until a court determines whether she threatened to fire a former aide unless he slept with her.

Teyonda Wertz, former Department of Human Services chief of staff, is being sued by her former $70,000-a-year assistant Carlos Estes. He alleges Wertz made the threat after forcing him to share a suite with her during a 2003 business trip.

DHS chief Carol Adams said removing Wertz, whose annual state salary is $101,000, is temporary but necessary to lower her profile amid increasing attention. Wertz’s new work will be focused on the state’s welfare policy, and her pay will remain the same.

DHS spokesman Tom Green said if Estes’ claims are found to be true, Wertz would be punished according to the state’s regular disciplinary policy, which could include firing.

Adams said Wertz’s new duties would take her out of the media spotlight “but still into a much needed area where we could use her skills just

for a time.”

Word of Wertz’s job change emerged at a meeting Tuesday of the Legislative Audit Commission, where members have spent their past two meetings grilling Adams on administering the agency’s $5 billion annual budget.

Members were particularly concerned about allegations that Adams and Wertz were using state-funded chauffeurs.

Adams said the travel demands of her job mean either herself or her former special assistant, Eugene Davis, drive and that he is the better driver.

“Eugene Davis is not my driver; he is indeed my special assistant,” she said. “Does he drive? Yes. But does he sit in the car and wait till I come out? Absolutely not. He’s an integral part of the DHS team.”

Davis earned $84,000 a year until he left his post in January.

Beyond the questions about Wertz, lawmakers were harsh in their assessment of DHS’s most recent state audit which found, among other problems, that the office had failed to procure at least $24 million in federal funding available to the state.

Blackwell Thomas can be contacted at Blackwell.thomas@lee.net or at (217) 789-0865.