Democratic Gov.-elect BevPerdue wrapped up her Cabinet picks yesterday by choosing a Republican and former deputy at the troubled Department of Health and Human Services to lead the agency.
Perdue chose Lanier Cansler as HHS secretary even though he was the No. 2 person at the agency from 2001 to 2005 as its efforts to fix the state's mental-health system were widely criticized.
Cansler's consulting business, which he started after leaving the post, has been involved with the department. He represented a company whose $265 million Medicaid billing contract was recently accepted by the state.
Perdue defended the choice, saying that "99 percent" of the health professionals, service providers and advocates "agreed that I couldn't find a better leader to set the ship back to the right course."
Perdue will succeed outgoing Democratic Gov. Mike Easley on Saturday.
The governor-elect also said that current Administration Secretary Britt Cobb will stay on the job, the only holdover from the Easley Cabinet.
Kenneth R. Lay, a former Bank of America marketing executive, will head the Department of Revenue.
Dee Freeman, the retired chairman of the Triangle-area Council of Governments, will lead the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Cansler, 55, is a former N.C. House member from Asheville who left the legislature to become deputy secretary at HHS in the Easley administration under then-Secretary Carmen Hooker Odom.
Cansler more recently has registered as a lobbyist for Computer Sciences Corp. The company has landed a contract, one of the largest in state government, to complete an overhaul of North Carolina's Medicaid billing system. Cansler also was once a registered lobbyist for ValueOptions Inc., a key contractor that oversaw payments for the state's mental-health services.
Cansler said he registered for the firms to err on the side of caution. He said he only helped company leaders meet legislators, not push for certain legislation or actions by state government.
"I wanted to be absolutely certain that no one could accuse me of doing anything improper, and that's the way that I will continue operating in Health and Human Services," Cansler said.
Perdue said that Cansler has completely withdrawn from outside work and said he won't make any decisions or participate in discussions involving former clients.
"He has become 100 percent owned by the people of North Carolina for the next four years as secretary," Perdue told reporters.
Electronic Data Systems, the company that had held the Medicaid contract for 30 years, may appeal the contract award to Computer Sciences.
Cansler said as secretary, he would have no role in that matter.
Freeman, 57, worked in city government for 27 years and retired last week after eight years as the chairman of the Triangle J Council of Governments.
The council is a voluntary organization of city and county governments in seven Piedmont counties that try to work together on regional issues, such as air quality and the environment.
Later yesterday, Perdue said she had hired Eddie Speas as her general counsel.
Speas worked with the state Justice Department for 32 years, leaving as the chief deputy attorney general in 2003.
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