Former NYS Health Commish Treated Staff Like Servants

The NY Times reports that the NY State Inspector General is issuing a report accusing former state health commissioner Antonia Novello of using her staff as "her personal chauffeurs, porters and shopping assistants during her seven-year tenure." Novello, a Bush 41 administration surgeon general and Pataki appointment, reportedly "ordered a Medicaid fraud investigator in her department to drive her on trips to Macy’s and Saks Fifth Avenue in Manhattan... had state workers drive her or her mother from the Albany area to Newark Liberty International Airport... would embarrass and yell at [security guards turned drivers drivers] if they did not do things the way she wanted and expected them to be at her beck and call at all hours." Novello's lawyer questioned the allegations, but Inspector General Joseph Fisch, who referred a criminal case to the Albany DA, told the Times that Novello “shamelessly and blatantly exploited and abused her staff, adding a new dimension to the definition of ‘arrogance’ and ‘chutzpah.’"