Goodno to leave state DHS post

07/17/2006

BY RACHEL E. STASSEN-BERGER
Pioneer Press

State Human Services Commissioner Kevin Goodno is stepping down from his post managing nearly 7,000 employees, a biennial budget of $18 billion and programs that touch nearly one in four Minnesotans.

Despite the scale of the human services department, it hasn’t tended to attract as much heat or controversy as other spots in state government. “We generate a different type of controversy, I think,” said Goodno, a former Republican lawmaker who is leaving to create a new government-relations — or lobbying — practice at the Minneapolis law firm Fredrikson & Byron.

Goodno oversaw the human services department during a record state budget deficit of $4.2 billion under Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who opted for cutbacks and shifts rather than tax increases. The governor and lawmakers looked to Goodno’s massive agency, which consumes more than a quarter of the budget, for trims.

“Every decision we made was a difficult decision,” Goodno said. During those tough budget times, he even took a swipe at the state’s senior volunteer programs, which his sister helps run. That didn’t make for a very fun family holiday, he said.

In the end, those senior programs were kept safe, thanks to legislative decisions, but other programs took serious hits.

“We have 11,000 fewer children under the age of 6 with health care coverage. We have 12,000 fewer children with child care assistance. We have seen child care programs decimated. … He’s been the commissioner while those things have happened,” said Jim Koppel, the Children’s Defense Fund’s Minnesota director.

DFL Senator Linda Berglin of Minneapolis squared off against Goodno and the Pawlenty administration over health care and social-welfare issues and budgets. She said Goodno and the department administered the cuts as well as they could. But, she added, “It was a terrible task to administer.”

Berglin praised Goodno for his efforts to restructure mental-health programs and improve treatment options for those with mental illnesses.

Recently, the state has made it easier for people with severe mental health issues to remain closer to home, rather than being sent to far-away regional treatment programs, and has begun treating mental illnesses more like physical illnesses.

The department also oversees the state’s controversial sex-offender commitment program, which has grown significantly in the past few years. It has been in the spotlight recently for security lapses that allowed the escape of four offenders in April. Goodno, who will leave in two weeks, is the third Pawlenty commissioner to depart this year. Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Commissioner Sheryl Corrigan announced last month that she is resigning effective Aug. 1. Department of Employment and Economic Development Commissioner Matt Kramer resigned from his post in March.

Pawlenty, who is up for re-election this year, has not named permanent replacements for those agency spots.