Former DHHR official says she was fired for water testimony
Charleston Gazette
Ann Goldberg, director of public health regulations for the state Bureau of Public Health, answers questions from legislators during a hearing on June 17, 2014. Goldberg was fired at the end of last year and has sued over her firing, claiming her testimony before lawmakers upset her bosses.
A former state Bureau for Public Health official alleges she was fired for her testimony to legislators last year about the Freedom Industries chemical leak and its impact.
Ann Goldberg, who served as the bureau’s director of public health regulations for six years, filed a lawsuit Friday in Kanawha Circuit Court against the state Department of Health and Human Resources and its secretary, Karen Bowling.
Goldberg claims Bowling became upset with her testimony and fired her “despite the fact that it was accurate and was consistent with what [Goldberg] had been directed to say,” according to the lawsuit, filed by attorneys Allan Karlin and Robert Bastress.
The January 2014 chemical leak from Freedom Industries contaminated the drinking water of an estimated 300,000 people in several counties.
DHHR officials did not have any immediate comment on Goldberg’s lawsuit.
Goldberg agreed to testify about the leak before the House of Delegates Health and Human Resources Committee in February 2014. She was told after her testimony that Bowling was upset by it, according to the lawsuit.
The Legislature eventually enacted a law that, among other things, required the Bureau for Public Health to amend its existing rule governing public water systems. A draft of a new rule was prepared, Goldberg says, along with a fiscal note that estimated how much it would cost if the rule were adopted. The fiscal note was shared with Bureau for Public Health and other DHHR staff, the governor’s office, the state Department of Environmental Protection, members of the public and water utilities from around the state, according to the lawsuit.
Goldberg was asked to testify on the proposed rule in June 2014 before the Joint Legislative Commission on Water Resources. She agreed, but first notified DHHR staff of her scheduled appearance, according to her complaint.
She appeared before the commission June 17 and described the proposed rule. In response to legislators’ questions, according to her lawsuit, she discussed the accompanying fiscal note.
Goldberg told legislators that they had set aside $1.5 million for the bureau’s work, but DHHR officials now thought the first year’s work could cost $1.9 million, the Gazette reported at the time. Goldberg said annual costs in future years could fall under $1 million, according to the Gazette report.
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