By Howard Fischer
Capitol Media Services
PHOENIX -- An unsuccessful legislative candidate who was then hired by Katie Hobbs to direct the Department of Veterans' Services and later replaced in that job has now been given a newly created a $170,000-a-year position with the Department of Economic Security.
And while the director of DES said she is performing duties at DES, it's a position that never existed before Dana Allmond was put into it.
It also is unlikely to exist after she leaves what is listed as a contractual position: Hobbs is financing the position with federal stimulus dollars.
That newly created position came into focus last week as members of the the Senate Committee on Director Nominations were questioning Michael Wisehart, nominated by Hobbs to run DES. He told lawmakers that she would help connect veterans with services.
But Sen. Jake Hoffman who chairs the committee pointed out that's exactly the role of the Department of Veterans' Services. That's the agency Hobbs tapped Allmond to head after the Marana Democrat lost her 2022 bid to get elected to the state House.
Wisehart did not dispute that. But he said that DES also has programs to work with veterans -- programs that already existed before Allmond was inserted into the agency. That, however, did not satisfy Hoffman who noted DES was apparently doing that job just fine without Allmond.
"It does seem like this contractual role was created explicitly for her when she was deemed unqualified to remain in her position as the nominee for Veterans' Services,'' said the Queen Creek Republican.
Allmond was hired a month after Hobbs took office in 2023 to lead the agency that provides services to veterans, including helping to connect them with benefits they may be due. It also runs four nursing homes.
Hobbs had a fight with Hoffman and the Senate last year over getting her nominees approved, including Allmond. After a judge ruled the governor was illegally avoiding the required Senate confirmation, Hobbs agreed to resubmit most of their names for proper consideration.
But Allmond was not on that list. Instead, Hobbs withdrew her nomination and instead tapped John F. Scott, who had been her deputy, to run the agency. Allmond was demoted to deputy director -- but allowed to keep that same $170,000 salary.
Now she is part of the DES budget, a position she lists on her Linkedin page as chief of the Office of Veteran & Military Family Affairs; the contract lists her as a "senior executive consultant.''
In a prepared response late Monday, gubernatorial press aide Christian Slater did not directly address why Hobbs felt it necessary to create an entirely new position within DES for Allmond to do what is the role of the Department of Veterans' Services, nor why she is being paid the same $170,000 as she was getting while heading the state agency. Instead, he said that she "is directly helping veterans throughout the state cut red tape to receive the services that they need.''
And Slater blasted Hoffman for bringing up the subject, calling it part of his "relentless crusade to 'fire' the governor, regardless of who is harmed by his political antics.''
Wisehart, quizzed during his confirmation hearing about exactly what Allmond was being paid to do, made it clear that hiring her wasn't his doing. He said she was already under contract when Hobbs named him director last month.
But he told lawmakers that she does have a role.
"She is out in the community, working to connect veterans to the services that are available to them, the services that they need, the services that they deserve,'' he told Hoffman. "She's using her extensive experience to lead conversations with individuals that are providing direct services to all of our veteran communities across the state of Arizona.''
Wisehart said the agency has "specific objectives'' for her.
He said that includes ensuring that veterans are connected to the Department of Veterans Affairs and that they are "able to navigate'' the state Department of Veterans' Services.
Wisehart said he wants to reduce both homelessness among veterans as well as suicides.
"And so Lt. Col. Allmond is going to need to leverage all of her experience in order to make a meaningful impact in all of these areas as we move forward,'' he said.
Her contract, however, is a bit more vague about what she is supposed to be doing at DES.
A copy of that contract obtained by Capitol Media Services says she "develops and implements strategic project plans to achieve business goals, proactively leads the the project and/or business by setting the direction of the project, setting timelines, identifying key milestones and additional resources needed on the selected project(s).''
It also says the position is a "hybrid,'' meaning she can work either at home or at the office.
Hoffman was skeptical.
"So, in an era of government efficiency, don't you view this newly created contractual thing as being duplicative?'' he asked Wisehart.
"We already have a Department of Veterans' Services who's already engaging in those very same functions,'' Hoffman said. "So how are we being efficient by having a contract for this individual?''
Wisehart said DES has some of its own veteran-related programs like helping them find employment and another to do outreach to disabled veterans. Both, he said, existed before Allmond came on board. And both are staffed exclusively by veterans.
It's not just Allmond that Wisehart inherited.
The state also gave a separate contract -- with identical wording and duties -- to Marcus Trombetta. The only difference is he will be making just $114,000 a year. There was no immediate information about him and why, he, too, was needed at DES.
Allmond, a retired lieutenant colonel, made her single bid for political life in 2022, becoming one of the Democratic nominees for the two House seats in LD 17. That district stretches from the northern and eastern edges of Tucson through Marana and into Pinal County.
But she and Brian Radford lost to Republicans Rachel Jones -- now Rachel Keshel -- and Cory McGarr.
The governor's decision to create a slot for Allmond isn't the first time she has interceded in the operation of DES.
Wisehart actually had been the director after being tapped for the job in 2020 by Doug Ducey, Hobbs' predecessor. But Hobbs, on taking office in January 2023, chose to replace him with Angie Rogers.
Last year, however, the governor reversed course, nominating Wisehart to get his old job back.
Spokesman Christian Slater called it "a strategic change.''
All that resulted in Wisehart now needing to be reconfirmed -- and leading to the hearing where he was asked about why the agency needed the now-dismissed head of the Department of Veterans' Services to take on a job that DES had not needed before.
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