Ortiz Got a Bonus?
A bouquet would have been nice. Maybe a sheet cake. But former Gov. Bill Owens, for whom "eliminating wasteful government spending" was practically a religion, instead gave his 12 Cabinet members $64,000 in going-away gifts on his way out the door last month. As if it were his money to spend. So exactly who got these tokens of appreciation on top of $309,000 in legitimate payments for unused sick leave and vacation time? Let's see ... Joe Ortiz, director of the Department of Corrections, is one. You remember Joe. In 2005, the state auditor's office found that he had provided such lax oversight of privately owned prisons that inmates were dying for lack of basic medical care. In another spectacular stumble, a small inmate disturbance at the Crowley County Correctional Facility in 2004 erupted into a riot that left 13 people hospitalized and the prison in shambles after the DOC waited two hours before dispatching a response team to the facility - 7 miles away. Ortiz got a $5,249.54 goodbye bonus.
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