Charlie Hendricks has announced that she is not seeking re-election to her seat on the Maricopa Integrated Health System Board. You are familiar with the MIHS Board:
The Maricopa County Special Health Care District Board of Directors is the governing body for Maricopa Integrated Health System. Each member represents one of the five districts in Maricopa County.
The districts are coterminous with County Supervisor Districts, and they are large; Charlie represented Gilbert, Mesa, Paradise Valley, Fountain Hills, Scottsdale, Carefree and Cave Creek.
Board members have a tough but important job. Here's a sample of what MIHS covers.
Maricopa Integrated Health System (MIHS) includes Maricopa Medical Center, the Arizona Burn Center, the Comprehensive Healthcare Center, the McDowell Healthcare Clinic, 10 community-oriented family health centers, and an attendant care program.
Someone who runs for the seat would obviously have to live in District 2. He or she would need to understand how government functions, how budgets are established and followed, how the private and public sectors work together. He or she would need to have a government background, a finance background and maybe even a legal background.
Hmm, you know, that sounds like...me.
Dude, I'm a CPA, I served four years on the House Appropriations Committee, I chaired the House Government Operations Committee as well as the House Banking and Insurance Committee. I even have some legal training and may actually pass the bar after a couple tries.
As you know, I've been interested in the Board for quite some time.
It's a non-partisan election, so there's no Primary. We will all just face off in the General election. I'll need several hundred signatures by early August. So if you are interested in circulating a petition, let me know.
Say, does anyone know where I can borrow a beat up old truck and some gloves?
Greg, I do not know where you live (who your representatives are) but we could sure use you as another conservative voice back at the Capitol.
Posted by: RepGroe | June 23, 2008 at 11:17 PM
And, dude, you know all about disproportionate share! Like, weren't you in the House when the concept was created?
Posted by: Matt | June 24, 2008 at 12:08 AM
Considering Charlie Hendrick’s non-existent qualifications, anything or anyone would be a step up. Petrock anyone?
Posted by: ademlament | June 24, 2008 at 01:07 AM
Greg,
Dont you need a step ladder as well? I wonder is Ian, Stan and I can put up as many signs as we did four years ago for a candidate who will not be named.
Posted by: garry | June 24, 2008 at 01:12 AM
I hope you decide to go for it, I hope you win, and I hope they have some marvelous (but of course very intensive and work-related) fact-finding junkets to the South Sea Islands.
I'm not sure, if I were you, that I'd count on the local newspapers being in my corner... But I'd love to be a fly on the wall when you go for one of those candidate interviews with the Republic editorial board.
Posted by: Dewey | June 24, 2008 at 12:19 PM
You're a great guy and very talented, but I believe we need someone with a medical background more than a legal background. Love ya anyway.
Posted by: Ron B. | June 24, 2008 at 03:06 PM
Why did voters vote yes for this board in the first place? The board of supervisors should be handling health care issues as they were originally charged to do..(good luck btw.
Posted by: Aaron | June 24, 2008 at 03:11 PM
This board was created to increase taxes, because the BOS didn't want to.
Posted by: Name: | June 24, 2008 at 04:06 PM
Ron, considering that the board's primary responsibility is to set the budget, a medical background really isn't as important as a legal and/or financial one.
Posted by: Paul | June 24, 2008 at 04:30 PM
Paul, it does help to know what you're managing and buying. Greg would be great, regardless.
Posted by: Ron B. | June 24, 2008 at 07:42 PM
The BOS got rid of this part of health care duties because it was tired of having to balance its budget on the back of the county health system. If I remember correctly, the state legislature had to go along with this to create a new health care district (not unlike the baseball district that runs the spring training facilities). The county citizens had the final say by a vote.
I actually supported the creation of the district because there were questions about the clear lines in the accounting department about the health care system and the rest of the budget. While the county has a budget it doesn't have "pots of money", that is, the county can never tell any of its departments if they have overrun their budget or underspent their budgets at any particular point during a year (or at least this was the practice). I used to ask some of the county department heads, 'do you know how much you have left in your budget at the end of each month?" The answer, 'No'.
It is amazing the system has run as well as it has. But it does explain why some very public departments in the county lack the accounting to the BOS they should have. The accounting department has in the past been unable to tell the BOS where any particular department stood during the year.
Posted by: ron | June 24, 2008 at 11:57 PM
Dude,
The keys to my pickup are above the visor on the drivers (left} side, gloves are in the "glove box." I'll help with the signs if you can wait until I return from vacation. Also, once you have secured the District's rightful share of Dispro, you can help us recover the $40 million+/- the state is about to appropriate from the taxpayers of Maricopa County.
We sure miss Jake and his sense of right and wrong, here on earth.
Posted by: andy kunasek | June 25, 2008 at 12:52 AM