State Welfare Administrator Loses Her Job Disagreement About Reform Apparently Sparked The Decision

State Welfare Division administrator Judy Brooks was relieved of her duties Monday in what apparently was a disagreement over implementation of welfare reform.

Health and Welfare Department spokesman David Ensunsa said Brooks was notified early in the day of the decision by Mary Anne Saunders, the department’s special deputy for welfare reform who has been leading the transition toward a revamped system.

Ensunsa said department director Linda Caballero concurred in the decision, which also was reported to Gov. Phil Batt’s staff. Batt was in Washington attending the National Governors’ Association winter meeting.

“Every employee is evaluated on their own merits, and everyone is held to performing a specific job description,” Ensunsa said. “Welfare reform is a massive overhaul. It’s a new rule book. It’s a new policy.

“We believe welfare reform has to be managed at the local level,” he said. “We’re trying to get the department into a situation that is responsible to the participants who are on welfare and to the Idaho taxpayer.”

Brooks, a 22-year veteran of the Health and Welfare Department, was appointed Welfare Division administrator by Caballero early in 1995, shortly after both Batt and Caballero had taken office. Brooks’ salary was just above $66,000 a year.

Ensunsa said an effort will be made to find a job within the department that “is agreeable to the department and Judy Brooks.”

Saunders, director of the department’s southwestern Idaho region before being named special deputy for welfare reform, will assume day-to-day responsibility for the Welfare Division until a permanent administrator is named. Ensunsa said there is no timetable for replacing Brooks.

He also said Brooks’ ouster will not affect the state’s plans to implement major components of Batt’s welfare reform program which was endorsed last winter by state lawmakers. A major component is a two-year lifetime limit on cash assistance, a restriction that is intended to shift people from welfare to work.