By Howard Fischer
Mail | X: @azcapmedia

PHOENIX — Dana Allmond is going to get another $170,000-a-year contract in a job created by the Hobbs administration after she was replaced by the governor as head of the Department of Veterans’ Services.

The Department of Economic Security confirmed to Capitol Media Services it is renewing the contract for Almond to be a “senior executive consultant” for the agency. Christian Slater, press aide to Gov. Katie Hobbs, said she is part of the DES “senior engagement team” helping veterans access the services they need from the agency.

What’s different now is that the new contract comes as DES just announced it had eliminated 5% of its regular staff position because of both elimination of federal grants supporting the unemployment insurance program that is administered by the agency and the federal government shifting costs to the state. The fired workers got 2.5-week notice with their final day last week — just days after Allmond’s new contract took effect.

Slater said that development is irrelevant to Allmond’s new contract.
“The workforce reduction at DES was an unfortunate consequence of the Trump administration’s reckless cuts that endanger DES’s work to combat fraud and efficiently deliver the critical services Arizonans rely on,” he said.
Slater said conflating Allmond’s contract — as well as a separate $114,00-a-year separate contract for Marcus Trombetta to work with her — is “nonsensical.”

This is Allmond’s third position with the state in less than three years.
Hobbs hand picked Allmond in 2023 to run the Department of Veterans’ Services after the Marana Democrat, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, lost a 2022 bid for the Legislature.

Last year, the governor had a fight with Sen. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, and the Republican-led Senate over getting her nominees approved, including Allmond. After a judge ruled the governor was illegally avoiding the require Senate confirmation, Hobbs agreed to resubmit most of their names for proper consideration.

Allmond was not on that list.

Instead, Hobbs withdrew her nomination and replaced her with John F. Scott who had been her deputy. Allmond was demoted to deputy but allowed to keep the same $170,000 salary.

At the beginning of this year, DES created the new position for her — also at the same salary.

The issue came up earlier this year when Michael Wisehart, named to head DES, was quizzed during his own confirmation hearings. Hoffman, who chairs the Committee on Director Nominations, asked him about exactly what Allmond was being paid to do.

Wisehart responded that she was going to help connect veterans with services.

Hoffman countered that was the responsibility of the Department of Veterans’ Services. Wisehart did not dispute that but said DES also has programs that work with veterans.

But Wisehart also made it clear during that hearing that hiring Allmond wasn’t his doing. He said she was already under contract when Hobbs named him DES director in January.

“Katie Hobbs’ jaw-dropping nearly $600,000 handout of taxpayer money to a former Democrat politician and her assistant for newly invented jobs reeks of corruption,” he told Capitol Media Services.

And Hoffman noted that, unlike the first contract, the renewal came while Wisehart is in charge.

“Wisehart could previously wipe his hands of Hobbs treating Arizona’s government like her personal friends-and-family slush fund,” he said.

And now?

“He’s lost his ability to distance himself from her corrupt and wasteful hiring schemes,” Hoffman said.

Slater, defending the contract renewal, said Allmond and Trombly are needed even though DES has a program designed to help veterans and eligible spouses obtain employment and job training.

“As many veterans continue to face economic challenges, this is important work that will help Arizona better serve the brave men and women who served us,” he said. Slater said the pair are helping military veterans and their families “navigate the range of services available to them, and identifying barriers they face in obtaining assistance.”

But he would only brush off as “nonsensical” any questions about why the state gave new contracts to the pair in the middle of layoffs.
Wisehart said those layoffs were necessary.

“We have been closely monitoring our fiscal situation with a strong commitment to avoiding staff reductions,” Wisehart said in a statement prepared for Capitol Media Services about the job cuts. “Despite implementing cost-saving measures to maintain workforce stability while addressing budget constraints, the financial challenges have persisted, making it impossible to sustain our current staffing levels.”

That will affect Arizonans who the agency is supposed to serve, not just with job training and unemployment compensation but also other DES-administered programs like food stamps.

“We cannot compensate for millions in funding cuts without significant impacts to clients,” he said.

Layoffs alone may not solve the agency’s financial issues. Generally speaking, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is paid for with federal dollars, with the states sharing in the cost of administration.

Now the new federal budget is shifting a greater cost to the state, boosting administrative costs to the state by $38 million, to $113 million.

And the federal budget also includes a new charge to states based on their payment “error rates.” Here, too, DES is figuring it will have to absorb about $115 million a year.