Arizona Gov. Ducey defends hiring assistants for child safety director
Feb 12, 2015, 5:15 AM | Updated: 5:15 am
PHOENIX — Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has been questioned about the way he hired a new management team for the state’s child safety department.
When Ducey named Greg McKay the new director of the state’s Department of Child Safety, the governor also took the liberty of hiring two assistants for him.
Ducey named former Valor Global Services President Vicki Mayo as the child safety department’s deputy director and former Arizona Adjutant General David Rataczak as a consultant.
Following a speech Wednesday at the state capitol, Ducey was asked if he hired the assistants because he felt that McKay couldn’t do the job by himself.
“I would say that it’s because of my background in business, understanding that it is, of course, about a leader, but it is always about a team,” Ducey said. “There’s nothing like strong senior management to make a strong enterprise work.”
Ducey said that doing the hiring for McKay was the right way to go about it.
“With the appointment of Vicki Mayo, who is a child advocate with great passion for this issue, and General Rataczak, we have a winning team that can change the culture at the Department of Child Safety, and that’s what’s needed,” the Governor said.
Ducey said his moves do not reflect on the ability of McKay to do the job.
He said that instead of focusing on why he hired someone, people should instead concentrate on the 16,900 children who are now wards of the state of Arizona and are waiting for a good foster home or to be adopted.
