Former Kemp aide named DHS chief

New appointee also will serve as DFCS director.

Two months after being hastily named to lead the state’s child welfare agency, a former longtime deputy to Gov. Brian Kemp was appointed as the commissioner of the Georgia Department of Human Services.

In a special called meeting on Monday, the state Board of Human Services unanimously voted to appoint Candice Broce as the new commissioner.

“I’m truly honored that the board would support me in this initiative,” Broce said after the vote. “All of you have been incredibly helpful and I’ll be leaning on you as I get familiar with all of the DHS operations.”

Broce is replacing the outgoing Gerlda Hines, whom Kemp appointed to lead the State Accounting Office, after Hines served about two months as the agency’s commissioner.

Broce will be paid $180,000 a year. Before taking over as head of the child welfare division in July, she had no experience in human services administration.

She is a former communications director and deputy executive counsel for Kemp, and served as the governor’s chief operating officer. She was previously Kemp’s chief spokeswoman when he was secretary of state.

In July, Kemp appointed Broce to serve as interim director of the state’s Division of Family and Children Services. Then-director Tom Rawlings was asked to resign after a confrontation with a film crew.

A DHS spokeswoman said Broce will serve both as DHS commissioner and DFCS director. DHS Board Vice Chairman Randall Smith said Broce’s appointment was a strategic move to “cut out some of the duplication of process.”

As commissioner, Broce will manage nearly 10,000 DHS employees in positions that oversee programs such as child safety, child support, food stamps, welfare and elder abuse. She said her dual roles will help streamline operational issues such as hiring new employees and keeping the agency’s technology up to date.

Broce’s appointment could cause a conflict of interest because her husband, Jason Broce, works as a lobbyist at the Capitol. Jason Broce founded Terminus South, a firm that lobbies on behalf of clients in areas of state and local budgets, health care, labor and public safety. He represents the state’s nursing homes as well as a doctors and nursing care group.

Candice Broce said when she became aware that her position with the agency would become permanent, she hired a chief of staff to ensure that he — or DFCS’S general counsel — could step in if a conflict of interest, or the appearance of one, was identified. Under an executive order addressing ethics from Kemp earlier this year, Broce said she will regularly disclose all potential conflicts.

“I am an independent woman,” Broce said. “I am not defined by what my husband does for a living. I operate with integrity in everything I do.”

DHS Board Chairwoman Tiena Fletcher said she was impressed with the work Candice Broce has done in her time working for the state.

“I know the governor has a lot of faith in you that you can do this job and we’re going to expect great things from you,” Fletcher said.