Ousted official alerted feds to fund problems

The state epidemiologist ousted Tuesday was one of the first to react to reports of misspending at the Oklahoma State Department of Health in summer 2017, according to the state auditor’s report on the department’s financial troubles.

Kristy Bradley, the epidemiologist, wrote in her resignation letter that she left the department under protest. Jamie Dukes, a spokeswoman for the department, said her forced resignation had nothing to do with “any previous events” at the department, including last year’s financial mess, but declined to state why she was pushed out, citing personnel privacy.

The report from the auditor’s office released in May said Bradley alerted the federal Health Resources and Services Administration about misspending of funds meant for the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program in August 2017.

The money is meant to cover health insurance premiums for lowincome people who have HIV, but the department

had used it to cover payroll. It eventually paid back the money.

The audit states, “Since the Ryan White Program fell under the State Epidemiologist’s administration, she contacted the Senior Deputy Commissioner to learn why Ryan White dollars had been utilized for Department of Health payroll.

“The Senior Deputy Commissioner first indicated that it was a computer system problem, which the State Epidemiologist found unconvincing. The Senior Deputy Commissioner later claimed in an email that the issue was a pending budget request of the Legislature ... The Epidemiologist, distressed by the information she was receiving about federal dollars being used to pay payroll, felt she had to

report the improper use of Ryan White funds to the federal agency that oversaw the grant.”

Lori Linstead, director of the Health Department’s immunization service, also was fired Tuesday. She wasn’t mentioned in the auditor’s report.

Commissioner Terry Cline and other administrators who were involved in inappropriately moving funds resigned in October 2017. The current interim commissioner, Tom Bates, has been in charge since late March.

Bradley had worked at the Health Department for about 22 years and had been state epidemiologist since 2005. Linstead took her current job in 2013, after about 20 years with the Oklahoma Department of Human Services.