Dallas News 5/11/2017 by David McSwane
AUSTIN — Stuart Bowen, inspector general of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, was fired by Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday after a Texas Monthly reporter raised questions about his consulting for the Iraqi government and his role in removing the country from President Donald Trump's travel ban.
"This was a serious and unacceptable lapse in judgment by Mr. Bowen. The day the governor was made aware, he took immediate action and asked Mr. Bowen to resign,” Abbott spokesman John Wittman said in an email.
Bowen made a name for himself in Washington for exposing egregious government waste as special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction under both the Bush and Obama administrations. In one of his first acts as governor, Abbott hired Bowen in 2015 to clean up the state's largest bureaucracy, which was besieged by bad press and a contract scandal.
Through a spokesman, Bowen denied the implication that he worked directly for Iraq but acknowledged that he made introductions between the governor of the Iraqi Central Bank and Brownstein Hyatt Farver Schreck, a Washington lobbying firm doing business with Iraq.
"I consulted with the HHSC ethics adviser who informed me that outside work was permissible as long as there is no conflict with work at HHSC; he also said that the work could be compensated as long any such work was performed after hours or on leave," Bowen said in the statement.
"I have never worked for Iraq and was not involved in any law firm activities regarding the travel ban issue."
But records indicate Bowen leveraged his experience to help broker a deal between the firm and the Iraqi government at the same time he was being paid $226,000 a year to oversee about $40 billion a year in spending on Medicaid and other programs.
More:
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas-politics/2017/05/11/stuart-bowen-one-gov-abbotts-first-hires-top-inspector-health-human-services
