South Carolina’s embattled welfare czarina will take a three-month leave of absence following a recent medical episode.
Lillian Koller – director of the S.C. Department of Social Services (SCDSS) – will reportedly continue drawing her $154,879 annual salary during her extended period of convalescence.
It’s not immediately clear whether S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley will name an interim leader of the troubled agency. Fortunately Koller’s equally controversial second-in-command stepped down earlier this year following a FITS investigation into irregularities regarding the agency’s food stamp disbursements.
Koller, 55, was tapped by Haley for the top SCDSS job in 2011 as a sop to the Republican Governors Association. Since then the agency has been literally one disaster after another, with elected officials of both parties calling for her ouster.
Obviously we don’t wish poor health on anyone … and hope Koller recovers quickly from whatever ails her.
Having said that, when it comes to the leadership of this scandal-scarred agency lawmakers should push Haley to extend Koller’s leave of absence … permanently.
20 comments
I would hope that every line employee who is facing a medical crisis will be given the same consideration as Ms. Koller – no work/full pay
Oh, my bad – I would hope that every line employee who is bat shit crazy will be given the same consideration as Ms. Koller – no work/full pay
Every time I think they can’t come up with another way to blow my taxdollars out of their asses they somehow manage to do it
Cockroachshit Bastards
Yeah, their production and the lack there of produce very similar results. Meh
Aren’t you being a little harsh? Haley has got her back. Remember, girls that lick together stick together.
Don’t hold back, man; don’t bottle it up. Bad for your blood pressure…
Lillian? Liilian? Is that you?
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/pictures/view/80633468/
Shifty is guessing that she will be found recuperating in Hawaii by vacationing with Lil’ Benito and his family.
Sic, or some real investigative journalists: Do these agency heads accrue sick and annual leave?
Yes they do but it is mathematically impossible to accrue three months of leave during the time Ms. Koller has been employed.
but if you do like Susan DeVenny of First Steps you take off over a month of leave time but don’t report ANY of it. The Legislative Audit Council caught up to DeVenn’y scam and said “Although the state office reported to us that the director was out of work for more than 17 days of annual leave and 6 days of sick leave during FY 10-11 and FY 11-12, official leave records at the S.C. Budget and Control Board indicated that zero hours of leave had been reported. If the director had left state government employment without the detection of these incomplete leave records, the state would have been liable for approximately $8,000.”
And, pray tell, why is someone like that not fired?
That’s like giving Lillian McBride another job with the Richland election commission.
Or, hiring her replacement, who lied by omission on his resume.
she is an embarrassment and makes Greenville’s Lewis Smoak the state first steps board chair look like an idiot
“New” Maff.
Sou Cakkalakky Style.
Miz. McBride bin givin advise on job performance???
We just pray that those children currently in DSS care are now properly taken care of. Please take your time to recover Ms. Koller. This was a great article and mirrors our sentiments perfectly.
Nearly $155,000.00 a year & won’t show up for work. So she don’t have to cause she gets paid anyway.
when did director salaries go to 155k?? i thought they were pegged around 90, which seems reasonable in a town as cheap as columbia. and how the hell does an at-will employee get more paid leave than any tenured employee could get? this is absurd, even by SC standards.
When the Agency head Commission came into being and decided that it was better to lure people from out of state – and, ‘compete’ for them via exorbitant salaries – rather than let long term agency employees, with no learning curve, apply for the jobs. And, gee, you can actually find out background stuff about the local people.
These people SHOULD be public servants, not those who can’t make it in the private sector and go from state to state as a way to rise in their political party.
First Steps director Susan DeVenny is the highest paid in the dept of education at $121,540. She was a housewife before her buddy Mark Sanford made her director. The Agency Head Commission looked the other way when her salary jumped from 90ks to well over 100k in the recession – then DeVenny cut 1000 disabled babies and toddlers from Babynet /First Steps to save cash.
Sweet deal. You won’t find that anywhere else in most any industry. Yep, there probably won’t be any record keeping on this one either, like it never happened.
Don’t be surprised. Isabel Blanco worked as Deputy Director for SC DSS for over two years and lived in Atlanta Ga. the whole time. She “worked” from home and came and went from SC as she pleased. She was paid over 120,000 per year and did not even live in SC!!!!!! Koller is nothing but a POS who will drain SC taxpayers dry to the best of her ability. Thanks Governor Haley! We will see you go down @ the polls come November!