Jun 20, 2003  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO JR.  | COMMENTS     

The D.C. Department of Health is conducting a nationwide search for a new leader of the city’s AIDS office after the D.C. Council waged one of its most aggressive oversight hearings into the inner workings of the office, known as the HIV/AIDS Administration.

Health Department director James Buford announced the change in HAA’s leadership on May 15, when he disclosed he had promoted HAA Administrator Ronald Lewis to the post of chief operating officer for the full department.

Wanda Alston, Mayor Anthony Williams’ special assistant for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender affairs, said Buford’s decision to name Lewis to the second highest post at the DOH shows that Lewis continues to enjoy Buford’s and the mayor’s full confidence.

But some gay and AIDS activists said Lewis’ departure as HAA administrator at a time when critics — including members of the Council — have raised questions about HAA’s ability to carry out its mission, may have prompted Buford and the mayor’s office to take a closer look at HAA.

The announcement of Lewis’ promotion came on the same day that a middle level official at HAA told the D.C. Council Committee on Human Services that “gross mismanagement and abuse of authority” were widespread within HAA. Lewis denied these allegations.

Gay District Council member David Catania (R-At-Large) challenged Lewis’ response to this and other allegations during the committee hearing, including charges contained in an e-mail written by a former HAA employee that a co-worker had been selling illegal drugs at the office to other employees.

Lewis, who called the drug allegation an “unfounded rumor,” had to respond to another charge two weeks later that he and other city officials agreed to rent office space for HAA in a building next to a notorious open-air market for illegal drugs.

trong>Questionable lease deal near drug market
Earlier this month, gay D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) disclosed that HAA was among the D.C. government agencies that leased office space in a building at 77 P Street, N.E., through a questionable deal with controversial developer Douglas Jamal. The city’s property management office delayed the move by some of HAA’s employees into the P Street building following questions raised by Graham about details surrounding the lease.

Graham expressed concern that the city paid $929,000 to Jamal’s company, Douglas Development, nearly a year before the city signed a lease for office space in the building’s basement. Graham questioned whether the city paid too much for the lease. City officials have said the city is currently paying Jamal’s firm $11 million a year through five individual leases in the six-floor building at 77 P St., N.E.

While AIDS activists and city officials said the issue of the office lease raised concerns about HAA’s inner workings, activists said the dramatic testimony by the HAA official who alleged threats by HAA managers of retaliation against employees and vendors receiving HAA contracts created a stir among the city’s AIDS activists.

The official, Michael Snoddy, an HAA public health analyst, invoked a city law to protect himself as a government “whistle blower.” He told the committee that Lewis created a “culture of intimidation and fear of retaliation” against HAA staff members who raise concerns about HAA’s ability to provide services to people with AIDS.

“Ronald Lewis and other senior management have intimidated and even threatened to fire staff who release information that may evidence HAA’s dysfunction,” Snoddy told the committee.

Snoddy also charged that on at least one occasion, HAA denied a contract to a vendor that fell out of favor with Lewis, even though the vendor received a higher rating score than the vendor that received the contract in an internal HAA evaluation process.

Lewis denied the accusations during his own testimony before the committee. He said he has always encouraged opposing views among his subordinates and was hurt that Snoddy could hold such an incorrect impression of his leadership style.

“That is totally not my philosophy,” Lewis said. “We have an open door policy, and I have had staff basically cuss me out and there’s not been a firing of people because of that.”

Catania challenged Lewis’ assessment of HAA at the hearing, asking him a series of sharp questions about reports of internal personnel problems, including the allegation by a former employee ...