From WRAL.com 1.31.12
Lanier Cansler stepped down Tuesday as secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, saying that he expects the frustration of running the state’s largest agency to increase in an election year.
Cansler, who has headed DHHS since the beginning of Gov. Beverly Perdue’s administration three years ago, announced Jan. 13 that he would leave at the end of the month to start a consulting business focusing on finding better ways for health care to work in North Carolina.
He said he’s used to challenges – he was a four-term Republican lawmaker who has served for a Democratic governor. Still, reconciling the differences between the executive and legislative branches of government became tougher than ever in recent months.
“It does get frustrating whenever you’re working on the issues and you get caught in the political contest,” he said. “In each of their minds, I think what they’re thinking is the best thing for the state, but there’s great philosophical differences.”
Republican legislative leaders and Perdue have been at odds in recent weeks, for example, over how to handle a growing budget hole at DHHS.
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