Committee recommends reconfirming Children And Families commissioner

HARTFORD, Conn. – A legislative panel unanimously recommended reconfirming controversial Children and Families Department Commissioner Joette Katz after a three-hour hearing in which Republicans repeatedly pitched proposals to create additional oversight of her agency.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy reappointed Katz, a former state Supreme Court justice, to continue serving during his second term despite criticism of the direction she has taken the agency. House members of the legislature’s Executive and Legislative Nominations Committee voted 8-0 Wednesday to keep Katz’s legislative approval process moving forward. Four members were absent for the vote.

Although the commissioner’s tenure at DCF has been divisive, several House members credited her for leaving a secure position on the Supreme Court to helm a historically troubled agency.

“That’s something that most people would not do,” the committee’s vice chairman, Rep. Ed Vargas, said. “I agree with a lot of testimony about some of the problems with the agency. However, I believe that Commissioner Katz in four years has done a lot of good work in trying to straighten that agency out.”

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