Patsy Christian has a new job.

Christian was forced to step down as director of a state mental hospital in June 2008 after reports that she spent government money intended to help patients to commission an oil painting of herself.

But she landed softly. Dempsey Benton, then secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services created a new job especially for Christian, where she was tasked with improving "overall quality management in the area of nurse training across the system and compliance with regulatory requirements," according to a department spokesman.

The job paid $114,056, a cut of just 5 percent from the $119,759 she was paid as hospital director.

Now Christian has been assigned as a "special executive" at the Division of Health Service Regulation, the state agency that oversees health care facilities and investigates complaints of patient abuse and neglect.

Renee McCoy, spokeswoman for DHHS, said Christian's new responsibilities include developing disaster readiness plans for state mental hospitals.

She is paid $117,193 a year, according to state records.

Gov. Beverly Perdue will hold a workshop on federal stimulus money in Raleigh.

Perdue will speak at 1 p.m. Thursday at Wake Technical Community College as part of a series of workshops on how businesses, government and individuals can access stimulus money.

"North Carolina is set to receive more than $8 billion in federal recovery money, and I intend for our state to not only be prepared to use this money to put our people back to work, but also to spend the money with the utmost accountability and transparency," she said in a statement.

The state's stimulus czar, Dempsey Benton, will lead the two-hour workshop. 

Other workshops will be held on Friday in Wilmington and June 18 in Charlotte. They have previously been held in Winston-Salem, Clyde and Kinston. 

U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan will hold a roundtable on the stimulus.

The Greensboro Democrat and other local, state and federal officials will discuss how female- and minority-owned businesses, small companies and nonprofits can access federal stimulus funds.

State stimulus czar Dempsey Benton, Lee Cornelison of the U.S. Small Business Administration, David Heinen of the N.C. Center for Nonprofits and N.C. Central Chancellor Charlie Nelms, among others, will also speak.

The forum will be held at 10 a.m. on Monday at the Mary Townes Science Complex at N.C. Central University in Durham.

Hagan said the forum was inspired by complaints from the state NAACP executive council about the challenges of minority-owned businesses.

She has also posted an online resource guide about the stimulus package.

Some people get highways or bridges named for them.

But after decades of service as Raleigh city manager, Dempsey Benton had his name emblazoned on ... wait for it ... a sewage treatment plant.

The $90.5 million Benton Water Treatment Plant broke ground in 2007 near Garner and is expected to open in early 2010, Mark Johnson reports.

But Benton isn't complaining.

Now serving as Gov. Beverly Perdue's "stimulus czar" — an appointed position overseeing the state's spending of federal stimulus money — he was introduced with a mention of the treatment plant at an event at the N.C. Chamber last week.

"He was delighted to be associated with a facility that took that stuff and turned it into something useful that people needed," said Joe Stewart of the Chamber.

The stimulus package is being repackaged.

The money coming to North Carolina from the federal stimulus package passed by Congress is being rebranded.

At the Monday morning Cabinet meeting, Gov. Beverly Perdue said the North Carolina effort has been renamed to the more positive sounding "economic recovery" program, Rob Christensen reports.

Dempsey Benton took some kidding at the Cabinet meeting for being the state's new "stimulus czar." But maybe he now should be called the "economic recovery czar."

Dome will continue to refer to it as the "stimulus package" for the same reason we call the governor "Beverly" instead of "Bev." 

Senators wanted to know Wednesday how some of North Carolina's multi-billion dollar stimulus package is going to do what it's supposed to: create jobs.

Sen. David Hoyle, a Gaston County Democrat and co-chairman of the Finance Committee, zeroed in on multi-million dollar expenditures in the package, such as daycare, Head Start and student work study programs.

"There are a lot of things in here that look like spending and not what we're trying to do: save jobs," Hoyle said to Dempsey Benton, appointed by Gov. Beverly Perdue to oversee the stimulus money. Hoyle asked if the daycare funds were for "babysitting for people who lost their jobs."

Benton cautioned that state officials are learning more details about the federal money each day but emphasized that hundreds of millions of dollars will fund construction across the state.

"There will be jobs," Benton said, "people contracted to do that work." He acknowledged later that he didn't think the state could require that those jobs go to North Carolinians.

DEPRESSING STIMULANT: Gov. Beverly Perdue said the federal stimulus package is still about $150 million short. She plans to use $780 million from the feds to patch the state's $2 billion budget hole, with longtime go-to guy Dempsey Benton overseeing the state's spending. Still, she's going to have to dig a little deeper.

HEALTH PLAN BAILOUT?: Smoking and overeating could get more expensive for state employees. A proposal to keep the state health plan solvent would force smokers and the obese to enroll in the costliest coverage option. Pass the Nicorette and hold the donuts, please.

BAD NEWS FOR STUDENTS: The escheats fund sounds like something that would get you kicked out of school. But it actually helps students go — for now. State Treasurer Janet Cowell warned that the little-known fund for forgotten insurance policies and utility deposits is running dry, which could mean cuts to college scholarships it pays for.

CARD CHECK ... PLEASE? U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan may now have to pay her union dues. Although known as a pro-business Democrat in the legislature, she won labor's backing to the tune of $200,000 last year after pledging to support a "card check" bill that would make unionization easier. Now her vote in Congress could prove crucial to the bill's chances.

IN OTHER NEWS: Perdue's son, Garrett, joins Raleigh law firm as a lobbyist. Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge, Rice and Perdue? Nah, too long. ... The head of the N.C. Restaurant and Lodging Association says it will not oppose a smoking ban as written. Look for tobacco lobbyists to try to change the ban's wording. ... Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton didn't get his extra $63 a day for acting as governor while Perdue was on vacation, according to the state controller. No word on whether he turned down tips too.

Gov. Beverly Perdue today defended her hiring of two high-level executives during a hiring freeze across state government.

She said she hired Dempsey Benton, the former secretary of Health and Human Services, to oversee the $6.1 billion stimulus package because her budget office is tied up with trying to fix the shortfall. Benton, who started work Tuesday, will be paid $98,500 pear year.

"I needed a focused, direct, goal leader to manage this stimulus money,” Perdue told reporters after speaking to an AFL-CIO meeting.

She also defended the hiring of Ted Vaden, the public editor for The News & Observer, as the deputy secretary of the state Department of Transportation.

Perdue said Vaden’s communications background could help DOT in getting projects under way.

“I’m hoping Ted has the time, while he is finishing up his responsibilites now, to begin to work on how we can be sure that communities across the state are aware.” Vaden will be paid $117,403 annually. He will start at DOT part-time on March 2.

Gov. Beverly Perdue today announced the creation of the Office of Economic Recovery & Investment to coordinate and track North Carolina's federal stimulus funds.

Perdue named Dempsey Benton, former secretary of the state Health and Human Services Department, to lead the office and provide accountability for use of the funds, Leah Friedman reports.

Benton, 63, served as secretary of DHHS from August 2007 to January 2009. Benton, a former Raleigh city manager, wound up dealing with the debacle in the state's mental health system that was highlighted by a News & Observer series last year.

The federal stimulus package, expected to be signed into law today by President Barack Obama, provides about $6.1 billion in direct aid to North Carolina to create an estimated 105,000 jobs and rebuild the state’s infrastructure, including highways and schools.

This temporary office will be assisted by staff in the governor's office and representatives from the state agencies responsible for distributing the federal stimulus funds.

Benton will earn $98,500, according to the Governor's office.

More after the jump.

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