State Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Aldona Wos and her deputies spent more than an hour talking to legislators Wednesday morning about department priorities, but she rushed down the back stairs before reporters could ask her about her decision to hire Dianna Lightfoot as the director of Child Development and Early Education.
Lightfoot never started work after media reports that she opposes pre-kindergarten, that she referred online to former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as "butch," and to vaccination as "government intervention.
Gov. Pat McCrory said Monday that the Lightfoot hire was Wos' responsibility, but she has so far refused to answer questions about it.
DHHS spokeswoman Julie Henry said she did not know how Lightfoot was vetted.
Henry said Wos had to leave the legislative committee for another meeting.
