It's been months since Dr. Paul Shrode was fired, and El Paso County still doesn't have a permanent medical examiner. Four applied for the position, but none of them accepted offers from the county to be interviewed.
Some say it's because of the controversy that surrounded Shrode's termination. Others blame it on a national shortage of medical examiners. Either way, it looks like it's going to take more time - and a lot more money - to get a permanent one.
"What did we do? Maybe we shouldn't have done that," said county commissioner Dan Haggerty in reference to firing Shrode - something he says he never wanted to do in the first place. At the time of his termination, Shrode was the highest paid employee in the county, making $254,385 a year.
"What'd they fire him for? Because he lied on his resume? Has anybody ever written a resume out there? You enhance your resume," Haggerty said. But Shrode also gave questionable testimony at a trial in Ohio, and commissioners say his board certification ran out. Now, human resources says the applicant pool has gone from four to zero for a position that starts out at $236,221 a year.
"The community of medical examiners talked to each other and said, 'You don't want to screw with that commissioner's court,'" Haggerty said.
"When you, the hiring committee saw that, did anybody ask?" said county judge Veronica Escobar. "The hiring committee did not do its due diligence." She says the people who hired Shrode knew he lied about having a law degree on his resume, but because of the national shortage, hired him anyway. So, despite public pressure, she says if they then turned around and fired him for that, he could have claimed he had been wrongfully terminated.
"I really believe we would've been sued, and I think he would've had a leg in court," Escobar said. So now, eight months into the search, commissioners think they'll have to hire a head hunter to find Shrode's replacement.
"I think we're going to have to, we try to avoid that, just because there's a cost involved," Escobar said. And then they will have to add a bonus to the position that's already the highest-paid in the county.
"We're probably going to have to raise the salary even more," Escobar said.
"Had we had the opportunity to think about it, now, we probably would not have fired Dr. Shrode," Haggerty said.
We called the district attorney's office, and they say they are still reviewing all of the cases in which Shrode testified. We also called the interim medical examiner, Juan Contin, and he says he will stay in the position as long as he is needed.
The county has been paying for two Medical Examiners since 2007. Almost $500,000 a year until Shrode was fired in May, 2010. Why so concerned about the pay for a new ME now?
Haggerty needs to go back to grade school and learn the difference between embellish and enhance and falsify and lie!
The hiring committee was unaware of the falsifications on Shrode's resume since they did not do their job to start with. Two years passed before it was made public knowledge. Still, the county does not verify for themselves until February, when urged by the commissioners to do their so.
Firing Shrode was legal since the county's own employment application for employment states that falsifying any information is grounds for immediate termination.
Shrode had no legs to stand on!
How much more time did Haggerty need to think about it?
The commissioners had from 2007 when Caballero publicly brought to light the lie, while in trial, until February of 2010, when the Human Resource Department finally verified Shrode's credential for themselves.