Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) Commissioner Tony Lourey has resigned effective today. Governor Tim Walz has appointed Pam Wheelock as Acting Commissioner. State Senator Jim Abeler of Anoka says “man, I am totally shocked that he would be leaving, there were great problems at the Department of Human Services, that he inherited and I had a great deal of confidence in his ability to work through and make a positive difference that had to be.” Abeler says Wheelock is a marvelous administrator and “she will, I think do a very good job of keeping the trains running.” Wheelock served as Commissioner of Finance in the Governor Ventura administration and was Deputy Mayor of St. Paul. Lourey’s resignation is effective at the end of the day today. Wheelock will meet with senior DHS leadership this afternoon and her appointment as Acting Commissioner is effective tomorrow (TUE). Late last week, two deputy DHS commissioners abruptly announced they were stepping down. Governor Walz, in a statement, says: “I would like to thank Tony Lourey for his dedicated service to the state of Minnesota as the Commissioner of the Department of Human Services. Tony is passionate about improving the health care of Minnesotans, and I am proud of what we accomplished together this legislative session.”Abeler says DHS, which has been under scrutiny recently for incidents involving fraud in its child care assistance program and data breaches, may be due for more significant changes and says he has “long called for a break up of the Department into a more manageable size, and if ever there was evidence that it needs to be made smaller to function better, this is that time .” Here is more with Sen. Abeler: