Bruno steps forward as DHS head

Clarke Bruno says Gov. Jon Corzine handed him a "dream job" by choosing him to run the Department of Human Services, state government's largest and most complex bureaucracy.

Bruno, an attorney and former counsel to the New York City Department of Homeless Services, is expected to begin work as acting commissioner today while awaiting Senate approval. But he could face a rocky confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, whose chairman says he is concerned Bruno is not up to the task.

"He doesn't seem to be qualified, but I am going to keep an open mind," said the chairman, Sen. John Adler (D-Camden). He said he has not yet met Bruno but "read his résumé and talked to a few people. ... He lacks experience and the vision for managing an incredibly big department, with a wide variety of human needs."

Corzine stands by his choice, the governor's spokesman said.

"We are confident that when the people of New Jersey get to know Clarke Bruno and listen to him talk about his experience, they will see he brings a unique skill set and perspective to this job," Corzine spokesman Brendan Gilfillan said.

Bruno is a newcomer to New Jersey, but Corzine sees that as an asset.

"I was looking for someone with a fresh perspective," Corzine said in a recent interview. "He's a very bright guy who I think will end up challenging the traditional bureaucracy, not because people are bad, but because I am not sure we are organized in the most efficient way."

Human Services employs 16,000 people, spends $9.4 billion a year and serves roughly a million people who receive welfare, Medicaid or services for those with psychological, developmental or physical disabilities. An advisory committee this summer recommended shifting some programs out of Human Services, but Corzine said he would let Bruno settle in before any such decisions are made.

"I think we need more coherence on mission and a lot less ... bureaucracy," Corzine said. "Mayor Bloomberg felt the same way about poverty initiatives in New York. They cut out a lot of layers and got to functionality. That mind-set I think is important in the biggest department in state government."

Its size is only part of the challenge of running Human Services.

The department oversees seven institutions that are home to 3,200 people with developmental disabilities such as autism and mental retardation -- far too many to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court decision that disabled people who want to live in the community must be given that opportunity.

Human Services operates five psychiatric hospitals, and nearly all of them are overcrowded. Within the last year, two patients with criminal records have escaped; one patient has been charged with rape; and another patient was arrested in the strangulation of her roommate.

The department also faces a federal mandate on welfare reform. By next fall, all states must prove 50 percent of welfare recipients are working or risk losing federal money. In May, 30 percent of welfare recipients in New Jersey held a job.

Bruno said he's not coming in with a lot of preconceived ideas about what New Jersey ought to do. He plans to spend a lot of time talking with existing staff -- he's not bringing a management team with him -- and with lawmakers, the people the department serves and their advocates.

"My first priority is to learn as much as I can, talk to as many people as I can, ask a lot of questions," he said during a recent interview at Corzine's Newark office. "There are a lot of people who have been thinking about these issues for a long time. I need to listen to them."

Once he gets a feel for the job, Bruno said he will manage and develop policy using the skills he honed as general counsel to the New York City Department of Homeless Services for the past four years.

"I have been part of a senior management team that has transformed a historically troubled agency and really made it a jewel -- one of the highest-performing agencies in city government," Bruno said. Last year, a court-appointed panel recommended ending 22 years of litigation and oversight because of the improvements made to the family shelter system, according to the department's Web site. Families do not wait as long for help, and there are more services to help them, Bruno said.

"We did it with commitment and compassion, but compassion isn't enough -- we got results for the agency," he said.

Bruno has his critics in New York. Patrick Markee from the Coalition for the Homeless, an advocacy group that has filed suit against the city, said Bruno has shaped and defended Bloomberg policies that curtailed benefits for same-sex partners and limited access to services for some people with chronic mental illnesses.

"Is he going to carry on that philosophy?" Markee said.

George McDonald, founder and president of the Doe Fund, a social services agency in New York and northern New Jersey that serves homeless men, said he will miss Bruno's open-mindedness and compassion.

"What I look for in these (city) jobs is someone who actually cares about the human beings we are helping, and Clarke surely does. But he is also pragmatic and realistic and hard-working," McDonald said.

Bruno recalled an incident he said helped shape his motivation as a public policy decision-maker. He watched an intake worker interview a homeless single mother of two boys; the younger child turned 1 that day.

"He, his mother and older brother spent his birthday trying to get into shelter," Bruno said.

"I left with two overwhelming impressions," Bruno said. "There but for the grace of God go I," Bruno said, now a father of two who had a year-old son at the time. "And any agency I work with and anything I do should make sure the services I provide ... should be good enough so that they are appropriate to provide for members of my family."

Susan K. Livio covers human services. She may be reached at mailto:slivio@starledger.com or (609) 989-0802.