Gov.’s DMV Appointee Steps Down

A longtime state government official appointed March 1 by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to a top position at the Department of Motor Vehicles has resigned for health reasons, the governor’s office confirmed Monday.

Soon after his appointment as the DMV’s chief deputy director for strategic service delivery, Jack Corrie, 48, a Republican from Sacramento, found his academic credentials questioned.

His job announcement stated that he had earned a master’s and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Palmer Green. But a Sacramento Bee columnist reported March 5 that the university is considered a diploma mill by Degree.net, a website that monitors degree-granting institutions worldwide. Corrie could not be reached for comment.

Corrie joined state service as a prison guard in 1983 and worked his way up the career ladder to become the chief electronics information officer at the Public Employees Retirement System.

A spokesman for Schwarzenegger confirmed that Corrie’s resignation was handed in Friday.

In a memo sent to top level department managers Monday, DMV director Chon Gutierrez cited unspecified “continuing medical conditions” as the reason for Corrie’s departure.

The memo noted that Corrie, who was appointed by the governor as one of two $118,284-a-year chief deputy directors, had been “precluded” for the last two weeks from doing his job because of health reasons.

“A major factor in Jack’s decision [to resign] was his acute awareness of the necessity to move forward at top speed on the high-priority projects to reduce lines and wait times at DMV,” Gutierrez said.

In announcing his appointment to the No. 2 post at the department, Schwarzenegger had cited Corrie’s expertise in planning and operating major high-technology information systems.

Schwarzenegger expressed “great confidence” that Corrie would improve troubled customer relations at the DMV and reduce long waiting lines that have plagued the department for more than a year as a result of budget cuts.

An aide to Schwarzenegger was asked about Corrie’s degree shortly after the appointment was made.

He said the governor was not concerned about his appointee’s academic credentials but was highly interested in his performance on the job.