Ex-Cover Oregon Official Back To Help Fight Oracle

<table border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td> <b>Nick Budnick nbudnick@oregonian.com</b></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p> Cover <location idsrc="xmltag.org" value="LS/us.or">Oregon</location> has given a <money>$70,000</money> contract to <person>Aaron Karjala</person>, the health insurance exchange’s former top technology official, to assist with litigation against <org idsrc="xmltag.org" value="NYSE:ORCL">Oracle Corp.</org></p> <p> <person>Clyde Hamstreet</person>, formerly the exchange’s acting executive director, signed the contract with Karjala on <chron>June 3</chron>, less than three months after Gov. <person>John Kitzhaber</person> publicly called for his firing.</p> <p> <location idsrc="xmltag.org" value="LS/us.or">Oregon</location> is exploring a lawsuit against <org idsrc="xmltag.org" value="NYSE:ORCL">Oracle</org> over state officials’ complaints that the exchange’s main technology vendor delivered shoddy work and didn’t keep promises. The <location idsrc="xmltag.org" value="LS/us.ca">California</location> software giant has blamed the state for failing to hire another contractor, called a systems integrator, to oversee its work.</p> <p> The contract calls for Karjala to be paid <money>$160</money> an hour to provide information to the exchange as well as the <org idsrc="xmltag.org" value="ACORN:3216132648">Oregon Department of Justice</org> or its hired litigators about the history of the exchange project. He hasn’t yet done any work on the contract, exchange officials say.</p> <p> In March, the governor announced the resignation of <person>Bruce Goldberg</person>, then the exchange’s interim director, and publicly called for the exchange board to fire Karjala as well as the exchange’s chief operating officer, Triz delaRosa. Kitzhaber said each of the three bore some responsibility for the project’s failure.</p> <p> Rules adopted at the recommendation of Kitzhaber’s office did not allow the Cover Oregon board to fire Karjala and delaRosa. Karjala resigned in late March and delaRosa submitted her resignation in April after sending the state a lawsuit threat that led to a <money>$67,000</money> settlement.</p> <p> Karjala did not respond to requests for comment. His online LinkedIn profile lists his current job as project manager for <org>Cognosante LLC</org>, one of the technology contractors on the exchange project.</p> <p> Before taking his Cover Oregon job, Karjala held the No. 2 tech job for the <org>Oregon Health Authority</org>.</p> <p> Ex-Cover Oregon official back to help fight <org idsrc="xmltag.org" value="NYSE:ORCL">Oracle</org></p> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td align="right"> Copyright: </td> <td> (c) 2014 Oregonian Publishing Co.</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="right"> Source: </td> <td> Advance Publications, Inc.</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="right"> Wordcount: </td> <td> 298</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <!-- start_body --> <p>  </p>