IT Manager At Center Of Healthcare.gov Mess Set To Retire

For Tony Trenkle, the Circle of Life spins on, as Brett Norman reports for Politico:

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services’s Chief Information Officer Tony Trenkle, who oversaw key agency players in the botched Obamacare website development, is retiring Nov. 15 to take a position in the private sector, according to an email sent to agency staff today.

Trenkle was the direct supervisor of Deputy CIO Henry Chao, who has been identified by HealthCare.gov contractors as a lead liaison and tech decisionmaker in the project. Chao was also a frequent visitor to the White House, providing monthly briefings on implementation of the law.

Right, so instead of being fired -- or perhaps punted down Constitution Avenue -- for being one of the central figures in the Healthcare.gov fiasco, Trenkle will be allowed to retire.

Of course, my favorite thing about this story is the part where some private-sector super-genius shouts, "Get me the guy who bollixed the Obamacare website!" because the standards for competence are so much higher in the private sector, as everyone knows.

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