It would be interesting (but probably impossible) to know the back-story on this!
A lot of these state jobs get filled through personal favor/nepotism rather than trying to find someone who cares.
Here in Ga, money has a way of influencing how resources are allocated. To pick a not so political example, there has essentially been a home building boom here for the last 3 decades at least (aside from the financial crisis), but the number of building code inspectors has lagged far behind, resulting in the "drive by inspection" where the inspector merely confirms there is construction happening at the address, but never actually inspects it!
I know lots of people who have moved out-of-state (mostly north) who are very impressed with the quality of the homes up there. Part of that is the greater need for insulation due to the cold, but some of it is due to the builder knowing that as long as the finished product looks good to the buyer, no ones going to say "boo" about cost-saving (non-code) short cuts. The bottom line for contractors is campaign contributions pay dividends!