Mark Sanford Needs to Go

Introduction: I should mention that when Sanford first emerged as the standard bearer for the Conservative movement and some people's favorite to run for President I was skeptical. I had done a story now nearly two years ago about Dr. Blake Moore. Dr. Moore had exposed a nurse that acted as a self appointed Angel of Mercy and killed multiple terminally ill patients at the hospital he was the General Surgeon, Williamsburg Regional Hospital. After he blew the whistle on the nurse, the hospital administration retaliated against him. The case wound up in the hands of the Attorney General, Henry McMaster, who then spent several years litigating against Dr. Moore. McMaster is now running to succeed Sanford. While Sanford wasn't directly involved in the corruption of this particular case, it's hard to imagine that his AG did all of this without him knowing it. So, I saw a side of Sanford that others didn't know.

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When Sanford first announced that he had been carrying on an affair and that he left South Carolina to see his other woman in Brazil, I thought that Sanford would be forced out of office. Sanford, however, was able to survive that scandal and continued to be Governor. He was however weakened and nearly powerless. He was at this point mostly a figure head. He's in his last term. As such, his power is diminished to begin with. This scandal cost him all sorts of political capital, not to mention dignity. So, while he survived politically, it was almost certainly at the detriment of the state he was leading.

He was, however, on a political short leash. Then, came this accusation.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford used state aircraft for personal and political trips, often bringing along his wife and children - contrary to state law regarding official use, an Associated Press investigation has found.

According to state budget law, "Any and all aircraft owned or operated by agencies of the State Government shall be used only for official business.

"Records reviewed by the AP show that since he took office in 2003, the two-term Republican has taken trips on state aircraft to locations of his children's sporting events, hair and dentist appointments, political party gatherings and a birthday party for a campaign donor.

Sanford, for his part, has denied he did anything wrong with all of these trips. There are also rumors that he and his wife are about to divorce, which he also denies. I don't know if the accusations are true and I certainly don't know if he is getting divorced. I do, however, know that he is no longer in any position to lead. His life is in chaos. He's dealing with a series of scandals and that helps no one not the least of which the citizens of South Carolina. He must go. He is no longer helping his state but hurting it. He's no longer helping his party but hurting. He's totally powerless and he'll accomplish nothing the rest of his term. He's lost his ability to lead and once that happens you must step aside because you are now hurting your party, your state, and the office you hold.

It's up to the Republicans and the members of the legislature to demand that he step down. If Sanford refuses to leave, those around must insist that he go, but either way, Sanford needs to go.

The Inside Story of ACORN 8

There is an old saying, "it's not the crime but the cover up". Martha Stewart is a good example. Her initial crime would have likely lead to a somewhat hefty fine had she admitted to it. Because she attempted to cover it up, she wound up going to jail.

The story of the formation of ACORN 8 can be summed up by a new saying, "it's the crime AND the cover up".

In May of 2008, it was first revealed to the board of ACORN that nearly a decade earlier Dale Rathke had embezzled about one million dollars from Citizens Consulting Inc., the financial services arm of ACORN, and Wade Rathke, the long time CEO of ACORN, along with 8 other lieutenants, had covered it up. As such, at the next board meeting, Karen Inman, board member from Minnesota, brought a motion to remove Dale Rathke from the organization as well as remove Wade Rathke from his post as CEO. The motion was seconded by about twenty other board members and motion eventually passed later in the meeting.

Because of the seriousness of the crimes, ACORN also decided to form an investigative committee. The committee was given the duty of investigating the embezzlement and anything related to it, so that such criminality would never happen again. The committee would consist of Ms. Inman, who would focus on legal issues. Marcel Reid , board member from Washington D.C., would focus on the organizational structure of ACORN. Meanwhile, Carol Hemingway would focus on financial issues.

For the next two months, the three ladies began investigating ACORN in order to make sure that any systemic and structural problems were removed. They found all sorts of anecdotal evidence that the organization was involved in much more criminality than simply the embezzlement. For instance, in an email, ACORN's attorney, Steve Bachmann. indicated to Inman that ACORN had been involved in ERISA violations. Bachmann indicated that ACORN employee pension funds were mismananged. Inman also found instances of lesser embezzlement. (between $6000 and $9000) She found instances in which affiliates that were 501 (C)3's were mingling their funds with those that were of other tax structures. (that's a tax violation because 501 (C)3's enjoy special tax protection that other organizations do not) Often, when people within ACORN would reveal past criminality, that admission would be followed by this quote "but that doesn't happen anymore". (which is interestingly enough what Mike Jones, Comptroller of CCI told Inman about the events that lead to another piece of criminality discovered outside this investigation)

Meanwhile, Marcel Reid found evidence that CCI, Citizen's Consulting Inc., was much more than merely the accounting and financial services arm of ACORN. She found evidence that CCI was the financial weigh station of all ACORN funds. Any monies, be it from charities or even government grants, would wind up at CCI first and then be transferred to anyone of several hundred ACORN affiliates. Reid even found evidence of co mingling and misuse of funds. There was again anecdotal evidence that earmarked monies weren't winding up where they were supposed to go. In other words, the government might give millions to fund health care projects in poor neighborhoods but it would wind up funding a media campaign.

What was missing was the financial evidence that would tie all of this together. That evidence lied in the financial statements of ACORN. In fact, Inman believed that a full forensic accounting audit would be necessary to get to the bottom of things. So, Ms. Inman decided to approach Liz Wolff, the Research Director of ACORN to request viewing the books.. When she came to see Wolff, Inman found her door closed. Minutes later, the door opened and walked out Wade Rathke, the same Wade Rathke that was supposedly removed from ACORN only months earlier. After meeting with Inman, Wolff refused to allow her to see ACORN's. books.

At roughly the same time, the board was also made aware that ACORN was about $2 million behind in state and federal taxes. Weeks later, both Karen Inman and Marcel Reid were witnessed to a meeting between the new CEO of ACORN, Bertha Lewis, Maude Hurd, who headed the ACORN board, and Alton Bennett of ACORN Housing. Lewis told the group that she had secured both a loan and a grant from Forest City, a loan of $1.5 million and a grant of $500,000. She wanted their approval to accept the deal. Ms. Hurd expressed reservations because the terms of the loan stated that if it ever fell behind the rate would jump to 18%. To which Bennett pronounced, "if your struggling to pay in any given month, ACORN Housing will make the payment." Hurd ultimately denied the request to allow the loan and instead ordered Lewis to gain approval of the entire board in order to approve the loan. (I chronicle the details of this loan and the backstory of what maybe a quid pro quo here)

Inman and Reid met privately following this exchange. They were very concerned by what they witnessed and they decided to immediately seek a temporary restraining order against destruction of any financial records related to the embezzlement, any communication between Wade and Dale Rathke regarding the embezzlement, and any other records related to the embezzlement. They eventually won this TRO and their lawyer indicated to them that the judge indicated that as BOARD MEMBERS THEY HAD A RIGHT TO SEE ACORN'S BOOKS.

The TRO would cost all sorts of money to maintain, however, and so if Reid and Inman wanted to see the books they would need to get a writ of mandamus. The writ was signed by eight board members, Reid, Inman, Adriana Jones, Fannie Brown, Robert Smith, Ivonne Strattford, and Stephanie Cannady.

Now, things became very contentious between these eight and the rest of ACORN. So, in early October, a negotiating committee was created between these eight and three other members of the board of ACORN. Reid, Inman, and Mobley represented the eight and the rest of ACORN was represented by three other board members including Frank Beatty of Las Vegas and Sonia Merchant of Massachusetts. The two sides met for the better part of a full day. They attempted to hash out their differences. After the meeting, Karen Inman, at least, felt as though real progress was made and she felt that things were heading in the right direction. Instead about two weeks later, they were all removed from the board of ACORN. Since they were no longer on the board, the judges interpretation of the law no longer applied either.

ACORN 8 was officially born. It's since grown and includes many more members than eight. The group is now determined to bring all of ACORN's criminality to light. Carol Hemingway, the individual in charge of investigating the financial portion of ACORN, the part that was missing in putting the pieces together (at least from the perspective of Karen Inman), is now the Treasurer of ACORN.

Whenever, either Reid and Inman, the most prominent members of ACORN 8, are interviewed people like Glenn Beck often dwell on their courage and heroism. I, for one, think that is beside the point. ACORN itself would love nothing more than to have Inman and Reid's heroism be the story. That would make this a human interest story. It isn't a human interest story. The story is very simple. The CEO's brother embezzled a million dollars from the organization. The CEO covered it up. Marcel Reid and Karen Inman were elected to investigate the matter and everything related to it. That's what they did. That was their fiduciary duty. That was their job. There's nothing heroic about doing your job. They did their job. In fact, they did it too well. As such, ACORN removed them from their board positions. You can draw your own conclusions but as my favorite Latin phrase goes, Res Ipsa Loquitor (the facts speak for themselves)

I, however, have a unique perspective to judge these lady's heorism and courage. That's because I have had the privilege of chronicling the stories of whistleblowers all over the country. Kevin Kuritzky brought to light crimes at Atlanta's Grady Hospital and his life has been ruined because of it. Dr. Blake Moore reported on a nurse at his hospital, Williamsburg Regional Hospital, that was acting as an "angel of mercy" and eventually the entire state of South Carolina did all they could to ruin his life. Jim Singer reported on serious malfeasance within Pennsylvania's Department of Child Welfare and he lost his license to practice psychology for more than two decades. Gerard Beloin reported on corruption in roofing contracts at his local high school, Goffstown High School, and he now lives in fear of his life. Dennis Lennox exposed corruption in the hiring of a prestigious Fellow at Central Michigan University and he was nearly expelled from school. Dr. Shirley Pigott attempted to expose corruption at the Texas Medical Board and she's since lost her license to practice medicine. In fact, the main reason I admire Sarah Palin is she was once a whistleblower. Blowing the whistle on corruption in any organization means that you are up against the establishment, a force more powerful than you. There are in fact very few acts more courageous than becoming a whistleblower. For that, these ladies deserve our respect, but their courage shouldn't be what this story is about. The criminality that forced them to become whistleblowers is what this story must be about.

Horror in Huntsville I: The Introduction

Huntsville Hospital is a posh, well to do, full service hospital that is also a money machine. Its revenues appear to run into the nine digits (before the decimal point of course). I say appear because Huntsville Hospital is also structured in a manner that makes its earnings mysterious and difficult to track. Huntsville Hospital is a part of the Huntsville Healthcare Corporation which is embedded into the city of government of Huntsville, Alabama. That said, it is not technically a fully public hospital. Its structure is much more like JCAHO and Fannie Mae and also similar to how Grady Hospital is structured now. While the city council approves all nominated board members, it is unclear how much further that influence goes. As such, it is not very clear who the profits ultimately go to.

What is clear is that Huntsville Hospital is a very powerful force not only in the area but in the state in general. Huntsville Hospital is one of the five biggest employers in the entire state. A spot on the board of Huntsville Hospital is coveted and often goes to powerful members of the community. For instance, one of the board members, Jerry Larrison, is also owner of the prominent construction company LDF Construction. Often members of the board are powerful local business persons with great power in the community but little clear experience in running a hospital. Yet, the board of Huntsville Hospital is where the overwhelming majority of its power lies.

In 1986, Congress passed a law called the Health Care Quality Improvement Act (HCQIA) Among many other things, it allowed for greater protections to medical professionals that report on wrongdoing of other professionals. For instance, it provided what is known as qualified immunity for all accusers, meaning immunity from suit of monetary damages, as long as the accuser had a "reasonable belief that the action taken affected health care quality". Furthermore, HCQIA created a database for doctors that were merely accused of wrongdoing from medical peer review not strictly convicted. For instance, I chronicled the case of Dr. Blake Moore. He reported on a nurse that he believed was acting as an angel of mercy and killing off terminally ill patients. He became targeted and eventually hospital officials accused him of child abuse. Even though those charges were never proven, the charge continues to be stuck in the database and his career has been ruined.

The Greeley Company is a hospital consulting company. Among their many services is their consultation in "dealing with disruptive physicians". Here is how their division HC Marketplace describes the situation.

Disruptive physician behavior can harm patients, staff, and physicians themselves—and it is a top Joint Commission concern.

In July, The Joint Commission issued a Sentinel Event Alert that highlights the negative effect disruptive behavior has on patient safety, as well as how it can put the hospital at risk for litigation, cause staff morale to plummet, increase cost of care, and undermine performance improvement efforts.

Learn a non-punitive, constructive approach that can reduce behaviors that place both physicians and their patients at risk.

Of course, "disruptive physician" is a vague term and and when it is combined by a medical professional executing the equally vague " reasonable belief of health care quality", it can mean almost anything.

Finally, the specialties of vascular surgery and cardiology are both highly specialized and fruitful professions. At Huntsville Hospital, both professions could net either about a three quarters of a million Dollars yearly and many even made over a million Dollars yearly. The two specialties have lots of overlap like in the highly profitable carotid stenting procedure. Each specialty is in constant competition for highly profitable business. This creates all sorts of professional turf wars. Most wind up being cut throat professional tug of wars in which specialties jockey for position to make sure that their specialty is the one that maximizes the high ticket item. Sometimes though, these turf wars turn corrupt, and competition is eliminated using the corrupt practice of sham peer review.

This is the set up for Dr. Stephen Taylor. He was a vascular surgeon at Huntsville Hospital since 1988 in 2004 when he believes he became the victim of sham peer review as part of a turf war between the two specialties. As a result, the central medical database continues to list him as "disruptive physician" and he can't find any steady employment. His reputation has been ruined. He makes one tenth of what he used, and to top it off, a Federal Case he filed has been stuck for nearly two years. Of course, those details will come in part two of this tragic tale.

Here is part two of the story.