The Sociopathic Politician

The other evening over at a friend's house, he had that day's Wall Street Journal. On the front page was yet another story about Rod Blagojevich. In our discussion of Blagojevich, I referred to him as a textbook case of a Sociopath...

defined by the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual: "The essential feature for the diagnosis is a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood."[1] Deceit and manipulation are considered essential features of the disorder. Therefore, it is essential in making the diagnosis to collect material from sources other than the individual being diagnosed.

In a matter of fact tone, my friend said that he felt all politicians were Sociopaths. While this maybe an overstatement, in many ways politics breeds Sociopaths. First, a politician's job is ultimately to get re elected. The art of getting re elected is ultimately as selfish a process as they get. You aren't ever necessarily doing what's right but rather what you think the most people will find suitable, acceptable, or worthy of getting their vote next time. Politicians make decisions almost always based on the politics of a situation not the policy. The politics of any situation is always based on self interest not the interest of the public at large. Such a mindset breeds the sort of selfishness that is inherent in Sociopaths.

Second, politics is in essence all about the accumulation of power. Power is is a zero sum activity. As such, the process of accumulating power involves taking power away from someone else: opponents, citizens, etc. The process of accumulating power is also inherently selfish in a way that breeds Sociopaths. Furthermore, most Sociopaths are not only charming but extremely manipulative and both of those are traits most successful politicians.

The Sociopathic politician with which I am most familiar with is an individual out of Georgia by the name of Vernon Jones. Jones is suspected in six rapes since the mid 1980's. The last of which was described to my by a source I consider very reliable in graphic detail involving a three some gone wrong. This happened Christmas a few years back.

Jones, for many years, was CEO of DeKalb County in Georgia. He used this position to get inside information on many land deals that became profitable for himself. In his role as CEO of DeKalb County, he was also responsible for choosing the members of the board of Grady Hospital. He made Robert Brown head of the board for several years. Brown then used Grady on multiple occasions as piggy bank directing business from Grady to the architecture firm he owned. Meanwhile, Grady has gone through multiple bouts of financial dire straits while members of the board, like Brown, have seen enormous wealth for themselves.

Jones also oversaw one of the most corrupt police departments in the country, the Dekalb County Police Department. In 2001, while he was CEO of DeKalb County, Sheriff Elect Derwin Brown was murdered by the outgoing Sheriff Syd Dorsey. This was the culmination of decades of corruption at the DeKalb County Police Department including nearly a decade on his watch. Jones proceeded to install Thomas Brown (no relation), one of his cronies, to replace the deceased Derwin Brown. Thomas Brown proceeded to make nothing more than cosmetic changes to the department. The jail nearly built the penthouse of prisons for Dorsey until that was discovered and broken by an investigative journalist. In 2006, his opponent for CEO of DeKalb County, Ron Marshall, was followed, had unwarranted background checks done, and eventually Marshall mysteriously wound up in the Terror Watch List.

Finally, I believe that Jones is involved in the cover up of the apparent suicide of Charles Hicks using another one of his cronies, Donald Frank, to cover up a homicide. Frank wound up serving as Jones' Homeland Security Director for DeKalb County. He did all of this while he was supposed to be running the County of DeKalb.

The behavior of Blagojevich can also be classified as textbook Sociopathic. Nearly everything he has done while in office has been for self benefit at the expense of the public. All the corruption, bribery, and quid pro quos, have been done in order to gain personal wealth, power, and influence, and all at the expense of the public he has served.

For real horror stories of what terror a Sociopathic politician can breed, we need to look at any despot around the world. Sociopaths like Hitler, Stalin, and Hussein all brought terror to their own people and their neighbors for decades. All of these folks were so consumed by power that anyone that stood in their way was eliminated. Entire populations were subverted, eliminated, or put down in order so that the Sociopathic tyrant could maintain power. My grandfather got a first hand lesson in the terror of a Sociopathic politician. Joseph Stalin put my grandfather into a Siberian gulag for the better part of the next two decades on the eve of WWII. My grandfather's crimes were two 1) he was Jewish and 2)he ran a successful corner store in a small Siberian village. These two things made my grandfather a threat and a target, and Stalin felt the need to eliminate him. My grandfather paid for Stalin's Sociopathy with nearly twenty years of his life.

Everyday, citizens everywhere pay the price for the deeds of Sociopathic politicians. We pay for it with higher taxes. We pay for it with a bureaucracy that looks out for the interests of power brokers rather than the public. We pay for it by having a government full of waste, and one that looks out for special interests rather than the interests of the public at large. We pay for it by having corruption swept under the rug and overlooked. Of course, in the most extreme, citizens pay for it with their loss of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. The Sociopathic politician is a cancer to any political system and unfortunately the nature of the beast breeds such an individual. As such, we, the voters, must always be aware of it and be able to identify all Sociopathic politicians. Such a combination has explosive possibilities.

My Email to Burrell Ellis

Introduction: It's likely that because I have written a lot about issues surrounding Grady Hospital in Atlanta, Ga. that I wound up on the email list of Burrell Ellis, who recently was voted the next CEO of Dekalb County. Dekalb. Dekalb County is right next door to Fulton County where Atlanta is located. Grady Hospital services both Fulton and Dekalb County. Ellis' predecessor, Vernon Jones, has been, in my opinion, in the middle of much of the corruption that surrounds Grady Hospital. In any case, I recently received this email that I felt obliged to respond to.

Thank you and thanks to all our neighbors for the vote of confidence you me at the polls to serve you as your next DeKalb County CEO. I am humbled by and grateful for the mandate you have bestowed. I will wake up every day and ask, "How can I work for our constituents today?"

I thank you for your votes. I also want to thank you for being an essential part of this campaign to build a New Consensus for a Better DeKalb. That's because so many of you, folks from every part of the county and from every walk of life, did more than vote. As part of the New Politics we see emerging across this country, you, voters who care about your neighborhoods and your kids' schools and the quality of life we all share, have been an active participant in this project. The New Consensus for a Better DeKalb is your work. Here's why I say that.

I am a candidate of the New Politics, and that means that the way I ask for your vote is in fact the way I will work for you in office. And so almost two years ago we began a dialogue. I asked you, by mail, over the internet, and in your neighbors' homes, what are your priorities? I said I needed to hear from you about your priorities so that TOGETHER we can make your priorities DeKalb County's priority.

Dear Mr. Ellis, I want to congratulate you on your victory. Furthermore, I hope you understand that your predecessor, Vernon Jones, has left you with plenty of work to do. I have spoken with many people in the know and they tell me that you aren't merely his stooge or lackey and that you may in fact work hard to try and bring the sort of change that the County you are now in charge of desperately needs. I am not nearly as confident as those I have spoken with. Furthermore, even if initially your intentions are good, Dekalb County has a way of corrupting even those with initial good intentions.

That said, if you are serious about your commitment to work for your constituents, there are several things that you can do right away. First, the Dekalb County Police Department is the center of systemic corruption and has been for decades. This corruption climaxed with the death of Derwin Brown, the incoming sheriff, in 2001. Brown was killed by the then outgoing sheriff Syd Dorsey. Following the tragic death Derwin Brown, nothing more than cosmetic changes were done to the police department. As such, the same vicious corruption that exists that lead to the tragic death of Derwin Brown continues to be part of this department today. Cleaning up that corruption should be your first priority if you are serious about your commitment to your constituents.

Second, Grady Hospital, which serves the poor in your county and Fulton County, continues to be the center of obscene amounts of corruption. As Dekalb County CEO, you are responsible for selecting the members of the board of Grady Hospital. It is my opinion that your predecessor elected members to the board that contributed to the corruption. This corruption was epitomized by the selection of Robert Brown to head the board for several years. Among many dubious moves by Brown was awarding his own architecture firm a multi million dollar project in 2002 while Grady was in the middle of financial upheavel. If you are serious about your commitment to your constituents, you will make sure all future members of the board do not hav the sort of conflict of interest that Brown and others have.

Furthermore, you will demand an immediate investigation into the manner in which former Grady Hospital CEO, Otis Story Jr., was fired. Furthermore, you will demand that an investigation begin into the manner in which Pam Stephenson orchestrated a golden parachute for herself while she was concurrently CEO, head of the board, and a State Senator. As you may know, Grady recently received a golden parachute of its own from the Woodruff Foundation. That means the hospital will be able to function without public funds, FOR NOW. Of course, if they continue in the same corrupt way they have for decades, that money will run out quickly. Then, the hospital will look for another hand out and among the hands will be your county.

Finally, I am of the opinion that a serious investigation needs to be made of your predecessor. Time and again, Vernon Jones used the office as his own personal piggy bank and the systemic corruption he created as a result will continue unless it is investigated. Furthermore, by investigating your predecessor, you will show the voters you aren't merely his lackey. You will show everyone that the political machine that has created the systemic corruption he was an integral part of is one you are NOT.

Mr. Ellis I wish you luck in your new role, and I hope that your actions will match your hopeful rhetoric.

Vernon Jones: The Smoking Gun

DeKalb County, Georgia...

For much of the last decade, Dekalb County has been buying up land and turning it into parks and other natural outdoor areas as part of their green space program. According to their site, nearly 2300 acres have been acquired by the county and transformed into greener space.

A source has forwarded me 34 pages worth of documents that make the acquisition of 183 acres in particular suspect to say the least. At the center of this latest scandal is an individual that I am well aware of, Vernon Jones.

These 183 acres of land is known as Arabia Mountain Heritage Area. The area in question belonged to a company by the name of Dekalb Stone Company (later changed OldCastle Materials). They owned a rock quarry that was at the time of the beginning of this affair not in use.

Vernon Jones inquired about acquiring this land for the county's green space initiative. On November 21, 2001, he sent the CEO of the company, Morris Bishop, a letter formally requesting the county acquire the land. In January and then June of 2002, the company responded and informed the county that the land had been grandfathered in and that the company intended to re open the area for one of their quarries.

In April of 2003, (again according to the documentation including a court brief) VJ flew to Washington D.C. and met with Bishop and other big wigs from OldCastle to try and broker a deal to provide the company with land to build a quarry in another area of DeKalb County. This quarry was to be built in an area by what is known as Maddox Road. At roughly this exact time, VJ also goes ahead and invests in 53 acres of land right across the street from the Arabia Mountain Heritage Area. It is of course common knowledge that land is depressed in areas next to rock quarries and Jones pays roughly 500k for this strip of land. (Of course, again, not a bad deal considering he makes just under 100k per year as DeKalb County CEO)

This worked out to be a good deal not only for the county but for the company as well. There was only one hurdle. The new land had to be approved for re zoning. I have already pointed out the corrosive effect of corrupt review processes in the medical profession as well as in academia. The process for the review of this zoning was no less corrupt. The very same folks that were involved in brokering the deal, the DeKalb County Board lead by VJ himself, were the ones in charge of deciding the fate of the zoning action. Since the board, and Jones specifically, had a stake in the successful approval of the application, the whole approval process became nothing more than a sham.

According to the documents I received, the zoning approval came with two corrupt quid pro quos. First, OldCastle agreed to give up its 183 acres of land in Arabia to the green space initiative and second they agreed to pay DeKalb County a total of 8.3 million dollars. Here are snippets of correspondences that I was able to get a hold of...

I would like to reassure DeKalb County of our commitment once our land use permits are granted for the Maddox Road site. It is our commitment to donate the South Goddard Road site (the Arabia Mountains area) to DeKalb County for their greenspace expansion

...

I am pleased to advise you that OldCastle Materials is hereby agreeing to donate #300,000 on or before October 31, 2004 to the development of Rock Chapel Park, located on Rock Chapel Road in DeKalb County

Both these emails were written by Morris Bishop, the CEO of OldCastle, to DeKalb County Commissioner Hank Johnson.

According to a brief filed with the Superior Court of Dekalb County (civil action file no. 03-cv-12396) not only were these quid pro quos never disclosed, but neither were VJ's financial interests in seeing the deal go through. To top it off, the application was rushed through without giving residents of Maddox Road area a proper opportunity to object to a quarry being built in their neighborhood.

All of this might have stayed under the radar had it not been for LaFarge Aggregators, a competing quarry company. Their own application to build a quarry in the same area was bumped so that OldCastle could get their application fast tracked. LaBarge of course wasn't sitting on 183 acres of prime real estate that they could donate to the DeKalb County greenspace project. (They are the plaintiffs in the legal suit)

The 53 acres that Vernon Jones bought in 2004 were then sold by him at the end of 2007 for a cool $770,000, or an almost 50% profit in about three years. Not bad considering where the market was. It goes without saying that upcoming greenspace projects are kept private so that there isn't a run on real estate in those areas. In other words, VJ traded on "inside information" as a result of his position.

Epilogue: To see where Vernon Jones fits into the mess overall at Grady Hospital, please read this summary. Also, please read the recommendations my colleagues and I have come up with for saving Grady Hospital

Dale Cardwell and the Cynicism of the Right Blogosphere

Introduction:
Because I have been following the story of the fiasco at Emory University, Grady Hospital and beyond, I am in a unique position to understand the plight of one Dale Cardwell, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Georgia. Some of the same people that I find have acted cynically towards him will no doubt cynically accuse me of being too close to the situation. I don't believe that is so at all, and in fact the truth is that I know things that the cynics don't. That hasn't stopped most of them from snickering at Cardwell in a childish and condescending manner. One of my least favorite things about the blogosphere is the tendency of most of it to dwell too much on triviality and lose sight of what is important. The right blogosphere's fascination with Cardwell's publicity stunt is just one of those moments. Now, without further adieu...

I found a curious thing around the right blogosphere over the last couple of days. They have all become fascinated with a publicity stunt by long shot candidate for the U.S. Senate in the state of Georgia on the Democratic side.

It also opens you up to having another candidate, someone who is credible, jump into the Democratic primary and beat your butt off that pole and out of nomination.

Dale, come down. I know you want high name identification so you can beat Snuggles. But when people talk “high name id,” they don't mean 300 feet in the air. They mean the number of voters who know who you are.

I bet a good number of voters will now know who you are. And they're going to think you are nuts.

Cardwell will spend the next several days on top of a scaffold about three hundred feet in the air in order to draw attention to his campaign. It appears much of the right blogsophere, in Georgia and beyond, is amuse by this and has run with this story in a cynical attempt to snicker and make fun of an ideological rival. Now, there are several things here. First, this is Cardwell's first campaign. Thus, he will do some goofy things as any novice campaigner will do. Second, I have always found that political opponents are the last people to judge any political move objectively. Third, and most important, who cares? Is it really the best use of folk's time, to snicker at a political candidate trying a stunt to gain attention?

The most obscene dig was this...

Former "investigative reporter" Dale Cardwell has a message. He's the guy who will work for the people of Georgia, not the "big corporations who fund the campaigns of elected officials and then tell them what they can and can't do". It's time to run the crooks out of Washington.

First, a bit of background...Dale Cardwell is an investigative reporter by trade. This blogge perceives Cardwell's work as an investigative reporter to be so lacking that they felt the need to wrap quotation marks around the words. This blogger doesn't know what I know.

For instance, a few years ago Syd Dorsey, outgoing sheriff, murdered Derwin Brown, the incoming sheriff. After his conviction, the Sheriff's department nearly built Dorsey the penthouse of jail cells. Nearly I say, because Dale Cardwell got wind of this and exposed the corruption and forced the sheriff's department to treat Dorsey like the murderer that he is.

Furthermore, Cardwell's work ticked off so many bad guys that he actually wound up on the exact same hit list as the murdered hero, Derwin Brown. A member of the sheriff's department spent about a month living in Cardwell's home because that is how seriously they took the threat.

Now, you want to talk about cynicism. Here is a marginal blogger condescending towards Cardwell's work as an INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER. With all due respect to the right blogosphere, the minute that any of you tick of enough bad guys that someone puts a hit on you is the minute that you have earned the credibility to condescend to Cardwell's work as an investigative reporter.

The cynicism doesn't stop there though. Cardwell's opponent in the primary is one Vernon Jones. Jones is almost certainly a multiple rapist, he's been involved in several shady land deals, and he currently presides over one of the most corrupt police departments (DeKalb County where the outgoing sheriff, Syd Dorsey murdered the incoming sheriff Derwin Brown) and also presides over the corrupt and troubled Grady Hospital. What makes me cynical is how this corrupt and evil individual is not only running for U.S. Senate but actually winning in the primaries. Rather than focusing on the atrocious behavior of Georgia Democrats who apparently have no problem with this likely multiple rapist because he will likely win the primary. Of course, Conservative bloggers have no use for that story when they can spend so much time condescending towards Cardwell.

What's really interesting is that Cardwell's investigative career came up against Jones many, many times. In fact, nothing I have just said is of any new news to Cardwell. He exposed much of the corruption himself of what I speak of. In fact, it is likely that Cardwell ran in part at least because he knows all too well just how corrupt and evil Jones is. Cardwell is not the first political opponent to run against Jones. A couple years back Ron Marshall, of the Grady Coalition, challenged Jones for Dekalb County CEO. For his trouble, Marshall was routinely followed, he wound up on the terror watch list, and his house was often staked out. Marshall lost rather decisively like Cardwell is likely to do.

What is interesting about all of this is that despite knowing all of this about Jones, one is unlikely to hear Cardwell use it. That's because this political novice does know all too well that if a white man ever accuses a black man of malfeasance, then that black man reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a trusty card: the race card.

Now, not for nothing, but in the race for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in Georgia, I find plenty to be cynical about and Cardwell going up three hundred feet is not a priority. The right blogosphere doesn't analyze the despicable nature in which this likely multiple rapist continues to win elections. The right blogosphere doesn't talk about the political climate that fosters a campaign in which a white opponent doesn't touch upon his opponents plethora of ethical lapses because then they would be accused of racism. The right blogosphere doesn't even mention how obscene it would be for such a corrupt individual to represent a major party for the U.S. Senate. No, the only thing the right blogosphere cares about is a political stunt to get attention.

With all due respect to all the right bloggers, you have given me plenty to be cynical about.

A Plug for Dale Cardwell: Democratic U.S. Senator for Georgia

Here is the latest campaign note from Dale Cardwell.

Hi everybody,

I hope you all had a great Christmas, Hanuka and will have a wonderful new year. I wanted to ask a big favor. Most of you know I'm fighting a David vs. Goliath type battle for the US Senate against
Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss (R) Georgia.

Quite frankly, the pundits consider him a shoe in. Why? Not
because of his policies, (he's rated as one of President Bush's most loyal Senators) and not because of his popularity. (he's polling right at 50 %) So why is he considered a shoe in? Because the giant corporate special interest "pacs" are flooding his campaign with cash. He's raised four million dollars so far, and he'll raise a lot more. Insurance companies, health care corporations, tobacco companies and oil companies have found a great friend in Saxby Chambliss.

As you know, I'M NOT TAKING PAC MONEY.

Which brings me to my request. If things go according to plan, you're
going to hear about me doing something QUITE EXTRAORDINARY starting January first. I mean QUITE EXTRAORDINARY. EXTRAORDINARY TO THE POINT OF DRAWING NATIONAL ATTENTION to my efforts to take our country back.

That said, PLEASE go to my website ; and checkout my "webcam" beginning ten a.m. Tuesday. And please, if you believe in breaking the strangle hold of special interest pacs, dig down deep and PLEASE contribute anything you can to my effort. And PLEASE, tell your friends about our effort.
I can beat Saxby Chambliss, but I need your help.

Thanks for everything,

Dale Cardwell

Now, one might ask why a conservative from the Midwest would take any interest in the Democratic campaign for U.S. Senate for the state of Georgia. Before Cardwell faces off against Chambliss, he will have to beat Vernon Jones in the Democratic primary, and if you click the link you will see that Jones is someone that I know plenty about. Of course, so does Cardwell. He was an investigative reporter in the Atlanta area for years and he came across Jones' malfeasance many times.

Cardwell is a good and honest man, the opposite of Jones, and thus I have no problem supporting him in the primary at least.

The Changing Political Dynamic Surrounding Grady Hospital

From a purely political junkie level the current dynamics surrounding Grady Hospital are absolutely fascinating. Here is a quick run down. Late last month, the board at Grady Hospital approved a plan to go quasi private and asked, or demanded depending on your perspective, for roughly half a billion dollars in order to stay solvent. Then, not two weeks later, the JCAHO threatened to cut off Grady's national accreditation. Now, let's take each one at a time and then look at them together.

I believe the board is playing a huge political game of chicken with the Georgia legislature. I believe this plan does NOT have the best interest of the hospital in mind whatsoever. While that is certainly important, it is unfortunately a side issue in this political battle. As a friend of mine once put it

Grady can't shut down because who would take care of all the poor folks then

Without the money called for in this plan, Grady WILL shut down. The powers that be know this, and I have said as much. While Grady Hospital has had a long history of corruption and mismanagement, much of the power structure has continued to boldly and brazenly manage it in much the same way that has landed it in its current state. The reason for this is of course quite complicated, however it is due in no small part to Grady's vital role in Georgia health care system and society at large. Remember, Grady Hospital is among the largest in the world and is overwhelmingly responsible for taking care of most Georgia's poor folks. Without it all of the many "nice" hospitals in the area would have to take care of those folks.

I have fallen in love with the Latin phrase, Res Ipsa Loquitur. (The facts speak for themselves) Given Grady's long and sordid history with corruption and mismanagement, the fact that most of the power structure in Georgia never tried to really stop it tells me that most people don't much care as long as some other entity was taking care of those that no one else wanted to take care of, THE POOR. I believe the powers that be are counting on the exact same dynamic now. I believe the only thing most of the power players in Georgia want to avoid is for the poor folks to be dropped on the rest of the health care system. As long as they are Grady's problem, in my opinion, most everyone else turns a blind eye.

Thus, we have this game of chicken. The legislature doesn't want to hand Grady Hospital anymore money. They must know that the systemic problems currently going on at Grady aren't going to be solved with this plan, however without an infusion of cash, Grady shuts down. The powers that be at Grady are counting on the legislature blinking first. The legislature meets again in January so, for now, that part of the story is on hold.Enter the JCAHO. Just last week they publicly threatened to revoke the accreditation of Grady Hospital. To put this move in perspective only one hospital, King Hospital in California, has ever actually lost their accreditation. Many of allies on this story have extolled this move as pivotal. I am a lot more skeptical. There must have been the same kind of excitement when State Senator Charles Walker was convicted of 127 felonies at Grady and beyond. Yet, he, along with his daughter and the companies they ran, were the only ones that were convicted, and of course he got the absurd sentence of ten years. In 2004, the department of Health and Human Services conducted an investigation that concluded this...

the conditions at Grady Hospital pose a serious and immediate threat to the
health and safety of the patients

That was pretty damning however besides the then CEO, Dr. Andrew Agwunobi, no one lost their job as a result of this report and the power structure stayed in place despite its damning findings.Even in the late 1990's, Georgia Attorney General found Grady Hospital guilty of Medicare fraud. All of these were opportunities lost to clean up the corruption at Grady Hospital. The reason it didn't happen is also quite complicated, however I believe much of the blame goes to the media in Atlanta, headed by the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

In each of these stories, the truth is quite complicated and it was never fully explained to the citizens of Georgia. For instance, in the case of the HHS report, the report itself was damning, however how many people know the specifics of the report? Four departments were singled out: oncology, cardiology, General Surgery, and obgyn, in the report. Each of these departments had heads. None of these people lost their jobs because the specifics of the report weren't ever reported properly in the media. Furthermore, the heads of these departments had one boss, the Chief Medical Officer. His name is William Casarella and he has since been promoted within Emory University. This also happened because the media didn't properly report the specifics of the case. All people knew, if anything, about the investigation was the conclusion. While that was damning enough blame was impossible for a layman to determine without understanding the specifics as I now explain them.

In the case of Medicare fraud in the late 1990's, three departments were also identified: cardiology, obgyn, and oncology. Again, these departments have heads and a Chief Medical Officer above them. All of them including the CMO should have been and would have been fired if the media had properly exposed that case. As you can see the same departments are now coming up in multiple reports. No one outside the Grady structure knows this because the media, either through incompetence or worse, doesn't report the specifics of each case.There is one other case that the media did an atrocious job of reporting. That is the case of Dr. Sam Newcom. He was for about a year, the head of Oncology at Grady Hospital and Emory University Professor. He tried to speak out about the corruption and poor patient care at Grady Hospital and he was fired and ultimately paid off and silenced, but before that he wrote an article entitled Fighting Class Cleansing at Grady Memorial Hospital. You won't find this article in any mainstream Atlanta publication. As head of Oncology, you would be right in concluding that much of his indictment centered on his own department. In other words, oncology is the subject of a great deal of indictment from people of varying motivations and knowledge.

Nothing much has happened to clean up the oncology department and that is because the media has been asleep in reporting the specifics of what is going on at Grady.Then, there is Emory University. When the heat gets hot on Grady, Emory does a great job of distancing itself. In fact, they are doing their own disappearing act now. The truth is that they are for all intents and purposes one and the same. Each of these departments indicted by several different groups was run and almost fully staffed by staff at Emory University. The Chief Medical Officer, Dr. William Casarella, during much of this malfeasance has since been promoted within Emory. In other words, when there is sytemic problems at Grady Hospital, the blame must be laid at Emory University since it is staffed overwhelmingly by Emory professors and students. When Dr. Newcom indicted oncology, he was indicting his own colleagues since oncology is overwhelmingly staffed, like most of Grady Hospital, by Emory University personnel.

Now, what about the JCAHO findings? We know they are threatening to cut off accreditation however why? That, we don't know because for reasons unknown (I plan on calling the JCAHO on Monday for further explanation) the specifics of the findings aren't known. We can assume that multiple specific departments are the cause of it. It might be oncology, General Surgery, obgyn, cardiology, etc. The heads of any of the departments involved must be removed. If your department contributed to an investigation that ultimately lead to the accreditation of your hospital being threatened, THAT IS GROUNDS FOR REMOVAL, in my opinion at least. The current chief medical officer, Curtis Lewis, must be removed. If you are overseeing a hospital and the hospital is threatened with the removal of its accreditation, THAT IS GROUNDS FOR REMOVAL. The Current CEO of Grady Hospital is Otis Story, Sr. He must be removed for the same reasons. In fact, the entire board ought to be removed, however the board is overseen by Vernon Jones, and anyone that knows anything about Jones knows not to expect that to happen. Of course, how many Georgia folks know the real story behind Vernon Jones? That would require the media in Georgia to actually competently report the whole truth.

This whole case proves why the first amendment, the free press, is first not second or tenth. I hope everyone sees what happens when the media itself cedes its own freedoms and doesn't bother to report the whole truth. In order for this cycle to stop, the whole truth of the JCAHO findings must be reported by the media in Georgia. The media must keep the pressure on until all parties are held responsible. That is what has to happen.

Here is what will probably happen. There will be no more then a few more articles in the AJC about this report. Anymore reporting will be on the eventual deal made between Grady and the JCAHO, a deal that will no doubt be made in some back room. The major media in Georgia will NOT reveal the specific departments responsible for this latest investigation. They won't name names and they won't demand for heads to roll. Finally, they won't call Emory out when they distance themselves. Emory University will throw its significant weight around the Georgia Legislature and no one will report it. Grady will be given a golden parachute and none of the obvious systemic problems I have pointed out will ever be reported on or addressed. I hope I am wrong and I will be watching.

For more information on this case, please read this article. Also, please read the recommendations that my colleagues have come up with and compare them to the current plan.

An Updated Summary of the Fiasco at Emory, Grady and Beyond

I just realized that anyone that picks up this story in the middle would get lost in its many mazes and connections. If anyone reads every single story in the Emory University tag, they would get a full picture, however that maybe beyond reason. First, I must disclose some things. There are things that I can prove. There are things I can assert and there are things that I believe. Finally, there are things that follow the Latin phrase, Res Ipsa Loquitor (the facts speak for themselves). I use different language for each.

So, let's start at the beginning. Emory University's Medical School runs a network of hospitals in the Atlanta area. There are five in all if my facts are right. Three are actually owned by Emory and service predominantly the affluent making them quite profitable. The other two are public hospitals and Emory has sort of contracts to staff them with their professors and students. This is no different than many teaching hospitals and if there are any ER fans, the fake hospital in that show runs in a similar manner.

That said, I want to focus a bit more on the two public hospitals with little profit potential. The first is the VA since veterans get set bills, and the second is Grady. Grady is a hospital for the indigent or very poor. Since poor folks rarely have money or insurance, it is much more difficult to make a profit on them. Grady is also a public hospital meaning that the tax payers ultimately are the ones that finance it. (as most indigent hospitals would be for the reasons that I mentioned. No one is going to want to bankroll a hospital that has no hope of making any real money so it is left to the government) Grady is also massive, one of the biggest hospitals in the country, and so while it provides little profit, it provides a bulk of the training.

Here is where things get interesting. Emory enjoys a lucrative relationship vis a vis Grady (I will explain as I go along how that relationship get consummated so to speak). For instance, they get a fat yearly fee of about 50 million dollars to provide staffing at Grady. Keep in mind that Grady is the training vehicle for most of its medical students. Emory already charges its medical students tuition and uses Grady for a lot of the training that this tuition is supposed to go for. Many people refer to this as double dipping. In other words, Emory University has one of the premiere medical schools in the country and one of the main reasons is their association with Grady Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in the country. Thus, Grady provides just as much to Emory is Emory does to Grady. Furthermore, since Grady is a public hospital it is ultimately the tax payers that are stuck with the bill that Emory charges Grady yearly. Also, Grady Hospital pays for Emory's malpractice insurance. It goes without saying that such a relationship invites exploitation.

Exploitation and corruption is what you have at Grady in my opinion, and I really only need to do a Google search to provide plenty of evidence. For instance, Grady Hospital settled a case for Medicare fraud in the late 1990's for about 5 million dollars. A few years later former State Senator Charles Walker committed so much criminality at Grady and beyond that he was ultimately convicted of 127 felonies. (you can click this link for a full write up of the case including its particulars and most importantly what each hero and villain wound up receiving from Grady and Emory) In 2004, the Dept. of Health and Human Services conducted an investigation of Grady Hospital and here are the conclusions,

there is a serious and immediate threat to the health and safety of the patients

That is frankly the equivalent of a builder building you a house that falls down on top of you when you move in. (Only one person was let go in the aftermath, Dr. Andrew Ogwunobi, who has continued to travel an interesting path. You can find his full dossier here. It is important to note that the Chief Medical Officer of Grady Hospital, William Casarella, was cited most often in the actual report. I point this out because Casarella has since been promoted within Emory University. This is important for several reasons not the least of which because it goes to show that in many ways I believe the two entities cross over whenever it suits the powers that be)

Finally, currently Grady is in such financial turmoil that is about to be shut down unless there is a huge infusion of cash, about a hundred million minimum by my estimation. There were also other investigations that started and stopped like an interesting one conducted by the NIH in 2000. While there was ultimately no damning conclusions to those reports, I have my suspicions about how it was exactly that they ended. (for more information on that report and more importantly the role of Kent Alexander, Chief Legal Counsel for Emory University, please go this link. This is probably my most incendiary piece and illicited a flurry of looks from the Emory admin IP upon publishing)

This body of evidence is in my opinion an example of Res Ipsa Loquitor.Now, while Grady is staffed by almost entirely Emory faculty, it is still a public hospital. It has a board and a CEO. The board chooses the CEO, and the board is chosen by the CEO of Dekalb County. The current CEO of Dekalb County is Vernon Jones. He is an elected official with a remarkable knack for thriving in what I would think are dicey political situations. (when I say dicey I mean things like rape accusations, shady land deals, and all sorts of malfeasance by those close to him Just like everything else, I have written a full write up of Jones as well. Jones is I believe the link between the corruption at Grady and the corruption that infects much of Georgia. We have a running debate about who the ultimate ringleader is and one theory is the Dixie Mafia, and you can vote in my fun poll after getting the full scoop)

Now, the problem as I see it is summed up by this cliche, the fox guarding the hen house. The board is supposed to oversee the CEO who is supposed to oversee the staff, and the CEO of Dekalb County is supposed to oversee all of them. The problem is that all the entities, in my estimation, are corrupted. From Jones, to the board, to the CEO, to the staff, the foxes are guarding the hen house so to speak. For instance, one very prominent member of the board was until two years ago Robert Brown. Robert Brown also runs an architecture firm. Three guesses which firm gets many of the most lucrative contracts for Grady expansion. If we dig deep enough, I have no doubt that there would be an almost endless amount of transactions with really or perceived conflicts of interest.

Enter, whistleblower Kevin Kuritzky...first, there is full disclosure here. Kevin and I have developed a tight relationship, and I have even done a radio show with. (It is linked at the end of my piece on Kent Alexander. Kevin is the calm one and I am the hyper one) I have never claimed traditional journalistic objectivity, and I am not a traditional journalist. I believe the quality and accuracy of the information I have provided speaks for itself. Every piece of data has been double and triple sourced minimum. I have hard copies for anything I don't link to like the aforementioned HHS report. (I can email or fax to anyone upon request)

Kevin has made some incendiary accusation about the quality of patient care at Grady Hospital. He claims that Emory staff goes to one of their for profit hospitals when they are supposed to be at Grady and many times he claims they leave medical students unsupervised. (In fact, in this piece I give an example that was verbalized to me by Kuritzky that is frankly straight out of a bad nightmare.) It goes without saying that his accusations, if true, amount to not only an obscene violation of several laws but frankly every doctor's oath. Kuritzky was expelled from medical school with forty one days remaining. (That is in a four year program) Kevin believes the charges are trumped up and he is now in the middle of a law suit. The Emory Wheel inaccurately reported that Kuritzky's case has been dismissed. It hasn't Kuritzky's side has lost a motion that is being appealed. (again, I have seen the disposition of this motion and it is NOT a dismissal) This was inaccurately reported in a trade journal for academics. (The fact that this was written in a trade journal for academics obviously raises all sorts of issues and I explored them here)

Finally, I have counted four former Emory professors that have been paid off for silence. I have only seen the settlement agreement for one pay off. That is for Dr. Jim Murtaugh. He was paid off right around the time that the NIH investigation was happening and he was paid off along with another person, Diane Owen (though her agreement I haven't seen) Murtaugh's settlement has been the subject of much media buzz because State Senator David Shafer has lead a group of state senators who have demanded that it be unsealed (and one main reason why I was able to see the agreement. (If you go here I explore the case of his records being unsealed. Interestingly enough, certain links disappeared in the aftermath of me publishing that, and I explored that here) (also, the Shafer link has some interesting information about who did and didn't approve his settlement so I encourage you to link there)

Now, why should you care? If you are a resident of Georgia, then it is your tax dollars that will ultimately go to fund something you should see is totally corrupt. This corruption is in my opinion part of even bigger corruption that I probably don't even have the full story to. If you are an Emory student, then your tuition, and likely your parent's money (who are you kidding), is contributing to this corruption. Furthermore, if Kevin really was only expelled because he dared blow the whistle on this, what is to stop Emory from targeting someone else. What if you become a threat to them for this or for anything? Clearly, if you believe my assertions, Emory eliminates all threats to them. They pay some off and they expel others. If you believe Kevin, then he had his life ruined for daring to the right thing. (he often tells me that his friends still in the medical school tell him that he should have kept his mouth shut and graduated and moved on) Furthermore, if you believe Kevin, then your school exhibits the traits of the common sociopath. Sociopaths with power is the worst combination you can have. If you are a citizen, then you should want that all corruption be dealt with appropriately and people be held responsible.

(UPDATE)Some of you may be wondering where the media in Atlanta fits into all of this. This piece should drive home how the media's coverage, or rather lack thereof, fits into this whole story. This piece contrasts the Atlanta media with another situation in which the media actually did its job. Finally, here is an example of the sort of reporting you will find at the AJC.

The Fox Guarding the Henhouse

Let me sum up for anyone that doesn't want to bother to click the link. This is a report that is about thirty pages that is full technical jargon that almost no one can understand.

So, what is the Grady Task Force and why should anyone care? If you have been following my work, you know that Grady Hospital has been in financial turmoil for years and it has now come to a head. Grady Hospital is one of the biggest hospitals, one of the biggest public hospitals, and one of the biggest hospitals for the indigent in the country. It needs a huge infusion of tax payer funds, up to nine digits, or it will close down.

The Grady Task Force is a sort of consulting group, created by the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, designed to make recommendations to "fix" Grady Hospital. The very fact that Grady Hospital needs this sort of consulting group is curious in and of itself.

This past spring Grady fired Alvarez and Marsals, a professional consulting firm it hired to recommend ways in which it could avert financial ruin. That was only after paying the firm a cool 300K plus, PER MONTH, and over 3 million dollars total. Consulting firms are nothing new for Grady Hospital. Frankly, Grady Hospital goes through consulting firms the way that Liz Taylor goes through husbands. They pay each of them handsomely and they are even thinking of hiring yet another despite having a "consulting firm" hand picked for them by the Chamber.

One would think that after spending roughly eight digits on consulting firm in about two years, Grady would finally figure out WHAT THE F$%K IS WRONG. That is if these consulting firms are being hired for their advice rather than other reasons. For instance, would it surprise anyone to learn that the principles of Alvarez and Marsals have close ties to Grady board member Michael Hollis?

Would it surprise anyone to learn that all of the prior consulting firms were in one way or another hired for some reason other than their professional qualifications? It wouldn't surprise me, and my proof is in these Latin words, res ipsa loquitor. The facts speak for themselves, and the facts are that at least four consulting firms have produced a hospital on the brink of financial ruin. Again, Grady paid about ten million dollars for all of this consulting. If these relationships were on the level, this money would have produced something better than what we have.

Now, we have the Grady Task Force, an unpaid consulting firm. When, we examine the facts, I think that we will see that the Task Force has other financial considerations in Grady Hospital. The bulk of the members are community and business leaders and that gives the force a sort of rep. They are also individuals and entities with financial and professional interest in Grady, which makes me wonder if their advice is on the level.For instance, there is Robert Brown. He is the former head of the Grady Board. He served on the board during a period in which Grady was convicted of Medicare fraud, State Senator Charles Walker was convicted of 127 felonies, many related to Grady, and an HHS report came out and concluded this,

there is a serious and immediate threat to the health and safety of the patients

Does it sound to anyone as though he has any business being on the board given his history of failure at Grady, and possibly obscene amounts of corruption. Did I mention that Robert Brown is also of RL Brown and Associates, an architecture firm? Would it surprise anyone if his own architecture firm was the recipient of several "sweetheart deals" for additions and upgrades to Grady during his tenure? The list is full of such names: Michael Johns, of Emory University, Michael B. Russell of H.J. Russell (also a recepient of several contracts), John E. Maupin, MD – ex-officio President & CEO Morehouse School of Medicine (another proprietor of Grady Hospital), Phil Humann CEO SunTrust Banks, Inc.(with significant financial ties to Emory University but who doesn't in Atlanta), etc. One would think that if a hospital is near financial ruin the last people that would be in charge of recommendations to fix it would be those who put it there in the first place. Not with Grady, in this case the very same people that were responsible for putting Grady in this position are now in charge of fixing it. That is why I call this piece: The Fox Guarding the Hen House.

Like I said earlier, most of the recommendations are quite technical and difficult for the layman to understand. One has caught my eye and it is a plan to make Grady Hospital run by a private corporation. Under this plan, Grady would still receive public funds so the only practical effect would be more secrecy when it came to public fund usage. Given Grady's history with corruption: State Senator Charles Walker, the Medicare fraud, so called double dipping and atrocious patient care, and all sorts of other unproven cases of malfeasance. Is going private and more secretive really the best way to "save Grady". It probably isn't however if I were looking to commit more corruption at Grady, I would certainly want to make it private.

I would love to hear what possible public benefit Grady going private would have. There appears to be none to me, though there is an obvious one if you wanted to commit more corruption. There is a vote coming soon in the Georgia legislature. My own read is that the folks of Georgia don't want the hospital to go private. There appears to be no public good in it. Thus, I can only see one reason for any politician to vote for that plan and by my estimation that vote disqualifies said politician from serving again.

Oh and finally, you want to add insult to injury. After Grady is done listening to the consulting recommendations of the unpaid Grady Task Force, they plan on hiring another paid consulting firm. Frankly, if the Grady Task Force is on the level one would think there would no longer be need for anymore consulting firm. If, that is, the Grady Task Force is on the level.

UPDATE:While I tried to make this piece as comprehensive as possible, if this is your first exposure to the story behind the crisis at Grady Hospital you may very well be quite confused. Thus, I have put together a summary of the entire fiasco that tries to put all of its moving parts together in one piece. Please read it for guidance. Also, please check out the recommendations that I and my colleagues have put together for fixing Grady Hospital.

An Important Email

This piece about the murder of Sheriff Elect Derwin Brown, the "suicide" of Charles Hicks, and how they connect to the dastardly character, Vernon Jones created a bit of a stir and has become a sort of cult favorite in the blogosphere. (Yes, I risk sounding awfully arrogant with that statement however the numbers don't lie) I received an email from someone that wishes to remain anonymous for now in response.

Mr. Volpe, Greetings... I have recently been reading many of your comments specifically relating to corruption, politics, and particularly Dekalb County.. You Sir are right on point!!! The dynamic that resulted in the ELECTED by the people Sheriff Derwin Brown (as opposed to the establishment "appointed" Sheriff Tommy Brown) was certainly a result of a vast conspiracy not merely the action of a single individual(Sid Dorsey)..

Derwin had himself uncovered many instances of longstanding good ole boy wink and nod politics and outright corrupt practices. Additionally, he aligned himself with individuals ( such as yours truly) who had personal knowledge of corrupt practices and deals that government officials elected in Dekalb had engaged by formed cozyrelationships with business people for their personal gain and pecuniary benefit. All be it strip club operators, county vendors, bail bondspeople, or off duty officers with private security accounts; Derwin represented the end of this type graft. These miscreants wanted him stopped and they stopped him. Maybe by not necessarily pulling the trigger but by creating an atmosphere and culture that resulted in demented and ignorant individuals like Dorsey, Cuffie, et al feeling that it needed to be done and should be done..

These tacitly involved individuals have Derwin's blood on their hand to the same extent as the trigger men...

Moreover, allowing individuals like Vernon Jones, Charles Hicks, Louis Graham, and Thomas Brown (the prmier figurehead) to run the government is nothing short of a farce.. Mr. Hicks may have truly had a crisis of conscience and therein lies the reason for his unfortunate death (be it suicide or murder). The real power brokers (Bob Wilson, Ray Suddeth, Mark Dehler, Frank Redding, and Sembler) are the ones reaping the real benefits $$$ from these shenaigans in Dekalb County government over the last 15 years. Unfortunately, it is at great cost to the taxpayers and underminds the sheer fiber that our Constitution is foundationed upon and yes cost at least one hero his life..

What everyone needs to understand is that nothing that I have exposed has happened in a vacuum and that ultimately it all connects. I can only bring the truth to the open but it is up to the citizens of Atlanta and Georgia at large to act. You can all start by demanding free and open hearings about Grady before one more dime is dropped in their coffers. Furthermore, you can all make a statement by giving Vernon Jones a resounding loss in the primaries. The citizens can demand some answers in the case of State Senator Charles Walker. Unless you all are satisfied with one man, his daughter, and the companies they ran being convicted of 127 felonies, being sentenced to ten years, and no one else even being charged.

Take what I say next or leave it, however your city and state is home to the most obscene corruption I have ever witnessed and given my home city that says plenty. Sadly, as it stands now, the aptly described hero, Sheriff Derwin Brown didn't merely die but he died in vain. Not only did he die in vain but his memory is being spat on everyday that Vernon Jones runs for the U.S. Senate. There is no doubt in my mind that he is a part of the very corruption that is a cancer in your city and state. The very idea that he is campaigning rather than answering for his endless sins is obscene not only to me, but frankly to the memory of Derwin Brown.

You have the power to make this stop. You watched while a hero died and did nothing. You watched while one of the biggest hospitals in the country was pilfered and did nothing. How long will you stand by and watch this happen? Unless, you the citizens, finally rise up nothing will change. I hope that now, once and for all, you will finally say enough is enough.

(UPDATE)I realize that if anyone picks up any part of the story of the Grady crisis in the middle, they will likely get lost. Thus, if this story is your first exposure to the mess surrounding Grady Hospital, you are probably thoroughly confused. Since we can't have that I have put together a summary of the entire fiasco that tries to put all of its moving parts together in one piece. Please read it for guidance. Also, please check out the recommendations that I and my colleagues have put together for fixing Grady Hospital.

A Murder, A Suicide: Connecting More Dots in the Culture of Corruption (Updated)

Sheriff Elect Derwin Brown

The 2000 election for Sheriff of Dekalb County was bitter and difficult. It pitted incumbent Sheriff Sidney Dorsey against policeman Derwin Brown. Brown ran on a platform of cleaning up the corruption in the Sheriff's department. Many times the fingers of corruption were pointed directly at Dorsey himself. Dekalb County Sheriff's Department had a long history of corruption and Dorsey himself was no stranger to criminality.

Dorsey became the county's first black sheriff four years ago despite publicity about his arrests for domestic abuse and a manslaughter charge he once faced.

Reports also surfaced that Dorsey assigned inmates to work on houses of supporters of his wife, an Atlanta city councilwoman.

Other reports accused him of allowing deputies to work for his security company while on the clock. And a female deputy filed a lawsuit saying that she was denied a promotion because she ended an affair with Dorsey.

Brown's campaign message resonated and the voters voted him in overwhelmingly with him winning roughly two to one. Brown would never get a chance to fulfill any of his campaign promises. On December 15th, two days before he was to be sworn in, he was gunned down in his drive way.

Within months several people within the Sheriff's department or at least with strong ties to it were arrested. Those people included Paul Skyers, Devon Edwards, Patrick Cuffy (ultimately fingered as the shooter) and Melvin Walker. The man that authorities finally believed to be the ringleader and ultimately the person that gave the order was none other than the Sheriff at the time of the murder at least Sidney Dorsey.

Everyone eventually flipped on Dorsey and spent minimal or no time in jail. Most of their whereabouts are currently unknown, and Dorsey was ultimately convicted about five years later. He serves a sentence of 25 years.

Like with much of the corruption around it, this case leaves many more questions than answers. If a sheriff and several of his deputies and their contacts killed the incoming sheriff, then to me at least, that is the culture of corruption at its worst. Why then did the next Sheriff Thomas Brown (no relation) not clean house as Derwin Brown promised. (Thomas Brown, who was the former public safety officer of Dekalb County, was then selected by then Governor Roy Barnes to be the interim Sheriff)

Fellow candidates for sheriff and confidantes of Derwin Brown blasted the sheriff when he declined to fire all of those targeted for termination by the murdered sheriff-elect, or to hire those previously promised jobs. Although he has dismissed some personnel, Sheriff Brown has been criticized, both before and after the special election, for not fully embracing those changes.

When he came aboard, said Brown, the department was uneasy; he thinks his decisions have helped calm things.

"There may have been some concerns when I came in," said Brown. "I made very few staff changes. There were a few personnel changes -- we did let some people go -- but the heart and soul of the people who built this facility are still here."

Whatever doubts anyone had that the Dekalb County Sheriff's Department had a systemic culture of corruption were tragically erased when its Sheriff elect was gunned down in a conspiracy involving several members of the department itself, including the top person. If ever there was a reason for wholesale house cleaning it was this tragic event. Yet, that didn't happen.

There was other things that raised my eyebrows. There were rumors of a hitlist. In fact, the prosecutor on the case J. Tom Morgan wore a bullet proof vest for safety. I was told that reporter (and current candidate for U.S. Senate) Dale Cardwell had a member of the sheriff's department sleeping in his house for a month because they felt he was a target. The motive for the shooting was said to be revenge. If there was a hitlist and other targets that wouldn't make sense. Was Dorsey really the ringleader or was this murder really the work of someone and something much bigger? Only the powers that be know that answer.

There was some media that wondered if Dorsey really was the ringleader. His family doesn't believe that all the perpetraters have been caught. To this day, his death and the events surrounding it continue to have more questions than answers. Much like most of the corruption in and around Dekalb County, whether its Grady Hospital, Emory University, or the Sheriff's Department, it always seems as though investigations only go so far before somehow, some way they end.

On August 26th, 2004, Charles Hicks, Dekalb County Attorney was found dead. The death of Charles Hicks was eventually ruled a suicide however I believe that this was another case in which there are more questions than answers. Ron Marshall, head of the Grady Coalition, was an acquaintance of Hicks. He told me that on many occasions he told him that he (Hicks) was concerned about all of the corruption that he was procuring. The first officer on the scene was one Donald Frank, a wily character that Marshall says he would run into again (and one I will get back to in a minute). The most damning piece of evidence was that the gun was found laying next to Hicks' right hand. This seems peculiar since Hicks was in fact left handed.

If Hicks was in the middle of a culture of corruption, and he wanted to get out, it would stand to reason that the powers that be would want him eliminated. It also stands to reason that the powers to be would have enough power to then cover up this same murder and turn it into a suicide. Of course, that is all mere speculation. Let's not speculate but rather look for patterns.

The Sheriff's Department had a culture of corruption that went back decades. Several of its sheriffs wound up on the wrong end of the jail cell.

Former Sheriff Pat Jarvis last year was sentenced to 15 months in prison and fined $40,000 for fraud. Ray Bonner, a sheriff in the mid-1970s, pleaded self-defense and was acquitted in the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old boy in his front yard. And Lamar Martin, the sheriff in the late 1960s and early '70s, was convicted of bribery.

Of course after that, the next sheriff in line went in for murder.

While this was going on at the Sheriff's Department State Senator Charles Walker was fleecing Grady Hospital for millions of dollars. The State Senator committed so much crime that by the time he was done he was charged with 137 felonies and ultimately convicted on all but ten. Of course, he flipped on NO ONE. No one else was charged and he got ten years, or less than a month for each felony conviction. Then, we have the mysterious death Charles Hicks.

Who is running Dekalb County? That would be Vernon Jones. Jones is no stranger to trouble. His name has wound up on the police blotter roughly six times. It started in the mid eighties and the last known incident was this past December. The charges range from assault to rape. He's never been convicted of any of these crimes mind you. He's had more than a few questionable land deals including a prime piece of property (that he apparently bought for 500k in cash. Not bad for someone that makes a 100k per year) right next to a mall that he authorized the building of.

In fact, I only need to go to the same article where my research on Hicks began to find all sorts of malfeasance by Jones.

Jones' re-election campaign took its first hit, as one of his opponents, state Rep. Teresa Greene-Johnson, tried unsuccessfully to get a court protection order against him. Greene-Johnson alleged that Jones berated and threatened her on a campaign stop

....Within days of each other, Jones lost two political allies. Commissioner Lou Walker died from injuries sustained in a car accident and Jones' deputy chief of staff, Lance Robertson, was arrested and charged with the false imprisonment of a 19-year-old woman after a night of drinking at the W Hotel in Dunwoody.

It was revealed that Robertson had a criminal past, including a shoplifting conviction, that county officials did not investigate before Jones hired him. Robertson, who has been suspended without pay, denies any wrongdoing in the W Hotel incident.Also in August, a federal lawsuit accused Jones and other county officials of discriminating against white employees. County officials denied the allegations.

That article merely describes a few months in 2004.

By 2006, Ron Marshall was challenging Jones for Dekalb County CEO. Jones introduced Marshall to hardball politics, Dekalb County style. Marshall told me that he was constantly followed throughout the campaign. There was background checks done on him, and he and his wife mysteriously wound up on the Homeland Security Terror Watch List. Only the powers that be know how that happened, however the director of Homeland Security for Dekalb County by this point just happened to be Donald Franks (yes the exact same one that also happened to be the first police officer on the scene of the Hicks death).

There is a Latin phrase, Res Ipsa Loquitor, and it means the facts speak for themselves. There is no question that Vernon Jones is part of the problem. Between the murder of a Sheriff elect, the fleecing of Grady Hospital, the harrassment of a candidate, and many other scandals in between, Res Ipsa Loquitor. Nothing has changed within the Sheriff's Department that occupies the County he is CEO of. Grady is now in desperate need of an infusion of cash or they will cease to exist, so nothing has changed there either. The facts speak for themselves: either he was in on it, he was too incompetent or too scared to stop it, he was asleep at the wheel, or something else. It ultimately matters not because there is no excuse for that much corruption to go on on his watch, Res Ipsa Loquitor.

So, what was Vernon Jones up to in 2008? He's running for U.S. Senate. No, I am not kidding. If this sounds familiar just read this.

I believe that in order to create a culture of corruption, you need the police the politicians, and the media to be in on it or at least looking the other way. I think you can all see how the police are in on it. I think through this piece and in my entire series you can see how the politicians are in on it. How is the media in on it? Well, ask yourself this question. Why is a blogger from the Midwest asking questions the media in Atlanta should be asking? I will leave you with the words of a hero, Derwin Brown.

There have always been a few who have stood up for the many, often at times when the many would not stand for themselves. Whether out of fear, intimidation, or ignorance there have always been those who ride the victories and sacrifices of others, cheering and celebrating as if they dared to make a difference. Yes, even some who would minister to you about God's power and the armor and shield that "the word" provides seem to falter in their convictions when it's time to "step out on faith" and challenge the unrighteousness found in their workplace, community or government. What sacrifice are you willing to make for truth and righteousness? Are you leading a double life, speaking of injustices in whispers, while exclaiming all your faith in the creator? These are questions for self-examination. Are you willing to pick up the drum of justice? "THE TIME IS NOW!! PEACE"

Amen!!

UPDATE: This story speaks for itself and I believe that if this is your first exposure to the crisis at Grady Hospital and the dynamics that surround it, you should still have no trouble understanding this piece. That said, I have put together a summary of the entire fiasco that tries to put all of its moving parts together in one piece. Please read it for guidance. Thus, if you want to see how Vernon Jones, Derwin Brown, et al fit into the mess at Grady Hospital please read the link I just provided. Also, please check out the recommendations that I and my colleagues have put together for fixing Grady Hospital.

Epilogue: Since this was first published, I have come into possession of some documents that detail the shady land deal to end all shady land deals, by the shady politician to top all shady politicians, Vernon Jones. Here it is.

UPDATE: On August 5th 2008, Vernon Jones lost a run off election to Jim Martin. Ironically, though not coincidentally, Dale Cardwell, took third in the original Democratic primary. (in Georgia rules, a majority is required to win and so that's what caused the run off) His future political plans are still undetermined at this moment. Jones was then replaced as CEO of Dekalb County by Burrell Ellis.

Since losing the election, Jones has kept a relative low profile. He surfaced in Albany, Ga. to speak to a group of law enforcement officers. This fueled rumors that he might run for mayor of Albany in 2012 though that appears to be a step back for Jones. I don't expect him to stay in private life for too long.