Theresa Caballero
Attorney at Law
300 E. Main St., Suite 1136
El Paso, TX 79901
915.565.3550/562.5250 fax
January 18, 2010
Ms. Jo Anne Bernal
County Attorney
500 E. San Antonio St.
El Paso, TX 79901
Re: Debate on Dr. Paul Shrode, El Paso County Medical Examiner
Dear Ms. Bernal:
The issue of El Paso County Medical Examiner Dr. Paul Shrode, his continuing viability, if any, as a credible witness and his lying on his resume and in court about his credentials have become a matter of public discussion. Your office, by and through your employee, assistant county attorney Bruce Yetter, called Dr. Shrode to the stand in a jury trial wherein I represented the mother. Through answers elicited by my cross-examination, your witness, Dr. Shrode, admitted that he did not possess a law degree as he had listed on his resume, and as he had testified to under oath, in open court, on the record. Mr. Yetter personally handed Dr. Shrode’s false resume to the Court and had it admitted into evidence to be given to the jury.
As the County Attorney by appointment only (by a three to two vote, no election), as head of the office that put Dr. Shrode on the stand as a witness when he admitted to having put false information on his resume, as advisor to Dr. Shrode’s employer, El Paso County Commissioner’s Court, as legal counsel to Human Resources that should have but did not check Dr. Shrode’s credentials, as employer to assistant county attorney Holly Lytle who had a part in the selection of Dr. Shrode, as a person subject to the El Paso Ethics Commission, as a person seeking to advise such Commission and as a public official who has taken the public position that Dr. Shrode claiming to have credentials that he does not have is nothing but “puffery,” I invite you to a debate on the issue of El Paso Medical Examiner Dr. Paul Shrode. As we are the two main protagonists in this matter with diametrically opposing opinions on the applicable law, on the ethics and on what is in the best interests of this community regarding Dr. Paul Shrode as Medical Examiner, I challenge you to join me in writing competing op-ed pieces on the issue. Should you accept the challenge, I would ask that you join me in requesting of Mr. Edgren of the El Paso Times that he publish the pieces so that the community gets the benefit of both of our views on this most important of matters.
Please respond in writing to my address by Wednesday, January 20, 2010. Or you may call 241.8418. I look forward to this debate.
Sincerely,
Theresa Caballero
Challenge to Incumbent by Appointment, Jo Anne Bernal
January 18, 2010, 12:42 pmLetter to Jo Anne Bernal, et. al Re: Ethics and Dr. Paul Shrode
January 12, 2010, 10:27 am
Theresa Caballero
Attorney at Law
300 E. Main St., Suite 1136
El Paso, Tx 79901
915.565.3550
915.562.5250 fax
January 12, 2010
Mr Gerry Williams
TDFPS General Counsel
Mr. Trevor A. Woodruff
Appellate Attorney
Ms. Johnnie Beth Page
Director of Program Litigation
2401 Ridgepoint Dr., BLDG. H-2
MC: Y-956
Austin, TX 78754
Ms. Jo Anne Bernal
El Paso County Attorney
500 E. San Antonio St
El Paso, TX 79901
Re: Ethical obligations re: In the Interest of D.J.R., E.N.R., and A.D.R., Children, Cause no: 08-07-00354-CV/ 2006CM4085
Dear Counselors:
Candor Toward the Tribunal, Rule 3.03 of the Rules of Professional Conduct states in pertinent part:
(a) If a lawyer has offered material evidence and comes to know of its falsity, the lawyer shall make a good faith effort to persuade the client to authorize the lawyer to correct or withdraw the false evidence. If such efforts are unsuccessful, the lawyer shall take reasonable remedial measures, including disclosure of the true facts.
On August 13, 2007, the State of Texas, represented by the El Paso County Attorney’s Office, called Dr. Paul Shrode to testify in the above styled case. Under oath and in response to a question posed by your trial attorney, Assistant County Attorney Bruce Yetter, Dr. Shrode testified, “I passed my forensic pathology boards…” 2 RR 134.
You then filed a brief on behalf of the State of Texas in which you stated to the Eighth Court of Appeals, "Dr. Shrode…has passed the forensic pathology boards. 2 RR 134”
On January 6, 2010, The Eighth Court of Appeals rendered an opinion in which the Court stated, “[Dr. Shrode]…is board certified in forensic pathology.”
The El Paso Times, in an article published on November, 27, 2009, (herein enclosed) stated that “Fisher’s complaint comes about a year after Shrode’s standing to take the combined Anatomic Pathology and Forensic Pathology examination expired, according to the American Board of Pathology and a letter on the matter dated Oct. 19, 2009. Shrode’s eligibility for the exam, which lapsed in December 2008, means he either did not take or did not pass the board certification exam, the American Board of Pathology said.”
The article further states, “Dr. Cyril Wecht, formerly the medical examiner in Pittsburgh and one of the country’s more famous forensic pathologist’s, said he suspected that Shrode failed the exam. Wecht, a lawyer, physician and author, told the El Paso Times that Shrode probably lost his standing to take the pathology board exam because he flunked it before and did not want to fail it again.”
El Paso County Attorney by appointment and head of the office that called Dr. Shrode to testify, Jo Anne Bernal, is well aware of the above.
I am informing you that based on current, public discourse, information indicates that Dr. Shrode did not pass his boards in Forensic Pathology, that he is not board certified. I am asking you to comply with your ethical duties under rule 3.03, and to be Candid with the Tribunals, the 65th Judicial District Court and the Eighth Court of Appeals, by specifically informing them, in writing, that your client, the State of Texas by and through Ms. Bernal’s office, put a witness on the stand, Dr. Paul Shrode, who led both Tribunals to believe that he, Dr. Shrode, was board certified in Forensic Pathology, when he is not, an untruth you advanced to the Eighth Court of Appeals in your brief and an untruth the Court has now advanced in its above cited opinion.
I await your response to this most important issue. I too have my ethical obligations under the rules.
Sincerely,
Theresa Caballero
Attorney at Law
300 E. Main St., Suite 1136
El Paso, Tx 79901
915.565.3550
915.562.5250 fax
January 12, 2010
Mr Gerry Williams
TDFPS General Counsel
Mr. Trevor A. Woodruff
Appellate Attorney
Ms. Johnnie Beth Page
Director of Program Litigation
2401 Ridgepoint Dr., BLDG. H-2
MC: Y-956
Austin, TX 78754
Ms. Jo Anne Bernal
El Paso County Attorney
500 E. San Antonio St
El Paso, TX 79901
Re: Ethical obligations re: In the Interest of D.J.R., E.N.R., and A.D.R., Children, Cause no: 08-07-00354-CV/ 2006CM4085
Dear Counselors:
Candor Toward the Tribunal, Rule 3.03 of the Rules of Professional Conduct states in pertinent part:
(a) If a lawyer has offered material evidence and comes to know of its falsity, the lawyer shall make a good faith effort to persuade the client to authorize the lawyer to correct or withdraw the false evidence. If such efforts are unsuccessful, the lawyer shall take reasonable remedial measures, including disclosure of the true facts.
On August 13, 2007, the State of Texas, represented by the El Paso County Attorney’s Office, called Dr. Paul Shrode to testify in the above styled case. Under oath and in response to a question posed by your trial attorney, Assistant County Attorney Bruce Yetter, Dr. Shrode testified, “I passed my forensic pathology boards…” 2 RR 134.
You then filed a brief on behalf of the State of Texas in which you stated to the Eighth Court of Appeals, "Dr. Shrode…has passed the forensic pathology boards. 2 RR 134”
On January 6, 2010, The Eighth Court of Appeals rendered an opinion in which the Court stated, “[Dr. Shrode]…is board certified in forensic pathology.”
The El Paso Times, in an article published on November, 27, 2009, (herein enclosed) stated that “Fisher’s complaint comes about a year after Shrode’s standing to take the combined Anatomic Pathology and Forensic Pathology examination expired, according to the American Board of Pathology and a letter on the matter dated Oct. 19, 2009. Shrode’s eligibility for the exam, which lapsed in December 2008, means he either did not take or did not pass the board certification exam, the American Board of Pathology said.”
The article further states, “Dr. Cyril Wecht, formerly the medical examiner in Pittsburgh and one of the country’s more famous forensic pathologist’s, said he suspected that Shrode failed the exam. Wecht, a lawyer, physician and author, told the El Paso Times that Shrode probably lost his standing to take the pathology board exam because he flunked it before and did not want to fail it again.”
El Paso County Attorney by appointment and head of the office that called Dr. Shrode to testify, Jo Anne Bernal, is well aware of the above.
I am informing you that based on current, public discourse, information indicates that Dr. Shrode did not pass his boards in Forensic Pathology, that he is not board certified. I am asking you to comply with your ethical duties under rule 3.03, and to be Candid with the Tribunals, the 65th Judicial District Court and the Eighth Court of Appeals, by specifically informing them, in writing, that your client, the State of Texas by and through Ms. Bernal’s office, put a witness on the stand, Dr. Paul Shrode, who led both Tribunals to believe that he, Dr. Shrode, was board certified in Forensic Pathology, when he is not, an untruth you advanced to the Eighth Court of Appeals in your brief and an untruth the Court has now advanced in its above cited opinion.
I await your response to this most important issue. I too have my ethical obligations under the rules.
Sincerely,
Theresa Caballero
Charlie Edgren hurts El Pasoans by his Opinions
December 29, 2009, 1:07 pm
El Pasoans have tried to achieve positive change over the years. However, it has been almost impossible for them to get rid of bad politicians and bad public policies. Why? Because they are dragging around the ball and chain that is the editorial page of the only English Daily, the El Paso Times. At the helm of that page and the author of many, many bad, misinformed, agenda driven opinions is Charlie Edgren. Edgren is the personification of dishonesty, laziness and cowardice, traits you do not want in an editor issuing opinions. Edgren is destructive to this community. Here are a few examples why.
Recently, my good friend of many years and practicing attorney, Stuart L. Leeds, was named to be the chairman of the newly created ethics commission. Leeds has been a member in good standing with the State Bar of Texas for over thirty years. Besides graduating from college with high honors and law school with honors, he retired a full colonel in the US Army JAG reserves. He has had a long career both prosecuting and defending the highest level of cases. He has performed all of his duties with honor and distinction. Leeds stands above the crowd because he is willing to protect the common man against powerful, corrupt officials. His weapons are his education, his intelligence and his courage. ---Charlie Edgren was maddened by Leeds and his continued battle against the entrenched and putrid County Attorney's office, an office that has allowed and protected corruption. What does this tell you about Edgren as a human being?
Stuart Leeds contacted Edgren and told him he wanted to write an op-ed piece delineating why the County Attorney cannot and should not advise the ethics commission. Edgren told Leeds to have the piece in by Wednesday noon for the Sunday edition. By Wednesday morning before eight, strangely, Edgren called Leeds and asked him where the piece was. Leeds told Edgren he would have it in before noon as originally advised. Leeds wondered what the hurry was and he soon found out. Without informing Leeds, Edgren provided a copy of Leeds' opinion to then County Attorney Jose Rodriguez and allowed him to write a point by point response which he published next to Leeds' opinion. Edgren duped Leeds and then he duped his readers by this slight of hand. The reader who picked up the Sunday Times was led to believe by Edgren that Edgren had posed a question to both sides and both sides responded.
1150 am talk show host Greg Freyermuth read Leeds' opinion piece over the air. Leeds called in and told Freyermuth what Edgren had done. Greg Freyermuth then called Edgren and left a message asking him if that was true and to please call in. As Leeds predicted, Edgren never called in. There are people at the Times who follow talk radio.
Then, Leeds' sued blathering blogger David Karlsruhe for his defamatory remarks against Leeds. This also maddened Charlie Edgren. Edgren again used his employer's ink to write an opinion attacking Leeds for availing himself of the court system as any citizen is entitled to do. Incidentally, this lawsuit was filed by attorney Doris Sipes, one of the premier First Amendment rights lawyers in El Paso, Texas. Outside of giving Edgren a place to vent his vitriol against Leeds, the opinion had no application to the community good. Do the owners/shareholders of the El Paso Times know how their ink is being used? Was therapy for dishonest editors what they had in mind when they invested their money in the paper?
Without ever having met, interviewed Leeds or even attended an ethics commission meeting Edgren continued with his attacks. Edgren is so concerned about El Paso and having a good ethics commission that he has not one time walked the two blocks to attend a meeting. What Edgren does do is rely on reporters like Darren Meritz who in body attend the meetings and then write factually incorrect articles. Edgren then runs with the wrong information and spins an opinion around it further misinforming his readers. At the same time, Mertiz is issuing a correction for his wrong reporting. Does Edgren issue a correction of his falsely premised opinion? Nope. That would require Edgren to display intelligence, energy and honesty. Lazy and arrogant are also words that come to mind. After all, Edgren doesn't care if the few readers he has left are misinformed. Why should he? He still gets paid.
What is humorous is that Charlie Edgren must actually believe that Leeds would drop his lawsuit, quit the commission, vote for X, vote for tax increases or jump in a lake because Edgren said so. If you were to strip Edgren of the newspaper what would you find behind the curtain? The answer is nothing. Charlie Edgren is nothing. We know nothing about his education. Does he even have one? What is he like at home? Can he protect his own family or is he as impotent at home as he was when the community, through Greg Freyermuth, asked him to step up and explain his actions? How does he vote? Does he vote? If he does vote, where does he get his information to use in the voting booth? From the hollowed out news section of a paper he helped run into the ground? I have never seen Edgren, even one time, observe a court case, Commissioner's Court, ethics commission or a city council meeting. He's a real go getter that Charlie Edgren. He's an inspiration to journalism students everywhere. He's real ambitious too. That's why he has been at the El Paso Times since the Ice Ages.
Last but not the least of the examples of Charlie Edgren's flaccid pen and disservice to this community, is his absolute silence on the matter of the El Paso County Medical Examiner, Dr. Paul Shrode, lying about his credentials. Never you mind that the medical examiner can, by his testimony, send someone to death row. What would be your opinion of such a person who claimed to have a degree that he did not have from an institution that did not issue such a degree? If you the reader had an editorial page at your disposal and were charged with writing opinions to better the community, wouldn't you have something to say about such a medical examiner? Wouldn't you believe such a person to be a menace to our legal system and to the freedom of the population? Charlie Edgren doesn't have a problem with such profound dishonesty and corruption. He obviously likes Paul Shrode and wholeheartedly approves of his lies in and out of the court room. Because if he didn't approve of Paul Shrode's false credentials, he would have said so on his editorial page for all to read. If it turns out, as we have seen time and time again, that some poor soul was wrongfully executed or spent years of his life in prison for a crime he did not commit based on the testimony of a dishonest medical examiner, Edgren will ignore the tragedy and cover up his complicity with the result by writing another opinion on Stuart Leeds suing a blogger for defamation. Now that is what the community needs to hear about.
Recently, my good friend of many years and practicing attorney, Stuart L. Leeds, was named to be the chairman of the newly created ethics commission. Leeds has been a member in good standing with the State Bar of Texas for over thirty years. Besides graduating from college with high honors and law school with honors, he retired a full colonel in the US Army JAG reserves. He has had a long career both prosecuting and defending the highest level of cases. He has performed all of his duties with honor and distinction. Leeds stands above the crowd because he is willing to protect the common man against powerful, corrupt officials. His weapons are his education, his intelligence and his courage. ---Charlie Edgren was maddened by Leeds and his continued battle against the entrenched and putrid County Attorney's office, an office that has allowed and protected corruption. What does this tell you about Edgren as a human being?
Stuart Leeds contacted Edgren and told him he wanted to write an op-ed piece delineating why the County Attorney cannot and should not advise the ethics commission. Edgren told Leeds to have the piece in by Wednesday noon for the Sunday edition. By Wednesday morning before eight, strangely, Edgren called Leeds and asked him where the piece was. Leeds told Edgren he would have it in before noon as originally advised. Leeds wondered what the hurry was and he soon found out. Without informing Leeds, Edgren provided a copy of Leeds' opinion to then County Attorney Jose Rodriguez and allowed him to write a point by point response which he published next to Leeds' opinion. Edgren duped Leeds and then he duped his readers by this slight of hand. The reader who picked up the Sunday Times was led to believe by Edgren that Edgren had posed a question to both sides and both sides responded.
1150 am talk show host Greg Freyermuth read Leeds' opinion piece over the air. Leeds called in and told Freyermuth what Edgren had done. Greg Freyermuth then called Edgren and left a message asking him if that was true and to please call in. As Leeds predicted, Edgren never called in. There are people at the Times who follow talk radio.
Then, Leeds' sued blathering blogger David Karlsruhe for his defamatory remarks against Leeds. This also maddened Charlie Edgren. Edgren again used his employer's ink to write an opinion attacking Leeds for availing himself of the court system as any citizen is entitled to do. Incidentally, this lawsuit was filed by attorney Doris Sipes, one of the premier First Amendment rights lawyers in El Paso, Texas. Outside of giving Edgren a place to vent his vitriol against Leeds, the opinion had no application to the community good. Do the owners/shareholders of the El Paso Times know how their ink is being used? Was therapy for dishonest editors what they had in mind when they invested their money in the paper?
Without ever having met, interviewed Leeds or even attended an ethics commission meeting Edgren continued with his attacks. Edgren is so concerned about El Paso and having a good ethics commission that he has not one time walked the two blocks to attend a meeting. What Edgren does do is rely on reporters like Darren Meritz who in body attend the meetings and then write factually incorrect articles. Edgren then runs with the wrong information and spins an opinion around it further misinforming his readers. At the same time, Mertiz is issuing a correction for his wrong reporting. Does Edgren issue a correction of his falsely premised opinion? Nope. That would require Edgren to display intelligence, energy and honesty. Lazy and arrogant are also words that come to mind. After all, Edgren doesn't care if the few readers he has left are misinformed. Why should he? He still gets paid.
What is humorous is that Charlie Edgren must actually believe that Leeds would drop his lawsuit, quit the commission, vote for X, vote for tax increases or jump in a lake because Edgren said so. If you were to strip Edgren of the newspaper what would you find behind the curtain? The answer is nothing. Charlie Edgren is nothing. We know nothing about his education. Does he even have one? What is he like at home? Can he protect his own family or is he as impotent at home as he was when the community, through Greg Freyermuth, asked him to step up and explain his actions? How does he vote? Does he vote? If he does vote, where does he get his information to use in the voting booth? From the hollowed out news section of a paper he helped run into the ground? I have never seen Edgren, even one time, observe a court case, Commissioner's Court, ethics commission or a city council meeting. He's a real go getter that Charlie Edgren. He's an inspiration to journalism students everywhere. He's real ambitious too. That's why he has been at the El Paso Times since the Ice Ages.
Last but not the least of the examples of Charlie Edgren's flaccid pen and disservice to this community, is his absolute silence on the matter of the El Paso County Medical Examiner, Dr. Paul Shrode, lying about his credentials. Never you mind that the medical examiner can, by his testimony, send someone to death row. What would be your opinion of such a person who claimed to have a degree that he did not have from an institution that did not issue such a degree? If you the reader had an editorial page at your disposal and were charged with writing opinions to better the community, wouldn't you have something to say about such a medical examiner? Wouldn't you believe such a person to be a menace to our legal system and to the freedom of the population? Charlie Edgren doesn't have a problem with such profound dishonesty and corruption. He obviously likes Paul Shrode and wholeheartedly approves of his lies in and out of the court room. Because if he didn't approve of Paul Shrode's false credentials, he would have said so on his editorial page for all to read. If it turns out, as we have seen time and time again, that some poor soul was wrongfully executed or spent years of his life in prison for a crime he did not commit based on the testimony of a dishonest medical examiner, Edgren will ignore the tragedy and cover up his complicity with the result by writing another opinion on Stuart Leeds suing a blogger for defamation. Now that is what the community needs to hear about.
Sloppy Autopsies in Texas Re: Paul Shrode, Contin and Corrine Stern
September 30, 2009, 10:24 am
Editor's note: What follows is the second piece in a series of articles that the Fort Worth Star Telegraph is running on the junk science of Autopsies in the State of Texas and how bad medical examiners and wrong autopsies are skewing the legal system. The article is by reporter Yamil Berard. It is excellent.
By YAMIL BERARD
yberard@star-telegram.com
An unlicensed physician determined that toddler Lacey Lynn Nichols died in 2006 from blunt-force injuries to the head and brain. Lesli Tull, a fellow in training at the Tarrant County medical examiner’s office, said the child’s death was a homicide, and a foster parent was charged with capital murder.
Tull also gave cause-of-death opinions in dozens of other cases, including accidental deaths and suicides, without a Texas medical license or a training permit from the Texas Medical Board.
Around the state, some medical examiner offices have relied on the work of medical school interns and unlicensed doctors, as well as physicians who have repeatedly failed certification exams or been disciplined for poor work — even for complex capital murder cases.
Relaxing qualification requirements is one way the offices have tried to keep up with overwhelming caseloads and a shortage of forensic pathologists.
Some pathologists also operate what critics deride as "path mills." That can lead to significant errors, undermining the criminal justice system, some medical examiners themselves worry.
"Justice becomes secondary when too many bodies come into the morgue every day and when too few people are doing the autopsy," Galveston County Chief Medical Examiner Stephen Pustilnik said.
Professionals say medical examiners should have specific certification in anatomic and forensic pathology, even though the state requires only a doctor’s license. Without the certification, says Bexar County Chief Medical Examiner Randall Frost, "that’s like graduating from medical school and immediately going in and doing a heart transplant."
Dallas County Chief Medical Examiner Jeffrey Barnard agrees, adding, "The fact that someone is not alive doesn’t change the quality of the expectations of the medical practice."
Texas doesn’t keep track of how many certified forensic pathologists work in the dozen county medical examiner offices; some put the number at 50. That’s not enough to serve large counties, let alone the 200-plus smaller ones that turn to them for autopsies.
Dallas County Chief Medical Examiner Jeffrey Barnard agrees, adding, "The fact that someone is not alive doesn’t change the quality of the expectations of the medical practice."
"There’s only a certain number of doctors out there," Lubbock County Medical Examiner Sridhar Natarajan said.
Because of the shortage, even some larger medical examiner offices use noncertified pathologists. Records that the Star-Telegram obtained from the American Board of Pathology show that the head medical examiner in Laredo for Webb County is not board-certified. Neither is the one in El Paso.
Webb County Chief Medical Examiner Corinne Stern did not respond to requests for comment. In El Paso, Dr. Paul Shrode has told county officials that he plans to gain certification. He did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
A forensic pathologist employed by Harris County also lacks board certification, even though the medical examiner’s office says it requires such credentials. The physician "has amply demonstrated his expertise during his tenure, and the requirement for certification has been waived for him," a county official said.
Next page This month, the Harris County office reassigned its assistant deputy chief medical examiner to administrative duties after the Star-Telegram pointed out that his medical license had lapsed last year and had not been renewed. An official said Dr. Roger A. Mitchell was expected to return to regular duties, including autopsies, within about a week once he had renewed his license.
For years, Lubbock County relied on forensic pathology professors at Texas Tech’s School of Medicine to perform autopsies, even though the Texas Medical Board said they lacked proper state medical licenses. The professors had temporary permits that were automatically renewed by the university each year, a board spokeswoman said.
After questions about their licenses were raised last year, the Lubbock County Commissioners Court appointed Natarajan. Texas Tech medical school officials did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
The El Paso County medical examiner’s office uses a pathologist with a troubled history. Dr. Juan U. Contin, who is under contract with the office, had been fired as the county’s chief medical examiner in 2000 for unsatisfactory performance. He was also disciplined by the state medical board in 1991 in connection with his work for a private pain management clinic after the board found that he engaged in "unprofessional conduct that is likely to deceive or defraud the public or injure the public."
Contin did not return repeated messages.
Lacking permits
In other stopgap measures, some medical examiner offices use interns to do autopsies. Those new physicians are sometimes brought on as fellows with the understanding that they will later take exams to become certified. Meanwhile, they are required to have special permits and be supervised when conducting autopsies.
In some cases, though, medical examiners have hired them without the required permits.
Tull wasn’t the only unlicensed fellow in Tarrant. Dr. Carl Wigren did dozens of autopsies until his lack of a license and training permit was questioned in 2007.
Chief Medical Examiner Nizam Peerwani said the county now requires the permits. "We now reinforce that," he said.
Some peers say Tarrant’s failure to ensure that interns have proper credentials is a blemish on the integrity of death investigations.
"It is a way for our own practitioners to denigrate the importance as well as the value of our profession; that’s as if to say it’s OK if she doesn’t have to fill out and have the necessary paperwork that clinical doctors have," Pustilnik said.
In Dallas County, a fellow’s autopsy on a woman helped convict the woman’s boyfriend of capital murder, according to court records. The case is being reopened in federal court after another pathologist who reviewed the case for the defense found what he said were "15 points of error" in the autopsy.
The medical examiner’s office concluded that Daniel Clate Acker strangled Marquette George while he was driving his manual-shift truck and that she was probably dead or near death when she was dumped from the vehicle.
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Acker’s appeals attorney contends that George jumped from the truck, and Dr. Glenn Larkin, a former medical examiner in Pennsylvania who reviewed the case for the defense, said all her injuries resulted from hitting the truck and the ground. He also said there was no indication that the victim’s clothes were examined. That’s important, he said, because there would likely have been tire impressions if the victim had been run over after being strangled, as prosecutors contended.
Barnard said he could not comment on the case.
Tull’s qualifications may become part of an appeal for Charles Yarbrough, a Coleman County foster parent charged with capital murder last year, his attorney said.
Tull didn’t testify at the trial, although she performed the autopsy. Instead, another Tarrant County medical examiner who witnessed the autopsy testified that the toddler died of blunt-force injuries to the head and brain. Yarbrough was eventually found guilty of reckless injury to a child.
If the state did not disclose information about Tull’s lack of qualifications to the court, it’s an issue, said Yarbrough’s attorney, Robert McCool. "If the state is aware of evidence that helps the defendant and they don’t tell you, they’ve got a problem."
Prosecutor Heath Hemphill said the use of fellows to conduct autopsies is not an issue because autopsy reports don’t rely on just one individual. "Every autopsy has to be agreed to and signed off by every medical examiner in that office," he said.
Large caseloads
As staffs are stretched thin, medical examiners often just pick up the pace.
There’s a fierce split on how many autopsies a pathologist can do before quality plummets.
The National Association of Medical Examiners says the quality of work is intrinsically tied to the number performed. A forensic pathologist with no administrative duties should perform no more than 250 autopsies a year, the organization recommended after studying the workload capabilities of offices nationwide. When the workload is greater, no matter how skilled the pathologist, there is a tendency to cut corners or make mistakes, it reported.
When the workload exceeds 350 per pathologist, mistakes are likely to be flagrant and reflect errors in judgment, the association says.
A 2006 survey by the Texas Association of Counties indicated that the number of autopsies was much higher in some counties.
Other records show that the chief medical examiner in Travis County at one point carried the load for deaths in 45 neighboring counties. A 2005 audit indicated that two pathologists each may have handled an average of more than 500 cases, counting both Travis County cases and private autopsies.
Nueces County Chief Medical Examiner Ray Fernandez said that he doesn’t want to do more than 350 a year but that the workload won’t give him a break. He handled 387 autopsies in 2008, even after the county provided a part-time forensic pathologist to help.
"Everybody hears the number 250 and 350, and they magically think it’s one autopsy a day," Fernandez said. "The problem is that you don’t always have one a day. Some days, it may be five, 10. Some days you may have none."
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But Peerwani says caps may dissuade medical examiners from doing complete autopsies. They may stay under the limit, for example, by doing more external examinations. He sees the one-autopsy-a-day guide as akin to requiring a surgeon to perform an appendectomy a day and go home.
"We have eternally questioned the wisdom and philosophy of limiting the number of autopsies," Peerwani said.
It’s reasonable for a pathologist to do about 450 complete autopsies a year, he said, if the office has the staff and resources to support that, as he says Tarrant’s does. In 2008, his office completed 1,029 full autopsies and 305 partial autopsies, as well as 747 inspections/external examinations for the counties in the medical examiner district. In 2008, the office also completed 532 autopsies for nonjurisdictional counties, a medical examiner official said. In 2008, the office had four medical examiners and a fellow.
Donald Lee, executive director of the Texas Conference of Urban Counties, said strict limits on autopsies will cause costs to soar. If forensic pathologists are doing up to 500 autopsies a year, he said, that’s fine. That’s two procedures a day.
"Without these strict limits, we can get it done, and we have gotten it done," Lee said.
Not so, other experts say.
"Most medical examiners nationwide are in agreement that there has to be a limit," Frost said. But in Texas, he said, some offices are "doing case after case after case, and doing them very poorly."
The caps are intended to combat the idea of "one guy standing in the morgue all day long taking bodies and running them through the mill as quickly and as cheaply as possible," Pustilnik said. At 450 autopsies a year, "that’s gross malpractice," he said. "The people of the state of Texas are being misserved and malpracticed on."
Dr. William Rohr, chief medical examiner in Collin County, said he was maxed out at 280 autopsies last year. "To do a case right, anywhere from putting on scrubs all the way to getting all of the typos out of the autopsy report, if you want to do it right, it takes a lot of time," Rohr said.
Taking shortcuts
Some medical examiners have come up with shortcuts to keep pace.
Peerwani’s office was criticized for ruling on the causes of some babies’ deaths without inspecting the places where they died. That occurred with cases outside the counties his office services. In such cases, the office often classified deaths as natural, attributed to sudden infant death syndrome.
Information from death scenes can be crucial because it stands the greatest chance of being intact and free from manipulation or contamination, said Larkin, the former Pittsburgh medical examiner.
"The death scene and the body is one continuum," he said. "It is one piece of evidence."
Another timesaver is doing partial autopsies or external examinations rather than complete autopsies.
Peerwani said his office does full autopsies when homicide is suspected. Otherwise, it may do external examinations or partial autopsies, such as checking the heart of someone thought to have died of a heart attack. Most cases of natural death can be solved in these ways, he said.
He grants that important information could be overlooked.
"Nobody has a clear idea if we are missing a death, the truth," Peerwani said. "But it is impossible to do a complete autopsy on every case."
Smaller counties that contract with medical examiners also may limit the scope of an autopsy. The justice of the peace has the authority to decide whether a full autopsy is needed — or whether one is needed at all. In some counties, such requests are rare.
Dr. Randy Hanzlick, who inspects medical examiner offices for the National Association of Medical Examiners, said partial autopsies, particularly in cases of trauma, may miss important elements, leading to significant errors. "If you take at face value everything you’re told, you don’t look beyond what you’re told, you’re not going to find the unexpected," Hanzlick said.
One oversight is causing Peerwani’s office to re-examine some procedures.
This spring, the office said it would begin to X-ray victims of unwitnessed car crashes, especially those with massive head trauma, in response to an error in the ruling of a 66-year-old found dead inside his overturned pickup.
Daniel Obrine’s death had been ruled the result of the crash until a Houston funeral home found part of a bullet jacket lodged in his cheek. Obrine had been only externally examined after the April 26 wreck, without X-rays or an autopsy.
The case, which is unsolved, is now classified as a homicide.
Online: The National Academy of Sciences report, tinyurl.com/pathologist-shortage
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Misleading clues
Death scenes can hold important clues. But they can also mislead, Tarrant County Medical Examiner Nizam Peerwani said. He recalls a case in which police found a man shot in the head in his home. No gun was found and key valuables had disappeared, leading investigators to believe that the man was murdered. But medical examiners found traces of antidepressants in the man’s blood and learned in discussions with his psychiatrist that he was depressed and had suicidal tendencies. What’s more, blood splatters on his arms indicated that the head wound had been self-inflicted, Peerwani said. Police later apprehended a suspect who confessed to burglarizing the home after the man’s death. The gun was among the items he stole. His death was found to be a suicide.
— Yamil Berard
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Death investigations In 2008, the Tarrant County medical examiner’s office did full or partial autopsies or external examinations of 2,081 deaths in the four counties it serves. Here’s how the deaths were certified:
Homicides: 130 (6%)
Suicides: 258 (12%)
Natural: 998 (48%)
Accidental: 644 (31%)
Undetermined: 51 (3%)
The office also performed 532 autopsies for nonjurisdictional counties.
By YAMIL BERARD
yberard@star-telegram.com
An unlicensed physician determined that toddler Lacey Lynn Nichols died in 2006 from blunt-force injuries to the head and brain. Lesli Tull, a fellow in training at the Tarrant County medical examiner’s office, said the child’s death was a homicide, and a foster parent was charged with capital murder.
Tull also gave cause-of-death opinions in dozens of other cases, including accidental deaths and suicides, without a Texas medical license or a training permit from the Texas Medical Board.
Around the state, some medical examiner offices have relied on the work of medical school interns and unlicensed doctors, as well as physicians who have repeatedly failed certification exams or been disciplined for poor work — even for complex capital murder cases.
Relaxing qualification requirements is one way the offices have tried to keep up with overwhelming caseloads and a shortage of forensic pathologists.
Some pathologists also operate what critics deride as "path mills." That can lead to significant errors, undermining the criminal justice system, some medical examiners themselves worry.
"Justice becomes secondary when too many bodies come into the morgue every day and when too few people are doing the autopsy," Galveston County Chief Medical Examiner Stephen Pustilnik said.
Professionals say medical examiners should have specific certification in anatomic and forensic pathology, even though the state requires only a doctor’s license. Without the certification, says Bexar County Chief Medical Examiner Randall Frost, "that’s like graduating from medical school and immediately going in and doing a heart transplant."
Dallas County Chief Medical Examiner Jeffrey Barnard agrees, adding, "The fact that someone is not alive doesn’t change the quality of the expectations of the medical practice."
Texas doesn’t keep track of how many certified forensic pathologists work in the dozen county medical examiner offices; some put the number at 50. That’s not enough to serve large counties, let alone the 200-plus smaller ones that turn to them for autopsies.
Dallas County Chief Medical Examiner Jeffrey Barnard agrees, adding, "The fact that someone is not alive doesn’t change the quality of the expectations of the medical practice."
"There’s only a certain number of doctors out there," Lubbock County Medical Examiner Sridhar Natarajan said.
Because of the shortage, even some larger medical examiner offices use noncertified pathologists. Records that the Star-Telegram obtained from the American Board of Pathology show that the head medical examiner in Laredo for Webb County is not board-certified. Neither is the one in El Paso.
Webb County Chief Medical Examiner Corinne Stern did not respond to requests for comment. In El Paso, Dr. Paul Shrode has told county officials that he plans to gain certification. He did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
A forensic pathologist employed by Harris County also lacks board certification, even though the medical examiner’s office says it requires such credentials. The physician "has amply demonstrated his expertise during his tenure, and the requirement for certification has been waived for him," a county official said.
Next page This month, the Harris County office reassigned its assistant deputy chief medical examiner to administrative duties after the Star-Telegram pointed out that his medical license had lapsed last year and had not been renewed. An official said Dr. Roger A. Mitchell was expected to return to regular duties, including autopsies, within about a week once he had renewed his license.
For years, Lubbock County relied on forensic pathology professors at Texas Tech’s School of Medicine to perform autopsies, even though the Texas Medical Board said they lacked proper state medical licenses. The professors had temporary permits that were automatically renewed by the university each year, a board spokeswoman said.
After questions about their licenses were raised last year, the Lubbock County Commissioners Court appointed Natarajan. Texas Tech medical school officials did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
The El Paso County medical examiner’s office uses a pathologist with a troubled history. Dr. Juan U. Contin, who is under contract with the office, had been fired as the county’s chief medical examiner in 2000 for unsatisfactory performance. He was also disciplined by the state medical board in 1991 in connection with his work for a private pain management clinic after the board found that he engaged in "unprofessional conduct that is likely to deceive or defraud the public or injure the public."
Contin did not return repeated messages.
Lacking permits
In other stopgap measures, some medical examiner offices use interns to do autopsies. Those new physicians are sometimes brought on as fellows with the understanding that they will later take exams to become certified. Meanwhile, they are required to have special permits and be supervised when conducting autopsies.
In some cases, though, medical examiners have hired them without the required permits.
Tull wasn’t the only unlicensed fellow in Tarrant. Dr. Carl Wigren did dozens of autopsies until his lack of a license and training permit was questioned in 2007.
Chief Medical Examiner Nizam Peerwani said the county now requires the permits. "We now reinforce that," he said.
Some peers say Tarrant’s failure to ensure that interns have proper credentials is a blemish on the integrity of death investigations.
"It is a way for our own practitioners to denigrate the importance as well as the value of our profession; that’s as if to say it’s OK if she doesn’t have to fill out and have the necessary paperwork that clinical doctors have," Pustilnik said.
In Dallas County, a fellow’s autopsy on a woman helped convict the woman’s boyfriend of capital murder, according to court records. The case is being reopened in federal court after another pathologist who reviewed the case for the defense found what he said were "15 points of error" in the autopsy.
The medical examiner’s office concluded that Daniel Clate Acker strangled Marquette George while he was driving his manual-shift truck and that she was probably dead or near death when she was dumped from the vehicle.
Previous page Next page
Acker’s appeals attorney contends that George jumped from the truck, and Dr. Glenn Larkin, a former medical examiner in Pennsylvania who reviewed the case for the defense, said all her injuries resulted from hitting the truck and the ground. He also said there was no indication that the victim’s clothes were examined. That’s important, he said, because there would likely have been tire impressions if the victim had been run over after being strangled, as prosecutors contended.
Barnard said he could not comment on the case.
Tull’s qualifications may become part of an appeal for Charles Yarbrough, a Coleman County foster parent charged with capital murder last year, his attorney said.
Tull didn’t testify at the trial, although she performed the autopsy. Instead, another Tarrant County medical examiner who witnessed the autopsy testified that the toddler died of blunt-force injuries to the head and brain. Yarbrough was eventually found guilty of reckless injury to a child.
If the state did not disclose information about Tull’s lack of qualifications to the court, it’s an issue, said Yarbrough’s attorney, Robert McCool. "If the state is aware of evidence that helps the defendant and they don’t tell you, they’ve got a problem."
Prosecutor Heath Hemphill said the use of fellows to conduct autopsies is not an issue because autopsy reports don’t rely on just one individual. "Every autopsy has to be agreed to and signed off by every medical examiner in that office," he said.
Large caseloads
As staffs are stretched thin, medical examiners often just pick up the pace.
There’s a fierce split on how many autopsies a pathologist can do before quality plummets.
The National Association of Medical Examiners says the quality of work is intrinsically tied to the number performed. A forensic pathologist with no administrative duties should perform no more than 250 autopsies a year, the organization recommended after studying the workload capabilities of offices nationwide. When the workload is greater, no matter how skilled the pathologist, there is a tendency to cut corners or make mistakes, it reported.
When the workload exceeds 350 per pathologist, mistakes are likely to be flagrant and reflect errors in judgment, the association says.
A 2006 survey by the Texas Association of Counties indicated that the number of autopsies was much higher in some counties.
Other records show that the chief medical examiner in Travis County at one point carried the load for deaths in 45 neighboring counties. A 2005 audit indicated that two pathologists each may have handled an average of more than 500 cases, counting both Travis County cases and private autopsies.
Nueces County Chief Medical Examiner Ray Fernandez said that he doesn’t want to do more than 350 a year but that the workload won’t give him a break. He handled 387 autopsies in 2008, even after the county provided a part-time forensic pathologist to help.
"Everybody hears the number 250 and 350, and they magically think it’s one autopsy a day," Fernandez said. "The problem is that you don’t always have one a day. Some days, it may be five, 10. Some days you may have none."
Previous page Next page
But Peerwani says caps may dissuade medical examiners from doing complete autopsies. They may stay under the limit, for example, by doing more external examinations. He sees the one-autopsy-a-day guide as akin to requiring a surgeon to perform an appendectomy a day and go home.
"We have eternally questioned the wisdom and philosophy of limiting the number of autopsies," Peerwani said.
It’s reasonable for a pathologist to do about 450 complete autopsies a year, he said, if the office has the staff and resources to support that, as he says Tarrant’s does. In 2008, his office completed 1,029 full autopsies and 305 partial autopsies, as well as 747 inspections/external examinations for the counties in the medical examiner district. In 2008, the office also completed 532 autopsies for nonjurisdictional counties, a medical examiner official said. In 2008, the office had four medical examiners and a fellow.
Donald Lee, executive director of the Texas Conference of Urban Counties, said strict limits on autopsies will cause costs to soar. If forensic pathologists are doing up to 500 autopsies a year, he said, that’s fine. That’s two procedures a day.
"Without these strict limits, we can get it done, and we have gotten it done," Lee said.
Not so, other experts say.
"Most medical examiners nationwide are in agreement that there has to be a limit," Frost said. But in Texas, he said, some offices are "doing case after case after case, and doing them very poorly."
The caps are intended to combat the idea of "one guy standing in the morgue all day long taking bodies and running them through the mill as quickly and as cheaply as possible," Pustilnik said. At 450 autopsies a year, "that’s gross malpractice," he said. "The people of the state of Texas are being misserved and malpracticed on."
Dr. William Rohr, chief medical examiner in Collin County, said he was maxed out at 280 autopsies last year. "To do a case right, anywhere from putting on scrubs all the way to getting all of the typos out of the autopsy report, if you want to do it right, it takes a lot of time," Rohr said.
Taking shortcuts
Some medical examiners have come up with shortcuts to keep pace.
Peerwani’s office was criticized for ruling on the causes of some babies’ deaths without inspecting the places where they died. That occurred with cases outside the counties his office services. In such cases, the office often classified deaths as natural, attributed to sudden infant death syndrome.
Information from death scenes can be crucial because it stands the greatest chance of being intact and free from manipulation or contamination, said Larkin, the former Pittsburgh medical examiner.
"The death scene and the body is one continuum," he said. "It is one piece of evidence."
Another timesaver is doing partial autopsies or external examinations rather than complete autopsies.
Peerwani said his office does full autopsies when homicide is suspected. Otherwise, it may do external examinations or partial autopsies, such as checking the heart of someone thought to have died of a heart attack. Most cases of natural death can be solved in these ways, he said.
He grants that important information could be overlooked.
"Nobody has a clear idea if we are missing a death, the truth," Peerwani said. "But it is impossible to do a complete autopsy on every case."
Smaller counties that contract with medical examiners also may limit the scope of an autopsy. The justice of the peace has the authority to decide whether a full autopsy is needed — or whether one is needed at all. In some counties, such requests are rare.
Dr. Randy Hanzlick, who inspects medical examiner offices for the National Association of Medical Examiners, said partial autopsies, particularly in cases of trauma, may miss important elements, leading to significant errors. "If you take at face value everything you’re told, you don’t look beyond what you’re told, you’re not going to find the unexpected," Hanzlick said.
One oversight is causing Peerwani’s office to re-examine some procedures.
This spring, the office said it would begin to X-ray victims of unwitnessed car crashes, especially those with massive head trauma, in response to an error in the ruling of a 66-year-old found dead inside his overturned pickup.
Daniel Obrine’s death had been ruled the result of the crash until a Houston funeral home found part of a bullet jacket lodged in his cheek. Obrine had been only externally examined after the April 26 wreck, without X-rays or an autopsy.
The case, which is unsolved, is now classified as a homicide.
Online: The National Academy of Sciences report, tinyurl.com/pathologist-shortage
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Misleading clues
Death scenes can hold important clues. But they can also mislead, Tarrant County Medical Examiner Nizam Peerwani said. He recalls a case in which police found a man shot in the head in his home. No gun was found and key valuables had disappeared, leading investigators to believe that the man was murdered. But medical examiners found traces of antidepressants in the man’s blood and learned in discussions with his psychiatrist that he was depressed and had suicidal tendencies. What’s more, blood splatters on his arms indicated that the head wound had been self-inflicted, Peerwani said. Police later apprehended a suspect who confessed to burglarizing the home after the man’s death. The gun was among the items he stole. His death was found to be a suicide.
— Yamil Berard
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Death investigations In 2008, the Tarrant County medical examiner’s office did full or partial autopsies or external examinations of 2,081 deaths in the four counties it serves. Here’s how the deaths were certified:
Homicides: 130 (6%)
Suicides: 258 (12%)
Natural: 998 (48%)
Accidental: 644 (31%)
Undetermined: 51 (3%)
The office also performed 532 autopsies for nonjurisdictional counties.
Hawaii article re: US Rep. Abercrombie and Mr. Woody "Ethics" Hunt?
September 14, 2009, 5:59 pm
Editor's Note: Pasted here for your reading is an article that came out in a paper in "Hawaii Free Press" on July 12, 2009 about Congressman Abercrombie who allegedly promoted high dollar construction of a military base that would directly benefit one of his biggest campaign contributors, Woody Hunt. The main point of the article is that the construction proposed by Abercrombie would benefit his largest campaign donor, Hunt corporations run by Woody Hunt, our very own El Paso ethics expert, corruption buster and coincadentally, military base contractor.--Please read on.
Where or where is our local press. Why was this not covered in our press?
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Follow the money: $10B Guam pork project benefits Abercrombie contributor
By Andrew Walden :: 459 Views :: Oahu News, Oahu Politics, Hawaii State News, Hawaii State Politics, National News, National Politics
"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex." President Dwight D Eisenhower, 1961
by Andrew Walden
As a hippie transplant from Buffalo, Neil Abercrombie was in the late 1960s and early 1970s involved in a scandal over tearing down military facilities--fighting to drive the ROTC out of what 1960s anti-American war activists called “the shacks” on the UH Manoa campus.
Four decades later, as a Congressman, Abercrombie could become embroiled in a scandal over building up military facilities--steering construction contracts of a military base on Guam towards a major campaign contributor.
Abercrombie was sharply criticized in the Washington Post June 30 for inserting a provision in the House version of the 2010 Defense Authorization Bill doubling the cost of relocating US troops from Okinawa to Guam.
What the media has not reported: Abercrombie’s provision could create a $10 billion opportunity for one of his largest campaign contributors, The Hunt Building Co.
Abercrombie’s provision would require that 70% of the construction workers be US citizens. They would have to be paid at the prevailing wages in Hawaii. The Congressional Budget Office estimates this “would increase the need for discretionary appropriations by about $10 billion over the 2010-2014 period.”
Abercrombie claims, "This is a huge opportunity to put Americans to work, in an American territory, building an American military base." He did not mention the "huge opportunity" for his campaign contributor. There is no requirement that the workers come from Hawaii.
Charles Djou, the Republican candidate seeking to replace Abercrombie in Congress, pointed out, “This is a reckless fiscal maneuver that dramatically increases taxpayers' cost and an inappropriate use of the defense budget to spread political pork.”
OpenSecrets.org reports that Hunt was Abercrombie’s fourth largest source of campaign cash in the most recent cycle. People tied to the El Paso, TX company contributed $13,800 to the Honolulu Congressman in 2007-08. Since 2002, Hunt has contributed at least $32,500 to Abercrombie’s campaigns.
Hunt renovated the 1400-home military/civilian Iroquois Point housing development on Ewa Beach, Oahu at the mouth of Pearl Harbor. The company has an entire Hawaii Division – positioning Hunt to contribute “in-state” to Abercrombie’s 2010 campaign for Governor. (Candidates for Hawaii state offices are limited to 30% out-of-state donations.) Hunt is also building “The Waterfront at Pu`uloa” on Oahu and “Palamanui” and “Kakaeloa” on the Big Island.
On its website, Hunt Building describes itself as “one of the nation’s leaders in military housing, specializing in turnkey design-build services through traditional military construction (MILCON) programs, and the military’s private/public ventures (PPV) process.”
The Washington Post reports that the Guam base will include, “family housing construction…financed by third parties, who would then take a fee for managing those properties.”
Hunt is not the only campaign contributor Abercrombie rewarded with taxpayer dollars in the 2010 Defense Authorization Act. Citizens Against Government Waste pointed out a $3.5 million Abercrombie earmark directed to BAE Systems for “Marine Mammal Awareness.”
OpenSecrets.org reports BAE Systems is Abercrombie’s top contributor for 2007-08 and for 2005-06 kicking in a total of $36,690. Since many BAE systems officers are Hawaii residents, they would be able to contribute “in-state” to Abercrombie’s gubernatorial campaign.
OpenSecrets.org July 7 also nails Abercrombie for accepting a $1,500 campaign contribution from indicted defense Contractor Richard Ianieri, a major backer of Rep Jack "Abscam" Murtha (D-PA).
A flattering article in May, 2009 El Paso Magazine paints Hunt Building Company Chairman Woody Hunt as an anti-corruption fighter. With no sense of irony, Hunt is quoted saying, “Once elected, you have to separate yourself from your supporters and govern.” Another article in the series is titled: “Corruption is the reason El Paso stays poor and over taxed.”
A typical comment on the article reads: “I agree. It's about time El Paso graduated from nursery school level corruption. I look toward Woody to show us how the big boys play.”
Are the big boys of "the military industrial complex" still playing with Neil? Abercrombie has held eight gubernatorial campaign fundraisers since April. His first Campaign Spending Commission report will be due July 31, 2009.
Where or where is our local press. Why was this not covered in our press?
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Follow the money: $10B Guam pork project benefits Abercrombie contributor
By Andrew Walden :: 459 Views :: Oahu News, Oahu Politics, Hawaii State News, Hawaii State Politics, National News, National Politics
"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex." President Dwight D Eisenhower, 1961
by Andrew Walden
As a hippie transplant from Buffalo, Neil Abercrombie was in the late 1960s and early 1970s involved in a scandal over tearing down military facilities--fighting to drive the ROTC out of what 1960s anti-American war activists called “the shacks” on the UH Manoa campus.
Four decades later, as a Congressman, Abercrombie could become embroiled in a scandal over building up military facilities--steering construction contracts of a military base on Guam towards a major campaign contributor.
Abercrombie was sharply criticized in the Washington Post June 30 for inserting a provision in the House version of the 2010 Defense Authorization Bill doubling the cost of relocating US troops from Okinawa to Guam.
What the media has not reported: Abercrombie’s provision could create a $10 billion opportunity for one of his largest campaign contributors, The Hunt Building Co.
Abercrombie’s provision would require that 70% of the construction workers be US citizens. They would have to be paid at the prevailing wages in Hawaii. The Congressional Budget Office estimates this “would increase the need for discretionary appropriations by about $10 billion over the 2010-2014 period.”
Abercrombie claims, "This is a huge opportunity to put Americans to work, in an American territory, building an American military base." He did not mention the "huge opportunity" for his campaign contributor. There is no requirement that the workers come from Hawaii.
Charles Djou, the Republican candidate seeking to replace Abercrombie in Congress, pointed out, “This is a reckless fiscal maneuver that dramatically increases taxpayers' cost and an inappropriate use of the defense budget to spread political pork.”
OpenSecrets.org reports that Hunt was Abercrombie’s fourth largest source of campaign cash in the most recent cycle. People tied to the El Paso, TX company contributed $13,800 to the Honolulu Congressman in 2007-08. Since 2002, Hunt has contributed at least $32,500 to Abercrombie’s campaigns.
Hunt renovated the 1400-home military/civilian Iroquois Point housing development on Ewa Beach, Oahu at the mouth of Pearl Harbor. The company has an entire Hawaii Division – positioning Hunt to contribute “in-state” to Abercrombie’s 2010 campaign for Governor. (Candidates for Hawaii state offices are limited to 30% out-of-state donations.) Hunt is also building “The Waterfront at Pu`uloa” on Oahu and “Palamanui” and “Kakaeloa” on the Big Island.
On its website, Hunt Building describes itself as “one of the nation’s leaders in military housing, specializing in turnkey design-build services through traditional military construction (MILCON) programs, and the military’s private/public ventures (PPV) process.”
The Washington Post reports that the Guam base will include, “family housing construction…financed by third parties, who would then take a fee for managing those properties.”
Hunt is not the only campaign contributor Abercrombie rewarded with taxpayer dollars in the 2010 Defense Authorization Act. Citizens Against Government Waste pointed out a $3.5 million Abercrombie earmark directed to BAE Systems for “Marine Mammal Awareness.”
OpenSecrets.org reports BAE Systems is Abercrombie’s top contributor for 2007-08 and for 2005-06 kicking in a total of $36,690. Since many BAE systems officers are Hawaii residents, they would be able to contribute “in-state” to Abercrombie’s gubernatorial campaign.
OpenSecrets.org July 7 also nails Abercrombie for accepting a $1,500 campaign contribution from indicted defense Contractor Richard Ianieri, a major backer of Rep Jack "Abscam" Murtha (D-PA).
A flattering article in May, 2009 El Paso Magazine paints Hunt Building Company Chairman Woody Hunt as an anti-corruption fighter. With no sense of irony, Hunt is quoted saying, “Once elected, you have to separate yourself from your supporters and govern.” Another article in the series is titled: “Corruption is the reason El Paso stays poor and over taxed.”
A typical comment on the article reads: “I agree. It's about time El Paso graduated from nursery school level corruption. I look toward Woody to show us how the big boys play.”
Are the big boys of "the military industrial complex" still playing with Neil? Abercrombie has held eight gubernatorial campaign fundraisers since April. His first Campaign Spending Commission report will be due July 31, 2009.