Here is the private investigator’s report on Access Escambia that “DParker” posted on pnj.com and which “DParker” claims proves “the health care initiative is a fraud.”
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At 8:50 A.M. this date I spoke by telephone ((xxx-xxx-xxxx) with Jim McClellan, who stated that AccessEscambia was a private organization, a political action committee, and that I would need a subpoena to review his records; that he had filed all of the necessary documents with the Supervisor of Elections office, and that he was required no further disclosure. Pursuant to your instructions I queried him regarding the receipt of Federal grants by AccessEscambia. He stated that AccessEscambia had ‘helped’ Sacred Heart Hospital ‘obtain’ grants to presumably be used by Sacred Heart/Escambia County Clinics and that the grant money had not gone to AccessEscambia. He referred me to Denise Barton at Sacred Heart Hospital for additional information, and reiterated my need for a subpoena to review further records. He stated that he would be happy to ‘talk’ with my client about this.
RO note: No fraud yet.
At 8:55 A.M. this date I attempted to contact Denise Barton (xxx-xxx-xxxx); I spoke with Terry Bowman who informed me that Ms. Barton was out and would not return until Wednesday. RO note: No fraud here either.
I reviewed the expenditure reports at the Supervisor’s site:
RO Note: This is information anyone can view on the Supervisor’s website, escambiavotes.com. No fraud here, not much detective work either.
4/1/2007 through 6/1/2007
Contributions
Baptist Health Care $ 25,000.00
Sacred Heart $ 20,000.00
Expenditures
Southern Solutions $ 1,000.00
AC Advertising $ 9,600.00
JB Enterprise Consulting $ 2,000.00
6/2/2007 through 6/21/2007
Contributions
Baptist Health Care $ 40,000.00
Sacred Heart $ 30,000.00
West Florida Hosp $ 40,000.00
Expenditures
Southern Solutions $ 5,918.00
AC Advertising $ 10,400.00
Barcelo & Co. $ 16,000.00
Nolan Group $ 57,000.00
Gannett $ 10,600.00
Appleyard Agency $ 40,000.00
Souther Solutions is I believe Mr. McClellan, and Gannett is of course the Pensacola News Journal. RO Note: Darn it, no fraud here either. Buying ads from the PNJ isn’t a crime.
At 9:30 A.M. I received a call from Mr. McClellan during which he stated that he had checked and Ms. Barton was out; that in fact some of the grant funds had been deposited into AccessEscambia’s account and that there was ‘about $100,000 sitting there’ at the moment (of the grant money) either from Escambia Community Cooperative, Escambia Community Clinics, or some variation thereof. He referred me to attorney Gary Leuchtman at Beggs and Lane. RO Note: Again no fraud.
I spoke with Gary Leuchtman (850-432-2451) at 10:13 A.M. this date; he was unaware of any of the facts of this query except for filing the original incorporation and non-profit papers. RO Note: Still no fraud. Somebody is running up a bill with no fraud discovered.
I am not qualified to speak about the legalities of mingling grant money with a PAC, but is sounds improper on the face of it – I would suggest that you check with your attorney regarding the legalities involved.
RO Note: Though P.I. isn’t qualified to speak to legalities, he does. Spending grant funds for campaigns and other purposes not permitted by a grant is illegal. The campaign report the P.I. lists in the report shows all the expenses for the campaign have been paid by contributions from the hospitals. In fact that is what the private investigator’s report should have said. “All campaign expenses of the Access Escambia political committee have been paid by contributions from the hospitals. End of Report.” – but then that doesn’t pay many bills or please bosses with an agenda.
No fraud here.
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