Town Hall Meeting-KVHD candidates answer questions

Town hall meeting revealed much...you don't know I'm sure


KVHD Candidate, Tom Bostick, pictured above, answers some tough questions from the audience, who listened intently as potential board members were given some tough issues to explain to a crowd of approximately 50 residents.










Dave Freeland retired from the United States Forest Service, served as moderator, for five of the six candidates for the Kern Valley Healthcare District: John Blythe, Tom Bostick, David Derr, Kathryn Knight, and Saul McGarity. The sixth candidate, Dr. Wesley Thomas, did not participate for unknown reasons.

Freeland, pictured with Marsha Smith, Publisher of the Kern Valley Sun, asked questions from the community which lead to revelations the Sun apparently didn't catch as the vague, general story to follow in the newspaper contained no detail on the event.

Dr. Robert Gross, DO, pictured sitting next to KVHD, CFO, Chet Beedle, watching the candidates take on questions. Gross, now a KVHD board member, along with Victoria Alwin, Chairwoman of the board, and Bob Jamison also attended. Alwin and Gross were elected to the KVHD board of directors in 2008, and their campaign meeting video is still up on our Youtube site so you can see if they followed their own campaign promises from 2008. (just for yucks)


As Freeland asked questions which tended to lean toward the issue of the debt the hospital has carried for more than 22 years with the state agency Cal Mtg., interesting information "erupted" as the questions lead to some revelations for people who may not know what has "really" gone on for the two decades.

The debt meeting that wasn't

In March 2009, I asked then KVHD Chairwoman, Kathryn Knight, CFO, Chet Beedle, Assemblywoman Jean Fuller to have a meeting with Cal Mtg. to try and defer payments or any help the ailing hospital could obtain.

The CEO of the time, Rick Carter, Beedle, and long time board member, Brad Armstrong, began arriving unexpectedly at Mrs. Knight's business, "My Sewing Room." The pressure was on as the three did not want to follow through with the negotiations with Cal Mtg.

I recieved an email from Knight and Beedle calling OFF the negotiations. I spoke with Mrs. Knight and found out that she was being pressured, or maybe we could call it "bullying."

At the next meeting, the video shows I called out the three amigos who now want your property tax money for Measure G, and called them bullies to their faces. Mrs. Knight politely said, "it's okay."

NO IT WAS NOT OKAY

Nobody should have to endure what these quasi-government district employees and elected officials did when we knew that the hospital was "down and out" financially with no chance of recovery unless they pursued the "old debt."

Knight also did not have to endure pressure from these people to cancel what could have been a successful negotiation or deferment. That's KVHD folks.

http://kernvalleyhospital.blogspot.com/2010/07/documents-show-kvhd-knew-of-financial.html

They had no issue trying to stop the negotiation and overpower Mrs. Knight and mislead our representative in the assembly, Jean Fuller.

Blythe, who has obviously researched the history of the hospital debt, spoke up about the meeting that wasn't, but should have been.


"In terms of the debt about a year ago, we had actually, well the board, as far as I know, had actually played with the notion of possibly negotiating with Cal Mtg.-and the board didn't want to hear about it. You know I hear this scenario that we are just going to go up to Sacramento to just stir up a hornets nest-and it's unbelievable as far as I'm concerned. Cal Mtg. insured 13 million in 1986 for what should have been a larger hospital and then defused in 1990 for 20 million for a smaller hospital. So, that's where we got stuck with the debt we struggled with for the last 20 years," Blythe adamantly explained to an audience who likely didn't know of this opportunity we had 19 months ago.


John Blythe, shown speaking to the interested voters who came out mid October to learn more about the candidates running for the Kern Valley Healthcare District board of directors.






Question to Knight: why did you cave and vote with the rest of them?

At one point in the meeting, Kathryn Knight, current board member, pictured above right, answered a question from the audience as to why she seemed to "cave" and vote with the rest of the board.

Knight explained that she felt that much of her input has been quashed by other board members. She described a dysfunctional and factional situation with the current board.

For instance, they did not allow her to tell the community THERE ARE OTHER ANSWERS and she has information to back it up which I have obtained. (lying to board members and the public? Naughty, but the usual I have to say.)

And she is RIGHT! I have it all on video now for others to see, but people who take or have the time to find out the true happenings and information should see this.


Saul MacGarity, came out swinging describing the financial situation at the hospital as a problem of the decision making by the board members.





Question: Did they talk to Cal Mtg.?

Former, interim, KVHD board member, Wayne Ottoson, asked board members if they had spoken to the insurer and creditor for the district, Cal Mtg. who holds the holds the paper on the farm.

None of the candidates answered to the positive. Not only have the candidates missed speaking to the creditor which pulls all the
strings financially, but the sitting board could not answer positive either, at least openly.

(Except, I also found that two board members, Alwin and Gross, did in fact, MEET with Cal Mtg. according to emails between Beedle and Cal Mtg. But Mrs. Knight didn't even know they were doing this. That is about as Brown act as it gets.)

http://kernvalleyhospital.blogspot.com/2008/10/candidate-info.html

Blythe, Bostick and Derr, pictured above right, discuss the issue of Measure G, the property tax increase, not well understood by anyone, even the sitting board of directors.

Blythe rebutted the two candidates explaining to the the audience that he thinks it is premature to burden the community with a plan that has not totally addressed all of the needs for the future.

His hammer came down, as the candidate, explained that the hospital COULD HAVE negotiated with Cal Mtg. via an attorney they apparently KNEW about. (see Knight above)

He cited a passage in the regulatory agreement between the hospital and Cal Mtg. indicating this contractual element is NOT LEGAL.

Though Bostick and Derr came out for the measure based on the fact that the community needs a new emergency department built and other "equipment" as they have been leeched of all their funds by administration costs, management companies, penalties, over priced contracts, and it does seem reasonable, except...the plan is NOT all about the ER.

Finally, someone said it before the election

Thank you John Blythe as my research has proven not only that the contract which binds this community's money to the state of California is not only challengable, it has also been altered and unamended, possibly making it NULL and VOID. That is if the KVHD administration and a few board members had the gumption to fight it.

But you will hear, as it was posted on this blog, that the hospital's credit is tied to this poisonous agency, Cal Mtg. True.

However, a step further had the current board and administration gone, they would have found they could "adopt another creditor." (Duh)

That has been established through people in the healthcare industry that Cal Mtg. is not the only game in town. And it maybe that by simply putting in a couple clauses such as the inability to "bankrupt" on the debt, which is unconstitutional, could put their backs up against the wall.

Cal Mtg. also has a clause that they have power to replace top administrators, such as the CEO.

Well, where were they when former CEO, Pam Ott, revealed her resume and it was found she had FALSE credentials. Yes, maybe it's their liability our elder abuse horror story.

We needed and apparently had the information from an attorney who handles cases such as this type of game where we negotiate or they get NOTHING but trouble.


Derr listens closely to his fellow candidates as they explain their positions on important matters such as morale, raises, bond debt history, among other related KVHD matters.





History of backing down and then coming back


Wayne Ottoson, former interim KVHD board member during the dark days of 1999 when the hospital had a choice whether to fight Cal Mtg. or high tail it out of town. Ottoson chose the ride out of town, but has recently returned and become an outspoken voice about the debt and the bond measure.


Robert Knight, CEO, from 1997 to 1999, and several board members including Ottoson, went to Cal Mtg. along with state representatives to try and find a way to get out from under the debt from the botched construction project which left the hospital behind financially, staffed, and unable to grow in a quickly changing healthcare industry due to the ball and chain, or debt.

Knight was shortly then fired by Cal Mtg. as they were not interested in making any deals and most certainly would not allow any sort of Chapter 9 which would then require them to pay off the debt. (Read post: Nobody bankrupts on Cal Mtg.)

Ottoson, who deferred to the statewide office of Healthcare Planning and Development, OSHPD, which oversees Cal Mtg., in 1999, now told the candidates he had been in touch with "Dan Morey" of Cal Mtg. as well as Mabel Chan. First, it's "Don" not "Dan" and he is the legal counsel for OSHPD.

And what is interesting is that I have not only been in touch with them for five years, but you should see how their story has changed over these years. (remember, I save it all)


Fight or pay is your only option

This community does not have backing for a good fight with a creditor which allowed our hospital to hire unfit employees, keep us going just barely by cutting the staff which take care of the actual patients, and watched as money crept out of the first round of bonds.

Cal Mtg. blames Goldman Sachs for the initial feasibility study which allowed this hospital to sell 22 million in government "revenue" bonds for a hospital worth a mere one million dollars. Good job everyone...

Ottoson didn't fight a decade ago, but that is the option: fight for our rights to negotiate fairly or pay more taxes.

Or...take the risk that this valley can handle three to four property tax increases, as this is only the second bond, two more to go...(see McGlew special meeting July)

We also have a definitely deficient plan of attack which puts a new ER on a 45 year old building which needs to be retrofitted by 2030?

No, the plan was what the community told us in 2006 what we wanted: URGENT CARE, CATARACT SURGERY, MAMMOGRAPHY, CHEMOTHERAPY, DIALYSIS, ETC.

Dysfunctional board? Now is the time to correct that problem


With two seats available, voters must decide which two candidates may be able to handle the current financial situation and possibly have the courage to fight the good fight with creditor Cal Mtg.


More on negotiating with Cal Mtg....but first I handed a message to Jerry Brown yesterday in Bakersfield.

(I apologize and laughed at the comment regarding the partial story as I had to leave off this post as my computer has been under attack and now we are looking for the hackers...leave it to the teenagers to find them...soon. Is somebody nervous out there about the truth?...Definitely.)

Election Time: KVHD Board of Directors candidate forum: an experiment in fairness

I'm tired of hearing it said that democracy doesn't work.
Of course it doesn't work.
We are supposed to work it.

Alexander Woollcott





With less than two months left before the November 2, 2010 election, the six candidates running for the two open seats on the Kern Valley Healthcare District Board of Directors have participated in what I am calling, "the fairness campaign."

After years of watching one candidate trying to stomp the other as a way of winning the votes of the people of the United States, I thought we could set an example for our politicians and news outlets by allowing the candidates to speak to the voters, in their own words, unedited, and without restriction.

I want to hear about the "people" themselves, and not about the sometimes fictional deficiencies of their fellow candidates.

So, I asked the six KVHD board candidates, Tom Bostick, Kathryn Knight, David Derr, John Blythe, Dr. Wesley Thomas, and Saul McGarity if they would like to publish a candidate statement and answer a few questions on the blog.

All of them agreed to do this, and I offered unlimited space, a photo, four questions, a candidate statement, and contact information. Each of them chose their own presentation.

(However, one candidate, Saul McGarity, is down with the flu, but will be participating once he gets well.)

Your vote makes all the difference

Voting is the power of the people. And to vote wisely, I believe a fair playing Field is in order, so that we can not only "meet" the candidates, but hear in their own words what they believe they can do if elected to a governing position.

I recently sent a letter to the LA Times chastising them for keeping our candidate for California Governor "Jerry Brown" in the paper constantly. Anyone running for the KVHD board knows that Mr. Brown, current Attorney General, was one of many who had a chance to help this rural hospital district in crisis because of elder abuse allegations. And he could have investigated the lending practices of Cal Mtg., but his office would not even respond to that request.

While we in this valley fell silent, in shock, after criminal charges and civil cases were filed last year, Brown announced his run for Governor. He also used this hospital as a demonstration of hyperbole, when he said it was the worst case of "elder abuse" he'd ever seen.

Now Brown has moved on to the City of Bell, a hot spot of corruption, currying favor with such publications as the Sacramento Bee and the LA Times.

It's the game of election politics, aided and abetted by the media.

I disagree totally

One of the main reasons I felt that our candidates needed a forum they could use to spell out to the public what they "stand for" is that they could easily be dismissed by a bias media.

Newspapers have no legal standard as far as having to print both sides of the issue or even all the candidates' platforms. Television and radio have a different set of rules via the FCC.

I could do whatever I want to, but what I want is reform of the election process. I'm tired of the commercials, the misstatements, the lack of focus on the qualifications for the job, the money changing hands and I decided that I could create something where our local candidates could express and educate without all the static.

I have a higher and grander standard of principle than George Washington. He could not lie; I can, but I won't.
Mark Twain

Comment on the candidate statements

I just want to say that I'm impressed by all of the statements as these daring people appear both willing and able to help our district not only survive, but make progress.

What I noticed is that each person took their time to answer to the public in an intelligent, concerned and sincere manner. Nobody senselessly slammed anyone else, they are obviously looking for the answers to help their community.

They are simply using this forum to disseminate their own message to the voters.

With six solid candidates this will be a difficult decision to decide on only two (I would like to grab them all and take them to the hospital to problem solve and plan for the future) but voters will have the opportunity to read and re-read each participants platform prior to the election to aid in a tough choice.

Regardless of the outcome, who wins, I suspect we will continue to see the others involved in some way to support change for the better at KVHD.

The second thing that impressed me was that everyone was willing to address some very difficult issues, which shows courage as well as confidence.

There are serious problems with the hospital, financially, their ability to provide more varied and needed services, a numerous amount of lawsuits, criminal charges, a 24 year old debt with the state office Cal Mtg., as well as many other issues which could lead to a dead end road if not addressed relatively soon.

What I'm not seeing is a "political" focus, but a community concerned about it's future. How refreshing. Wouldn't it be nice if we could somehow convince the entrenched government to follow suit and not spend half their elected life on the campaign trail?

So, right off the bat, I say thank you to all for even considering this difficult challenge of being elected to an ailing hospital board, but we all appreciate your courage for taking a stand regarding what you believe.

To avoid criticism do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.
Elbert Hubbard (1856 - 1915)

VOTE!

You can obtain registration forms at the Kern County Elections office in Bakersfield, the library, fire stations and post offices. But with technology comes the ability to register and vote on line. You may also change your address or other information via the elections website. For more information go online to: http://elections.co.kern.ca.us/Elections/

Or call Kern Co. Elections at 661-868-3590

(See candidate statements: Tom Bostick, Kathryn Knight, David Derr, John Blythe, Saul McGarity, and Dr. Wesley Thomas following this post...)