October 15, 2009
Your chance to reform health care
As politicians in the other Washington continue to debate the future of national health care, voters in the Valley Medical Center Hospital District (King County Public Hospital District #1) will have the chance this coming Election Day to reform at least a small part of the health care industry. The current commissioner in that district's position #2 is Carolyn Parnell. Parnell was one of the commissioners who voted to give the outgoing Valley Medical Center CEO, Richard Roodman, a $1.72 Million golden parachute. To be fair, the pay out was perfectly legal but then again so is denying a patient's claim of a minor technicality and while Roodman may have done some good things as CEO to earn that $1.72 million, giving a more reasonable parting gift would have saved taxpayers hundreds of dollars each, money they could have spent on needed medical care.
So if you live in Hospital District #1 and want to get rid someone who believes this sort of pay out is okay, then vote for Cory Cappelletti (NB: He is running as a write in candidate so you'll need to fill in the bubble next to the write in line and write down his name.)
Posted by MarkGriswold at October 15, 2009
02:53 PM | Email This
1. We live in Hospital District 1. One correction to what Mark wrote: If you live ANYWHERE in Hospital District 1, you can vote for all positions up. That includes a WRITE IN in Position 2 for Cory Cappelletti. We have known Cory for several years, and highly recommend him to you. He does a good and thorough job in everything he undertakes and would be great on the Hospital Board.
We intend to go out this Saturday and help him hand out fliers about his write in campaign. If you want to help, contact me at regpc3@aol.com.
Ruth Gibbs
His press release follows in this post.
Cory Cappelletti Announces Write-in campaign for Valley Medical Commissioner
Cory Cappelletti announced today that he is running a write-in campaign for Valley Medical Center Hospital Commissioner (King County Public Hospital District #1 – Position 2) againstcurrently unopposed long-time incumbent Carolyn Parnell.
Cappelletti was moved to run due to the recent CEO payment scandals at Valley, “Every dollar that we as taxpayers send to the hospital should be spent on the best health care for taxpayers.
Instead the incumbent Commissioners approved sweetheart deals that gave the Valley CEO a $1.72 million “retirement” payment five years before he retired. Plus they went out of their way to make sure the public never knew a thing about it.
I’m against misspending our health care dollars in back-room deals. Anyone who lives in the District should be outraged by this – it is time to change the very cushy insider network and get someone looking out for taxpayers and patients
-- not giving millions to Valley Fat Cats.”
Cappelletti works for the Renton’s Fire & Emergency Services Department and understands both the need for good health care and why we must make sure all of our tax dollars are spent wisely. Cory earned a Business Administration degree from Seattle University with minors in Engineering and Mathematics.
Cory has has lived in the Renton his entire life and his family has been in the area for 73 years.
He and his wife are raising their son in Fairwood. He’s deeply involved in many community volunteer activities.
Cappelletti is committed to always being open with the voters. He noted that the incumbent supported two “emergency” elections called in the spring and never even issuing a voters’ pamphlet. One of these stealth elections
resulted in taxes that local property owners pay to Valley Medical increasing by about 600%.
Now the average taxpayer sends over $200 every year to Valley Medical.
Cappelletti stressed that he would always be open with the voters and if there was going to be a vote on anything it would be done with voters’ pamphlets and during a normal election in November.
Cappelletti also noted that the incumbent Commissioner had allowed, what King 5 called,
“the largest misuse of tax dollars for campaigning in state history” during its 2005 & 2006 campaigns.
Valley Medical’s CEO was fined almost $300,000 for that, with the State saying that the fines couldn’t be paid with public money. The incumbent allowed the hospital to pay it via its insurance – the insurance is paid for by your tax dollars.
To vote for Cappelletti voters must color-in the “write-in” bubble on their ballot position #2 (vs Carolyn Parnell) and then write “Cory Cappelletti” on the write-in line provided. As Cappelletti has informed King County elections that he is now running for this seat any spelling close to his name will be counted as a vote for him. “I’m asking voters to make a little more effort on their ballot – but that effort will be worth it to get real oversight of your health care taxes.”
For more information contact: Cory Cappelletti – email: coryforcommissioner@gmail.com
Phone: 206-851-9035.
2. Some pretty good coverage of the latest scandal @ Valley Medical. It is even worse than Mark describes - the $1.73 million payment is in the CEO's hand's 5 years before he retires and there was a conspiracy to keep it quiet too. Only came out due to Auditor Sonntag's performance audit of the place. Really pretty ugly. Desperately need to change commissioners there right away.
http://www.libertylive.org/blog_main/post.php?post_id=1657
and here in a Seattle Times Editorial
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorials/2009984072_edit02hospital.html
And here in the Renton and Covington Reporters - but NOT in the Kent Reporter!!
http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/south_king/cmv/news/62700192.html
3.
This is a HUGE district, map attached:
http://media.redclaycms.com/sites/319/images/pdf/HospDist1.pdf
All of Renton, Kent, Covington & chunks of Bellevue, Newcastle along w. lots of unincorporated King County and small parts of Seatac, Maple Valley and Black Diamond. About 500,000 people.
The tax for those who live in the district is more than 4x what you pay to the Port of Seattle. Amazing how little coverage this important race is getting, especially considering the scandals going on at the place.
Another candidate is challenging the other incumbent. Challenger is Dr. Aaron Heide see www.heideforvalley.com
Sweep the place clean.
4. Lovely. Private corporations get to do this with NO OVERSIGHT whatsoever, and no chance for the public to express its objections... but somehow a public agency is WORSE?
5. dk, private corporations do have oversight, it's called the board of directors and, above them, the shareholders. People who do not own shares in a company do not get to vote on that companies operations the same way that people in Canada don't get to vote for the President of the United States and people in Spokane don't get to vote for the mayor of Seattle.
The "shareholders" in Valley Medical Center are the citizens living in Hospital District #1. They have the chance to change the "board of directors" (the elected commissioners) the same way shareholders in a private company have the chance to change the company's board of directors.
Before making comparisons make sure you know what you're talking about.
6. Anthony:
You need to get off the blogs and get back to work.
The character assassination of Rich Roodman and Mike Miller needs to stop. Just admit you want to kill off the Public District hospital and be done with it.
1. The PDC fine was $195,000, with $75,000 suspended. He was wrong, and was fined; but why lie and exaggerate the amount?
2. "voted to give the outgoing Valley Medical Center CEO, Richard Roodman, a $1.72 Million golden parachute..." what the hell are you talking about? He isn't "outgoing", and there was no golden parachute. It was access to his retirement fund.
Some of the things done may be questionable, but the lies and exaggeration of public facts make it clear that the writers have ulterior motives.
I can respect (not agree with) your position against tax supported hospitals, anti tax, anti government, extreme opinion. But the dishonest, lying, posturing, stealth campaign is disgusting.
7. Mike Glenn Remarks
Board of Commissioners Meeting - October 5, 2009
Public Hospital District No.1 of King County � Valley Medical Center
Over the last several months, I have had a series of meetings and discussions with commissioner Hemstad. The purpose of our discussions was to identify the differences and reconcile the growing conflict between Anthony, his board colleagues and members of the administrative team. Because of the events of the last few weeks, I feel compelled to brief the entire board on the nature of the discussions, including what Anthony shared with me at our last meeting.
When I arrived at VMC, I was struck by the level of animosity between Anthony and his commissioner and administrative colleagues. I had worked at a public hospital district for 15 years yet had never before seen the political grandstanding and bare knuckle diplomacy that seemed to characterize many of those early board meetings.
Since I was new to Rich�s administrative team and didn�t have a relationship with Commissioner Hemstad--good or bad-- it was suggested that I meet with him to better understand his issues, and ideally identify those we could possibly resolve. I was happy to agree to this.
Anthony and I met 3 times in person, and spoke by phone a few times as well. Our initial discussion was pleasant, but not particularly productive. In later discussions, Anthony disclosed frustration with his board colleagues and a growing animosity for Rich and other members of his admin team.
At this point, it became clear to me that Anthony was not particularly interested in improving relationships or understanding differences with his colleagues. He was convinced that wholesale changes needed to occur at Valley, and they needed to begin at the top.
On May 26th, Anthony and I met for coffee in Tacoma. After an hour or so of replaying past board meetings I asked Anthony just what he was trying to accomplish as a commissioner. He asked what I meant by this. I said that from my perspective, his divisive, confrontational approach was ineffective in influencing policy or advancing his agenda. His board involvement must be terribly frustrating since most of his comments were viewed as confrontational and produced nothing more than opposition and ill will. Worse, it seemed that nearly all of his board motions and proposals died for lack of a second. I said he didn�t appear to be interested in building consensus so how did he expect to get anything done.
His response surprised me. He said his end game was to orchestrate a change in leadership at Valley Medical Center. He was convinced that Valley was incapable of changing on its own, so his plan was to identify two solid candidates to run against Carolyn and Mike, assist them in their campaign and ultimately help them win the election. If this occurred, and he was quite convinced it would, he would become board chair, and along with the two new commissioners, create an adversarial work environment that Rich nor any CEO in his right mind could not or would not tolerate. He was fully aware of the supplemental retirement plan, and considered it a critical component in his plan to dispose of Rich.
He then asked how things were going for me. In an earlier discussion, I had made mention of how difficult it was for me to get to work because of a very challenging commute. He advised me to hang in there because there might be an opportunity for me when Rich is gone. While he made no promises, the implication of his remark was very clear.
10/05/09(13)
So why am I bringing this up now. I realize that by doing so, I will be accused of the same political gamesmanship that several others in and around our community are engaged in. This is not my intent. Commissioner Hemstad put me in an impossible position, and I believe he is now actively working the plan that he alluded to at our meeting back in May.
Unfortunately, by doing so he is attacking the character of Rich and several honest and well meaning community leaders and smearing the reputation of Valley Medical Center in the process. Each day 2500 dedicated employees show up at Valley to take care of our patients with as much skill and compassion as possible. Every employee, from cafeteria worker to bedside nurse to neuro surgeon is focused on earning the trust of our community, one patient interaction at a time. To jeopardize this trust simply to further a political ambition is inexcusable.
The decision to share this with the board was not an easy one. I realize we were speaking confidentially when Commissioner Hemstad confided in me, and I am sure he is disappointed that I am breaking this trust. However, the consequences of staying quiet while he engages in this strategy of tearing down the hospital in order to save it are just too great.
8. Yes, there are a lot of good people at VMC. They have nothing to do with this. What will be the average annual wage increase this year? Will the union have to fight to get 3%?
It's not a golden parachute but rather a retirement bonus? Semantics. Has he retired?
His salary is already close to $1Million. If this is average for hospital CEO's then why does he earn more than the CEO of Harborview?
Illegal? No. Poor taste? Yes. Expensive? Only to the tax payers. Maybe we should think about closing down another section/floor of the new tower. Let's say it's just saving room for future expansion.
9. Hello from Russia!
Can I quote a post in your blog with the link to you?