Petrelis Files

Obama AIDS Czar Candidate Goosby:
Pay Rose as HIV Programs Cut

The U.S. global AIDS czar until January 21 was openly gay doctor Mark Dybul, who was forced out of his job at the State Department one day after the inauguration of Barack Obama and assurances had been made to him that he would continue his position for the near future.Dybul apparently was seen as too chummy with the Bush administration and it's large focus on sexual abstinence as prevention, and may have been let go to appease AIDS Inc executives who want a clean break from Bush's AIDS policies and those who carried them out.

Much attention for a potential Obama replacement has been on Dr. Eric Goosby, an AIDS advisor to Bill Clinton when he occupied the White House who runs the Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation, an affiliated nonprofit with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. My opinion ofGoosby is that he was the consummate Clintonista AIDS bureaucrat who was not committed to rocking the boat to save lives and he is a prime example of a greedy HIV nonprofit executive director who puts who his salary above providing services to people with AIDS.

Pangaea has long been friendly with the William J. Clinton Foundation, and has received millions of dollars from the former president's tax exempt organization.

On page 21 of the Pangaea IRS tax return for 2007, Goosby's group explains that it spent its Clinton Foundation dollars in the following six countries, for various HIV related projects: Bahamas, China,Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, South Africa and Ukraine.

Should this be of concern to the advisers guiding the president on his choice of new AIDS czar? I'm not sure if the close working relationship between the two foundations, and the extensive reach of Pangaea's programs in foreign landsthrough the generosity of Clinton's nonprofit, runs up against the Obama administration's rules for the former president, now that Hillary Clinton is the head of the State Department.

The coziness of Goosby and the Clinton Foundation is probably why a leading Chinese AIDS web site, to which Goosby is a top advisor, lists his institutional affiliation not as Pangaea but the Clinton Foundation.

Let's turn to the four current IRS 990 tax reports from Pangaea and see what it tells us about Goosby fiscal stewardship and if we can predict his future course of action, if he's chosen by Obama.

From 2004 through 2007 Goosby's salary increased a minuscule 1.15%, while revenue fell a whopping 68%. You read right: 68%.

His compensation went from $248,935 up to $284,775, as revenue dramatically dropped from $6.0 million to $1.9 million.

Translation? As funds dried up to provide services and life-extending drugs to poor people abroad with HIV, Goosby in no way curbed his greed to enlarge his bank account. Like executive directors of AIDS services organizations in San Francisco that have faced and are facing budget cuts and smaller revenue streams,Goosby didn't diminish his salary - he cut programs.

What about Goosby's 2007 salary? It was $284,775, and out of a budget of $1.9 million, his compensation ate up 15% of that year's budget.

If Goosby is Obama's choice for U.S. global AIDS czar, and he is facing budgetary constraints and declining governmental donations, expect him to put his personal salary needs and those of his bureaucracy first, the needs of people living with HIV second.

2004 IRS report

Goosby salary
$248,935

Pangaea revenue
$6.0 million

2005 IRS report

Goosby salary
$248,242

Pangaea revenue
$6.2 million

2006 IRS report

Goosby salary
$283,336

Pangaea revenue
$4.9 million

2007 IRS report

Goosby salary
$284,775

Pangaea revenue
$1.9 million

Should Goosby be passed over for the State Department HIV adviser position and he wants to leave Pangaea, I recommend he look at working for Big Banking or on Wall Street.