HIV Panel to Post Agendas in 2015, Minutes Require FOIL 

(Public domain photo.)

The New York State Department of Health's AIDS Advisory Council is a ludicrous mess from top to bottom. I complained yesterday about the lack of agendas on the web in advance of their November 20 meeting and that no minutes are posted on their site.

However, my chief concern was the removal of corrupt AIDS bureaucrat Gail Barouh for her misspending $179,000 in government funds as documented by a New York State Comptroller's audit. All of this was outlined in an email to the council.

My friends back East reminded me that the chair of the council is Marjorie Hill, pictured, a former executive director of the Gay Men's Health Crisis who was fired in September 2013 for numerous failures. For a refresher check out this Gay City News article about what led the GMHC board to can her.

This council isn't fully transparent and contains two members who've abused their powers as executive directors of HIV services agencies, showing just how bad things are in the Empire State in terms of AIDS accountability.

It pleases me to know my concerns have been heard and will be included in the council's minutes, but those are small potatoes compared to the large problems of corrupt bureaucrats Hill and Barouh and their ilk who run too many AIDS Inc groups and advisory panels.

This is the note Hill sent me this afternoon:

Your email was shared with me as Chair of the NYS AIDS Advisory Council. Thank you for your comments. 

Beginning in 2015, the Council’s meeting agendas will be posted on the NYS Department of Health website as an attachment to the meeting notice. I have attached the agenda for the November 20, 2014 meeting to this email. 

Meeting minutes from previous meetings are available for public inspection upon written request to the NYS Department of Health Records Access Office in accordance with Freedom of Information Law (FOIL). 

Please note that the Council does not have the authority to appoint or remove members. Members of the Council are appointed as indicated by Public Health Law Article 27-E, Section 2778. 

I have [included] the link to the statutory authority which explains this process. Your comments will be included in the public record for the November 20, 2014 meeting.

When Did SF Last Audit Local AIDS Groups?

During my DIY Democracy campaign for District 8 Supervisor, a key plank in my platform called for audits of all nonprofits receiving City dollars especially HIV groups and the AIDS programs of the Department of Public Health.

According to a story by Seth Hemmelgarn in the Bay Area Reporter, the City appropriated about $12 million for HIV services for the current fiscal year.

I asked the Controller's Office for info about when they last conducted audits of HIV programs and the last round of them for City-funded agencies was in 2007, and for groups receiving federal AIDS dollars it was back in 2008.

Six years is a long time to go without looking at the books of HIV nonprofits and there must be a push to have the Controller audit these groups again in 2015. Here's the reply from the Controller with links to the audits performed in the aughts:

"In response to your email inquiry, the Controller’s City Services Auditor (CSA) has completed the following reports related to HIV/AIDS nonprofit organizations and DPH grantees: Fiscal and Compliance Audits of DPH Contractors/Grantees:

• http://www.sfcontroller.org/ftp/uploadedfiles/controller/reports/DPH_Baker%20Places.pdf
• http://www.sfcontroller.org/ftp/uploadedfiles/controller/reports/DPH_FCMonitor.pdf
• http://www.sfcontroller.org/ftp/uploadedfiles/controller/csa/audit/DPHSubrecipientReport(1).pdf

"Review of Single Audit Reports of Nonprofit Organizations Receiving Pass-Through, Federal Funds from DPH:

• http://www.sfcontroller.org/ftp/uploadedfiles/controller/reports/DPH_A_133Monitor.pdf
• http://www.sfcontroller.org/ftp/uploadedfiles/controller/csa/audit/DPH_SingleAuditMonitor.pdf
• http://www.sfcontroller.org/ftp/uploadedfiles/controller/reports/DPH_SingleAuditMonitor%20.pdf
• http://www.sfcontroller.org/ftp/uploadedfiles/controller/csa/audit/DPH_%20SingleAudit.pdf

CDC's NAPWA Audit Released; Ex-ED's New Job at the NMA

(Frank Oldham. Courtesy photo.)

Long before the National Association of People With AIDS declared bankruptcy in February 2013 and ceased to exist, it lost its focus on individuals living with HIV/AIDS and was in no way a genuine community-based organization.

The CDC, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request I made shortly after the group's collapse, has released a 500-plus page audit of NAPWA and it's not a pretty picture. I've posted the audit here for all to read.

By the way, the last NAPWA executive director, Frank Oldham, now works at the National Medical Association in Silver Spring, MD. The nonprofit is dedicated to the health needs of African-Americans. I reached him on the phone last week to get his thoughts about the audit and he promised he'd get back to me by the end of the week, after speaking with his lawyer. Unfortunately, Oldham didn't call or email me.

Reporter Duncan Osborne is a longtime watchdog of AIDS nonprofits for Gay City News and friend who I asked to review the audit and here are his observations:

Osborne: See page 131, pictured, for the minutes of an April 20, 2009 meeting of the executive committee of the board. They approved a cut in the NAPWA budget of at least $300,000 so the agency was already in trouble then. 

Go to pages 304 to 308 to see documentation on the lack of progress for this capacity building contract. They appear to be falling short on many substantive measures due to lack of staffing among other reasons. 

On 309, they're late reporting results by about two months. On 317, they are promising to correct flaws in their earlier reporting.

Osborne: See page 433, pictured. Half of NAPWA's cash was coming from the feds in 2008. That is up from 43 percent in 2007. This reliance on federal dollars means the minute the feds cut you, you're in trouble. Fed contracts were down to 42 percent in 2009. And down to 41 percent in 2010. These percentages weren't declining because NAPWA was replacing that money with private cash. They were declining because the feds were cutting the contracts and the agency WASN'T replacing those dollars. 

MP: These lines are evidence of how the group was not first and foremost committed to representing people with AIDS: "NAPWA is a nonprofit organization, dedicated to halting the spread of HIV through serving people impacted by the disease and the community-based organizations which assist them. NAPWA provides a wide-range of HIV/AIDS services which include development of effective and far-reaching HIV prevention education messages."

What the hell NAPWA doing making prevention its number one priority when the PWA part of its name were already infected with HIV? The answer is keeping the CDC prevention dollars flowing and in the final years of its existence receiving grants from the Ora-Sure to promote HIV testing. Their constituency was supposed to be poz folks, not negative people in need of prevention of services.

Osborne: See page 479, pictured, as well. NAPWA refinanced its bank debt in 2010. They were losing money and borrowing on their line of credit, I presume, to pay expenses and payroll. Page 479 has a discussion of their "sustainability plan." Page 481 suggests they were having trouble paying payroll taxes. The last 20 pages or so suggest was NAPWA being monitored, but had not done anything sneaky. It looks like they weren't paying their bills and I suspect that includes payroll taxes. You should check for state and fed tax liens. This looks like a classic mistake -- too much reliance on government dollars leading to failure when those government bucks get cut.

MP: I am waiting to hear back from the Silver Spring and Maryland state attorneys general offices about their investigation into the demise of NAPWA. Stay tuned for updates.