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Political notes from Free Press staff writers Terri Hallenbeck, Sam Hemingway and Nancy Remsen


10.18.2007

 

Full disclosure

In the spirit of full disclosure, a bit more should be said about the "Conversation with Gov. Jim Douglas" on health care reform in Vermont that was recently published in the journal Health Affairs. (Scroll down this blog to read my previous entry.)



The man who interviewed Douglas for this question and answer piece was James Maxwell. The tag line on the piece identifies him as director of health policy and management research at JSI Research and Training Institute in Boston, MA.



What the tag line doesn't say is Maxwell was the "project manager" for a $50,000 consulting contract with the Vermont Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration to design and assess health care reform plans. In other words, he was on the governor's team during the health reform debate.


JSI isn't a stranger to the Douglas administration. In recent years the consulting firm has had three other contracts with departments of state government.

There was a contract valued at up to $20,000 with the Department of Aging and Independent Living for services related to the Governor's Commission on Healthy Aging.


It had another with the Department of Health, valued at up to $20,000, for work on pandemic planning.

It had a second with the Department of Health, valued at $14.200, for development of a strategic plan for rural health.


Maxwell is a frequent contributor to Health Affairs. Chris Fleming, a spokesman for the journal, said some articles are solicited and others are submitted, reviewed and accepted. The "Conversation with Gov. Jim Douglas" was submitted, Fleming said.

The journal's practice is to ask contributors whether there are any conflicts of interest or relationships that should be disclosed, Fleming said. In this case, Fleming said Maxwell didn't volunteer that there was any conflict in connection with the "Conversation" piece.

After I made inquiries, Fleming called Maxwell. Fleming said the interviewer now says he should have disclosed the contract, but noted that it wasn't in effect when the interview was conducted. Fleming reported tonight that Maxwell plans to submit some clarifying information to Health Affairs. Fleming said the tag line could end up revised based on what Maxwell submits.

Also, for the record, I didn't note in the earlier blog entry (because I didn't notice) that Health Affairs published a companion piece with the "Conversation" by Kenneth Thorpe, the consultant hired by the Legislature to help them analyze health reform plans. Buried within his commentary, Thorpe discloses that he was hired by the Legislature.

To read Thorpe's account, go here.



--Nancy Remsen

Comments:
Excellent post. I wondered about Maxwell.

I wonder if the Governor would agree to an interview by Dr. Deb Richter?
 
Did Jason Gibbs put Maxwell up to writing the article? Sounds like a scheme that a communicator would put together.
 
So Maxwell got the contract after doing a puff piece interview but before it was published? Step in something?
 
Team Douglas should be renamed Team Bush Lite. Same tactics, different location.

The real question is "why is this just a blog post and not front page, above the fold" in the FP?

Vermonters need to know how Team Douglas truly operates. maybe then they'll start wiping the sleep out of their eyes.
 
John Campbell for Governor!
 
"why is this just a blog post and not front page, above the fold"

I second that.

The only reason Douglas keeps winning elections is that he never gets held accountable and the public never hears about the various problems with the way his office operates.
 
A very good point. And it's true also for many of the substantive statements made by the Gov. and his PR people. The media almost never asks them to back up such statements with facts. So their soundbites are repeated endlessly and some people think they're true. By allowing the Gov. to set the terms of the debate, the media does a terrible disservice to voters who deserve a more fact based discourse.

Note: This is true also for other politicians, but not nearly as much as for the Governor who, understandly, is quoted so often.

In fairness, Nancy (who I think is one of the better reporters in VT) works for a paper (and in an industry) that prefers brevity to depth. Reporters are only given so much space and have only so much time.

The media should be an essential part of a healthy democracy. We (they) really need to raise the bar.
 
Nancy,

Exposing the Gov and Gibbs on this should be story on the front page - not on a blog!

This would be real news!

What are you afraid of?
 
Yeah, John Campbell would be great.
 
John Campbell is a good choice for Governor.
 
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