Former surgeon general says administration politicized his office
Today's topic: Medical policy
By Janet Patton
JPATTON1@HERALD-LEADER.COM
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REPORTS QUASHED
Former Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona testified that the Bush administration quashed reports on a number of important issues, including:
Mental Health Preparedness: "I was brought in by one of the sister agencies that had a political appointee. He complained to the White House and (Health and Human Services) and I was admonished that the issue had to be framed politically. 'You don't write anything unless we approve it.'"
Global Health Report: Carmona said he wanted to talk about everything from genocide to greenhouse gases to emerging infections. The administration "wanted statements about all the wonderful things the U.S. did."
Emergency Preparedness: White House domestic policy officials told him to stop talking about it. “‘This might scare the people,’” he said he was told. He was told the Department of Homeland Security would handle the issue.
WASHINGTON --
The Bush administration attempted to politicize the nation's health policy to an unprecedented degree and when former Surgeon General Richard Carmona refused, he was repeatedly muzzled and marginalized, according to testimony yesterday.Carmona, along with former surgeons general C. Everett Koop and David Satcher, told the House Oversight committee that Bush's efforts went well beyond political friction experienced between "the nation's doctor" and previous administrations, both Republican and Democratic.
"We have never seen it as partisan, as malicious, as vindictive, as hostile as you have it today," Carmona said he was told by his predecessors.
The hearing comes two days before a Senate committee is to take up Bush's nominee for a replacement, Dr. James W. Holsinger, a cardiologist and former chancellor of the UK Medical Center. Holsinger could not be reached for comment.
Holsinger's nomination already is controversial because of past alleged anti-gay writings for his church, and, this week, because of his support for stem-cell research.
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said at the outset of the hearing that it would not address Holsinger's credentials, but would focus on the politicization of the office, which Waxman said is "in crisis."
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., said in a statement: "As we consider the president's nominee for surgeon general this week, we owe it to the American people to be sure that he will base his policies on sound science and best medical practices, and not the politics and ideology that have put our health care at risk." Kennedy chairs the Senate committee that will vote on Holsinger later this week.
Carmona, along with Koop and Satcher, called for making the surgeon general's office more scientifically independent and less subject to political whims. "Our citizens should be outraged that three surgeon generals were marginalized and had to fight to get the best information to them," Carmona said.
"If we don't stop it, how bad will it be for the next guy?" Carmona said.
The hearing raised serious questions about what Holsinger would face if he is confirmed -- and what he would be expected to do.
Carmona said that senior administration officials and political appointees vetted and censored his speeches, would not let him speak freely with reporters, attempted to insert political phrases and candidates' names into his speeches, and told him to follow administration policy instead of science.
At one point, he said, he was told: "You don't get it. You don't write anything unless we approve it."
Health and Human Service officials denied Carmona's allegations, issuing a blanket statement saying: "While we appreciate and respect Dr. Carmona's service as surgeon general, we disagree with his statements today. It has always been this administration's position that public health policy should be rooted in sound science."
Carmona said he was also told to mention President Bush's name and to work in particular political names and phrases. Two of his speech writers eventually quit.
Waxman asked whether staff members from Karl Rove's Office of Political Affairs had presented political briefings for the surgeon general's office.
Rove deputy J. Scott Jennings, a former political director for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, ran a PowerPoint presentation for appointees in other agencies on Republican strategies, Lurita Doan, chief of the General Services Administration, has said.
"There were communications from (Rove's) office and his staff during my tenure, and at times staff from those offices were giving briefings," Carmona said.
Says input blocked
Carmona said that from the beginning Bush officials blocked reports or Carmona's input on everything from emergency preparedness to mental health.
On stem-cell research, an early Bush administration issue, Carmona offered to bring his scientific expertise to the debate but was told to stay away. "I was blocked at every turn, told to stand down, that the decision had already been made. It was removed from my speeches," Carmona said.
On a controversial contraceptive known as Plan B, Carmona said he was told "there is already a policy in place, that they only wanted to 'preach' abstinence, which I felt was scientifically incorrect."
Secondhand smoke
Carmona finally managed last summer to release a report on the dangers of secondhand smoke. A month later, he quit the office a few days ahead of the expiration of his four-year term. Carmona told the committee that the report had been delayed for years as scientists battled political appointees who wanted to water down the science.
He said the administration also tried to prevent him from testifying as surgeon general in the Justice Department's controversial suit against cigarette makers. Sharon Eubanks, the lead attorney in the trial, has alleged Justice officials weakened her case deliberately.
Carmona said today that White House and Justice officials tried to convince him he shouldn't testify, meanwhile telling Eubanks that "I was incompetent and would lose the case for her." Eubanks, who quit the Justice Department while the case with cigarette makers was being settled, attended yesterday's hearing.
The politics reportedly got ugly over the Special Olympics. Last July, Carmona was invited to be keynote speaker at the Special Olympics national symposium in Iowa. The administration forbade him to go. Carmona would not name the officials, saying only that they were "high political appointees and officials in the department."
"I was specifically told by a senior official, 'Why would you help those people? Don't you know they're with another party?'" Carmona said. The Special Olympics were founded by the Democratic Kennedy family. His travel budget for the trip was not approved, so Carmona said he took vacation time and went on his own.
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