News and Notes: Ohio Congressional Races
Submitted by Jeff on Mon, 02/04/2008 - 2:02pm.
Buzz from the battlegrounds:
OH-02: "A Nightmare of a Congressional Race" - In Roll Call today (subscription required), Stuart Rothenberg has a story that disparages candidates on both sides in this race. Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Loveland) is reviled for calling Rep. Jack Murtha (D-PA) a coward in 2005, for squeaking out narrow wins every time she has run, and for polls showing her "barely cracking 50 percent among GOP voters." However challenger Tom Brinkman (R-Cincinnati) is criticized for driving a more credible challenger (Phil Heimlich) out of the race and for having a reputation as a poor fund-raiser and campaigner. And Dr. Victoria Wulsin (D-Indian Hills) is slammed for being "scattered in her thinking," based on a conversation with Rothenberg that apparently didn't go very well. Wulsin described her son as "a nice liberal, like his mother," and then tried to backtrack out of it by calling herself both a liberal and a conservative. "Party-switcher" Steve Black (D-Indian Hill) barely gets a mention.
Meanwhile, the campaigning between Black and Wulsin has gone decidedly negative, especially on Black's end. A sort-of blogger called "Indian.hillbillies" has posted images of recent Black and Wulsin mailers here. Among other misleading allegations, Black brings up the discredited charges against Wulsin about unethical "malariotherapy" treatments of HIV-positive patients in Africa that got right wing bloggers all excited in 2006. While it is true that Wulsin was hired in 2004 to write a report on the treatments, in which she determined that "the preponderance of evidence indicates that neither malaria nor Immunotherapy (i.e. malariotherapy) will cure HIV/AIDS," she never personally participated in the experiments. A Boston-area organization called the National Council Against Health Fraud filed a complaint with the State Medical Board of Ohio in 2006 charging that Wulsin participated in the experiments and altered her report to conceal her role in them. However, the board never acted on the spurious complaint.
OH-03: Mitakides Campaign Kickoff - Jane Mitakides (D) will have her official campaign kick-off event on Thursday, February 7th, from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. at Montgomery County Democratic Party Headquarters, 131 South Wilkinson Street, Dayton, Ohio 45402.
OH-07: Candidate Forums Scheduled; Woolever Secures Third Labor Endorsement - The Fairfield County Democratic Party will hold a forum for the six Democrats in this race on February 26th at 7 p.m. at Independence Hall, 1776 Cedar Hill Road in Lancaster. Also, the Clark County Democratic Party will hold a forum on February 28th in Springfield, to be moderated by the publisher of the Springfield News Sun. I'm working on getting the time and location for that event. UPDATE: The Clark County event will be at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 28th at the City Forum Hall, NE corner of Fountain and High Streets, Springfield, Ohio.
Meanwhile, the campaign of restaurant owner Dave Woolever (D-Stoutsville) announced last week that he has been endorsed by Teamsters Local 284, joining IBEW Locals 1466 and 575 on his endorsement list. “It is with great pleasure that I inform you that Teamsters Local 284 and the entire Executive Board takes great pride in endorsing you as the next Congressman for the Seventh District,” Teamsters Local president Allen Price wrote to Woolever. “One thing this Local doesn't do is give away our endorsement easily but after careful consideration we believe David Woolever is the man for the Seventh District.”
OH-14: Yellow Journalism at the Lake County News Herald - In Sunday's Lake County News Herald, reporter David Jones penned a story called "Campaign Trail's a Trial" (no online version available) that details a stabbing incident at Ohio University last year and a resulting civil assault-and-battery lawsuit against the adopted son of Bill O'Neill (D-South Russell), which civil claim is still pending. Jones says that the incident "affects" the race between O'Neill and Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-Bainbridge Twp), but a reading of the article confirms that it doesn't affect the race at all, and the whole thing appears to be an effort to imply scandal where none exists. There were no criminal charges filed against the son, and Jones admits that no official reports or comments cast any negative light on Bill O'Neill.
The son and two friends tried to break up a fight near a fraternity and were assaulted by drunken students, and two students were stabbed in the ensuing brawl. "My son called me that night and told me what had happened," Bill O'Neill says of the matter. "I urged him to go to the police station immediately. Being the kind of kid he is, that's exactly what he did. I also called the Athens Police Department that night to report that my son had been in a fight." In the article, Jones mentions the party affiliations of the judge, prosecutor, and various attorneys as though they are relevant, but there is no hint of any impropriety in the proceedings. Jones admits that O'Neill's call to the police is exactly what any parent would have done. There was a police investigation and no charges were filed. "As a parent, I am saddened that this fight occurred, and further that anyone was injured. But I am proud of Brandon for being honest and for reporting to the authorities that very night."
It's despicable that a newspaper story would delve into this kind of incident and suggest that it affects the race when plainly it does not. Please join me in writing a letter to the editor to object to this innuendo-laden article: Tricia Ambrose, Executive Editor, The News-Herald, 7085 Mentor Avenue, Willoughby, Ohio 44094, or tambrose-at-news-herald.com.
OH-18: Space Claims Credit for Increased Veterans Mileage Reimbursement - In a press release, Rep. Zack Space (D-Dover) says he fought for a 160% increase in mileage reimbursement to veterans (from 11 cents to 28.5 cents per mile) that took effect last Friday:
Responding to the requests of numerous veterans in his rural district where Veterans Administration (VA) facilities are often hours away, [Space’s] fight to increase the mileage reimbursement has started to pay off ...“Veterans in my district are disproportionately disadvantaged due to the significant distances they must travel for care at a VA facility,” Space said. “I have been fighting to increase this reimbursement rate since the Joint Field Hearing I held with Senator Brown last year.
“There is no doubt that this will increase veterans’ access to VA services. This increase will make it a little easier on our heroes to get to a facility to receive the care they need and deserve.”
The increase was mandated by the FY2008 Omnibus Appropriations Bill.
Complaint against Wulsin's medical license
However, the board never acted on the spurious complaint.
Jeff,
Like any serious legal proceeding, licensure complaints filed with the state medical board proceed at a snail's pace, and until the medical board states "case closed," a complaint is still active. Knowing your interest in politics, I'm surprised you haven't acquired such an elementary understanding about procedure.
Regardless, in order to make a determination, would you please contact the Wulsin for Congress campaign and inquire if the medical board has notified Dr. Wulsin that the case has indeed been closed? Please post their answer here.
As for your statement that the complaint is "spurious," isn't that up to the medical board and perhaps other authorities to determine? Since you stated this as fact, would you please explain based on what information you arrived at your conclusion?
Thanks and looking forward to your reply.
I checked the State Medical Board database
I'm very familiar with "serious legal proceedings" and it's been plenty long enough for some kind of administrative determination on the complaint if there is going to be one.
But I did check with the agency's web-based database, and it says that there is no formal action pending against Wulsin (who is licensed under her maiden name, Victoria Wells):
https://license.ohio.gov/Lookup/SearchDetail.asp?ContactIdnt=3056103&Div...
Nevertheless, I will contact the Board directly, as well as the Wulsin campaign, and update with any additional confirmation I can get.
Since the Black campaign is making the allegation, don't you think they have some obligation to demonstrate that the
two-year-old15-month-old complaint is still pending?More on the spurious complaint
I spoke to someone at the Ohio State Medical Review Board who explained that any complaint and any investigation of any complaint is confidential by law, so they can't confirm that it is pending or dismissed or even that it was really filed; disciplinary action is public and none has been taken against Dr. Wulsin; and her license is current and valid.
I called the number listed on the complaining organization's web site and nobody answered.
The draft report written by Wulsin in 2004 is available here and a reading of it indicates that the complaint (which didn't include any supporting information) is groundless. It just doesn't make sense that Wulsin would write this document if she was a participant in the experiments. Wulsin addresses the ethical concerns in the report and indicates that she was not given the opportunity to speak to contacts on the ground or perform site visits. In the report she dismissed the controversial experiments on the merits, and she says that she was fired after submitting it. There is simply nothing to implicate Wulsin in the underlying controversial experimentation.
In short, the allegation is bogus and old news and Black should not be bringing it up.
2nd request
Jeff,
Thank you for your reply and for your partial follow-through. However, you neglected to advise if you pursued my previous request:
(Would) you please contact the Wulsin for Congress campaign and inquire if the medical board has notified Dr. Wulsin that the case has indeed been closed? Please post their answer here.
If you choose to follow-through, please revise as follows and post the Q&A unedited:
Would you please contact the Wulsin for Congress campaign and inquire if the medical board has notified Dr. Wulsin that a complaint has been filed against her license and, if so, has she been notified that the case been closed?
Regarding your inability to contact the complainant, Dr. Robert S. Baratz of the National Council Against Health Fraud, I suggest you put your questions in writing. (His e-mail address is included in the complaint.) Would you please post your questions and his answers?
Thanks again and I look forward to your reply.
You don't get "2nd requests"
WTF? You think I'm some kind of secretarial service? If you think the complainant is so easy to contact, contact him yourself.
I did not edit your initial comment, as you insinuate. I did contact the Wulsin campaign. I said that I'd update if I got new information that way. But you know what? Complaints and investigations at the Board of Medicine are confidential by law, even as to the doctor, unless there is a disciplinary action, which there isn't. So she wouldn't get notified about the complaint being filed or being dismissed. But Wulsin denies the underlying charge that she was involved in the experiments. As I've said, I don't see any evidence anywhere to refute what she says.
Look, there's nothing more to be said, unless you or the Black campaign (which may be the same thing, so far as I know) have something to add. There's no basis for the allegation, period.
Huh?
Would you also like a danish and a coffee, one cream and two sugars?
And can you give us the date that Jeff began working for you?
As someone who lives rather far away from the 2nd District I haven't been following this "controversy" very closely but frankly if you have a need to do digging and publishing, then I suggest you dig and publish on your own.
Cheese danish for me
hehehe - Seriously though, I appreciate the amount of work it takes to do the updates on the Congressional races. I fully admit I am not up to date on the Wuslin situation but I can personally attest that the information from the medical board is confidential. I once filed a complaint against a doctor, it's when I learned more about how the process works.
2/8/08 letter to Dr. Wulsin re: licensure complaint questions
February 8, 2008
Victoria Wulsin MD
Wulsin for Congress
Faxed to (513)624-3909
Dear Dr. Wulsin,
This is to request your assistance in resolving questions raised by a February 4, 2008 article by Jeff Coryell and subsequent reader comments posted on the Ohio Daily Blog entitled "News and Notes: Ohio Congressional Races." Here's the URL: http://tinyurl.com/ywebe3 This letter is also posted in the comments section of that page.
The questions concern what appears to be a bona fide complaint against your Ohio medical license. Apparently the complaint was filed with the State Medical Board of Ohio on November 3, 2006 by a Massachusetts organization, the National Council Against Health Fraud.
According to Krista Tackett, who is employed in the licensure complaint department of the Ohio medical board, although complaints are kept confidential, physicians are generally notified when a complaint has been filed against their license.
1) Would you please verify whether or not you have been notified that a compliant or complaints have been filed against your license since November 3, 2006? If so, how many such notifications have you received and what are the dates of those notifications?
2) Would you please verify whether you have received any notifications from the medical board that any complaints filed against your license since November 3, 2006 have been resolved? If so, what are the dates of those notifications?
3) Would you please provide copies of any and all such documents?
4) Would you please post your responses in the comments section of the February 4 Ohio Daily Blog article and submit any documents to Mr. Coryell? His e-mail address is jeffcoryell@gmail.com
Thanks for your help in resolving these questions. I look forward to reading your answers online.
Update re: complaint against Dr. Wulsin's OH medical license
Complaint Against Wulsin’s Medical License: "This is Still an Active Investigation," The Cincinnati Beacon, February 9, 2008
As we reported last year, the National Council Against Health Fraud filed a November 3, 2006 complaint against the Ohio medical license of Dr. Victoria Wulsin. Recently, the Enquirer’s "Politics Extra" blog and the Ohio Daily Blog have posted items and comments questioning the accuracy and status of the complaint.
Today, Dr. Robert Baratz, who signed the NCAHF complaint, sent the following e-mail in response to an inquiry from Ashley DiAna, a staffer at the Steve Black for Congress campaign. (FYI, last week we submitted related questions to Steve Black and Vic Wulsin. Watch the Beacon for upcoming reports about their responses!)
Dear Ms. DiAna:
I am responding as an individual to your recent email, which was delayed in getting to me. You may reproduce, distribute, and promulgate my response.
November 3, 2006—I authored and submitted a request for investigation regarding an Ohio-licensed physician, Victoria Wells (Wulsin), License #35.058016, to the Ohio State Medical Board. This was through their complaint process and involved several serious issues under Section 4731.22 of the Ohio Revised Code. The request involved investigation regarding deviation from the standard of care, unprofessional conduct, and false and misleading advertising. Specific examples were given and documented with the request.
I received a written reply from the Board that the matter had been referred for investigation. The letter stated that active investigations are confidential, however, the letter went on to state that I would be notified at the conclusion of this investigation. I have not been notified that this matter has been concluded, and thus this remains an open and active investigation. I have been contacted on several occasions by Board investigators and, based on information I cannot reveal here, understand that this is still an active investigation.
While the specifics of this investigation are confidential, the issues that were brought to the Board’s attention for investigation are not. They are quite serious, and include among them activities regarding highly questionable human experimentation conducted at an Ohio institution which receives federal funding. These matters include, but are not limited to, use of unapproved biological agents in human experimentation, lack of informed consent in human experimentation, failure to treat patients with treatable diseases akin to the notorious, unethical Tuskegee experiments, alteration of reports, and violations of the Code of Federal Regulations.
Salient details of the Tuskegee experiments are described in a report from National Public Radio, excerpted below: http://tinyurl.com/35ukg6
Nearly 400 poor black men with syphilis from Macon County, Ala., were enrolled in the study. They were never told they had syphilis, nor were they ever treated for it. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the men were told they were being treated for "bad blood," a local term used to describe several illnesses, including syphilis, anemia and fatigue.
For participating in the study, the men were given free medical exams, free meals and free burial insurance.
At the start of the study, there was no proven treatment for syphilis. But even after penicillin became a standard cure for the disease in 1947, the medicine was withheld from the men. The Tuskegee scientists wanted to continue to study how the disease spreads and kills. The experiment lasted four decades, until public health workers leaked the story to the media.
By then, dozens of the men had died, and many wives and children had been infected.
The matters brought to the Ohio State Medical Board’s attention are entirely similar in substance.
Based on the information I have, in my opinion, Victoria Wells Wulsin's released statement, "The Ohio State Medical Board has taken no action against Wulsin because the charges are false" is both false and misleading. To my knowledge the State of Ohio has not made a finding in this case. I made no "charges" against Victoria Wells Wulsin, but merely requested an investigation. For her campaign to have used the terminology “charges” suggests that the Ohio State Medical Board has made formal charges against her. As noted earlier, I have not been notified by the Ohio State Medical Board that their investigation has been concluded.
Robert S. Baratz, MD, PhD, DDS
Still Nothing To Substantiate Claim of Unethical Conduct
I also emailed Dr. Baratz at the organizational email address indicated on the November 2006 complaint to the Ohio State Board of Medicine, but I did not receive any reply.
Whatever else this message from Dr. Baratz may indicate, it contains nothing to substantiate his assertion in the 2006 complaint that Dr. Wulsin had any involvement in the malariotherapy experiments in Africa. He writes in detail about the notorious Tuskegee experiments, to which he compares the malariotherapy experiments, but he says nothing that backs up his unsupported assertion in the 2006 complaint that Dr. Wulsin altered her report to conceal involvement in the underlying activity. A reading of the draft report that Dr. Wulsin prepared in 2004 indicates that she had nothing to do with the experiments she reviewed.
I still see nothing that establishes any unethical conduct by Wulsin, period. The existence of a complaint, whether it is being actively investigated or not, does not establish it. The complaint itself doesn't "document" any unethical conduct. And this new communication from Dr. Baratz doesn't either.
Request
Jeff - In the interests of open discussion, would you please post a copy of your e-mail to Dr. Baratz? Thanks for your consideration and I look forward to your reply.
Enquirer verifies complaint against Dr. Wulsin's license
http://tinyurl.com/276fq3
Wulsin's Work Criticized by Margaret McGurk, Cincinnati Enquirer, 2/17/08
The question: Did Victoria Wulsin cover up unethical medical experiments? That’s a charge made by Steve Black, who is running against Wulsin in the Democratic primary for the 2nd Congressional District, in a campaign mailer. He says the National Council Against Health Fraud has asked the State Medical Board of Ohio to investigate Wulsin on the charges.
The facts: A request for an investigation of Wulsin’s work for the Heimlich Institute was filed on Nov. 3, 2006 by Robert S. Baratz, a Massachusetts doctor who, under the NCAHF banner, has been a harsh critic of Dr. Henry Heimlich, founder of the institute. The letter accused Wulsin of "participation in unsupervised, unapproved, and dangerous experiments"
Wulsin worked for the institute in 2004 while it was conducting controversial experiments based on the idea that infecting AIDS patients with malaria might restore their immune systems. Wulsin said her only role was to review records and analyze data. She said she wrote a report criticizing the study and concluding that the therapy was ineffective, and was fired immediately by Heimlich.
The Ohio Medical Board will not confirm or comment on any investigation, other than to report that as of Feb. 14, it has taken no action against Wulsin. The case apparently remains open, as Black’s campaign says. Neither Baratz nor Wulsin has received the customary letter the board issues when it closes a case.
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