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FEBRUARY 2008 TRI-CITY CITIZEN – LOCAL NEWS & LOCAL VIEWS PAGE 3

Local Republicans refuseto let Mitt Romney quit

Citizen photo by Ken HarveyMany Republicans who caucused at Park Middle School in Kennewick admitted they voted for Mitt Romney even though he had“suspended” his campaign for the presidency.

By Ken Harvey

Former Massachusetts GovernorMitt Romney may have suspended his campaign for presi-

dent, but Benton County Republicanshave refused to let him quit.

Romney won the vote by Republicancaucus-goers in Benton County 206 to174 for second-place Mike Huckabee,former Arkansas governor. McCaincame in with 139 votes, just six votesahead of U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas).

U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)has been declared the official winner inthe state, but Mid-Columbia Republi-cans were not ready to crown him justyet.

In Franklin County McCain came inlast among the top four candidates.Huckabee won with 39 percent of thevote, followed by Paul with 24 percent,Romney with 20 percent and McCain adistant fourth with 17 percent.

“I think Romney would have takenWashington as a whole if he had notdropped out,” says Franklin CountyRepublican Chairman Shawn Sant.Romney’s announcement that he wassuspending his campaign just daysbefore the Washington caucuses lefthis Washington supporters confusedas to how to proceed.

With the biggest caucus turnout inthe past 20 years, Benton RepublicanChairman Patrick McBurney was

“tickled pink” by the caucus atten-dance of 713 voters around the county.That was more than quadruple thenumber who attended caucuses in2006, he said. But McBurney surmisedthat if Romney had not suspended hiscampaign, many more people wouldhave attended.

With the close race between U.S.Senators Hillary Clinton (D, N.Y.) andBarack Obama (D, Ill.), nearly twice asmany Democrats felt the need toattend a caucus, surmises McBurney.

“If Mitt Romney had stayed in therace, he would have done a lot better.He probably would have taken theWashington State Republican Primary.But since he suspended his campaign,I think there were a number of peoplewho didn’t see what the point was ingoing to a caucus,” says McBurney.

Sant also believes the Romneyannouncement hurt attendance inFranklin County — although there, too,four times the number of caucus-goersattended this year, in contrast to 2006.

“The sad thing is that even thoughhe suspended operations, he was stillin there. Some people then justdecided not to come, but they couldhave still voted for him — especially ifthey’re anti-McCain,” says Sant.

Benton County Democrats hadabout 1,440 people attend in theircaucuses, notes McBurney, “but thatwas because they had a real race. I

think we would have had participationthat would rival what happened on theDemocratic side if Mitt Romney hadnot suspended his campaign.”

Also, the Democrats allocated all oftheir national delegates through thecaucus process, whereas the Republi-cans are allocating more than half oftheir delegates through the presidentialprimary voting that ends Feb. 19. Forthe Democrats in Washington, theprimary will simply be a “beautycontest,” with no delegates awardedthrough the process.

McCain winsstatewide

With 93.3percent of theRepublicancaucuses report-ing in, McCaintook the statewith just 25.4percent of thevote, followed byHuckabee with

23.8 percent, Paul with 20.7 percent,and Romney with 16.7 percent. Theactual delegates to attend as a resultof the Republican caucuses, however,will be selected according to the votein each congressional district. Romneymay have enough support in the FourthCongressional District, which includesBenton County, to win delegates forRomney.

‘Caucus’ continues on Page 9

Dennis DeFord

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PAGE 4 TRI-CITY CITIZEN – LOCAL NEWS & LOCAL VIEWS FEBRUARY 2008

La Clinica chief a disaster for clinic

Miguel Wong

The front entrance to La Clinica in Pasco.

June 16, 2006 TRI-CITY CITIZEN – LOCAL NEWS & LOCAL VIEWSPAGE 22 TRI-CITY CITIZEN – LOCAL NEWS & LOCAL VIEWSNews Analysis TRI-CITY CITIZENFEBRUARY 2008

PAGE 4

Leader or con man?Court needs to hear aboutCastillon’s background

By Ken Harvey

Two years ago La Clinicaboasted $29 million in annualrevenues and corresponding

services. At last report, the healthclinic’s revenues are now down to $19million a year, while the clinic stillclaims to serve 30,000 low-incomeclients.

But Executive Director FranciscoCastillon continues to pull in a salaryof $320,000 a year — 2.5 times thatof the non-profit agency’s previousCEO — and his closest allies in theagency are reportedly receivingsalaries around $100,000.

Because I had written a series ofstories about what I considered to beunethical behavior on the part ofCastillon, I was subpoenaed to testifyin a lawsuit filed against Castillon andother La Clinica officials by a memberof the agency’s board of directors,Miguel Wong.

Wong’s lawsuit claims Castillonand the La Clinica board have mis-used or wasted the organization’sassets. He is asking Franklin CountyJudge Cameron Mitchell to get rid ofCastillon, the clinic’s other topexecutives and its board, and to havea new board appointed.

La Clinica is counter-suing Wong,alleging his lawsuit is frivolous andthat he is violating terms of a confi-dentiality agreement he signed withthe clinic agreeing to keep certaininformation secret.

Castillon has a lot of experience withlawsuits and confidentiality agree-ments. It is very difficult to secureinformation about lawsuits he has filedagainst other clinics where he hasworked in the past because lawsuitsettlements have consistently includedagreements requiring his formeremployers not to divulge any informa-tion about why he had been fired.

Because of Castillon’s inclination tosue, former employers and federalofficials who oversaw his work inCalifornia would not talk to me abouthim unless I assured them anonymity.Whether Judge Mitchell can legallybreak the confidentiality agreementssigned as part of previous lawsuits isquestionable, but from my perspectivethose involved in current lawsuits ofthis nature should not have their rightsto a fair trial hindered by self-servingconfidentiality agreements fromprevious lawsuits.

Another legal question might bewhether the previous lawsuits arerelevant to the current case. They are,because there are questions as to howCastillon secured his current position,and whether he lied or misled LaClinica officials in order to secure aconsulting contract as interim director,specifically charged with finding hisown replacement — which he neverdid.

Litany of misdeedsHere is what I found in my investiga-

tions over the past two and a halfyears:

• In securing his interim contract as aconsultant, according to former LaClinica health-care providers, Castillonrepresented himself as “President and

CEO of Castillon & Associates, Inc.,” anorganization that did not exist. There wasno corporation. There was no staff ofexperts to assist in fulfilling his $25,000-a-month consulting contract, as he hadallegedly suggested. Indeed, there wereno employees. He later told me his“associates” consisted of a loosely knitgroup jointly marketing their individualservices. Castillon never fulfilled apromise to provide me with a list of hisassociates’ names and phone numbers.

And he claims the“Inc.” over which hesigned his name onthree separatecontracts was aclerical error by LaClinica staff.

• The former chieffinancial officer ofLa Clinica, LesRubin, told me thereexists no paper trail

to show what “due diligence” wasperformed before Castillon was issuedhis lucrative consulting contract. But Iuncovered at least two clinics that firedCastillon in the past, and others haverefused to discuss Castillon’s tenurewith them.

• One of his previous employers wasAviso Community Health Clinic in SanJose, Calif. No high official at Aviso waswilling to talk to me, but when I toldCastillon that one clinic said he had suedit, he volunteered that he hadsuccessfully sued Aviso for wrongfultermination. When I said that was not theclinic with which I spoke — that it wasanother clinic he had unsuccessfullysued — he guessed it must have beenthe Valley Health Team in San Joaquin. “Iwill find out who gave you thatinformation, and I will sue them,”Castillon said, claiming his departurewas by mutual agreement. Then, fishing

for information, he conjectured it musthave been the clinic’s president or boardchairman who would have told me hewas fired. The problem was, the person Ispoke to wasn’t from Valley Health Teamat all, but from yet another of Castillon’sformer employers.

• A federal official, meanwhile, told meCastillon has a reputation in Californiafor misrepresenting himself in résumésand applications and then not being ableto perform at the expected level ofexpertise. “It doesn’t surprise me oranyone in California,” he said of theproblems at La Clinica. “Castillon has apretty bad reputation. He has worked inCalifornia on several projects, and he’spretty much run the same game. Not thathe violates any federal laws, but what hedoes is unethical sometimes. He lies inhis résumé. In a lot of these places, in sixmonths he’s gone.”

• Castillon was originally contracted forjust three months to run La Clinica whilehelping recruit a permanent executivedirector. Although more than 100résumés were submitted even before aformal search began, not one candidatefor the position was interviewed duringthe first nine months of Castillon’scontract — and then he somehowconvinced the board of directors he hadfailed to find an applicant good enough to

replace himself.• Former La

Clinica CFO Rubinwas fired when hewas about torecommend that LaClinica’s board takeaway Castillon’slucrative consultingcontract and offer tomake him a regularemployee becausethe clinic would owetens of thousandsof dollars in backtaxes and penaltiesif the IRS ruledCastillon’sexclusive activitiesfor La Clinica andhis benefit packagewould disqualifyhim to be classifiedas a contractor.However, as anemployeeCastillon’s salarywould be limited toabout half of hisconsulting contract,based on theclinic’s salary matrixat that time. WhenRubin tried to attendthe meeting withboard TreasurerJason Zaccaria, hewas ordered off thepremises byCastillon and boardPresident BrisaGuajardo. Rubinand Zaccaria endedup meeting acrossthe street at a

restaurant to discuss, among otherthings, an opinion rendered by Yakimaattorney James Elliott of the firmVelikanje, Moore and Shore, who wrotethe board of directors that there wereseveral factors that would dictate thatCastillon be classified a full-timeemployee. Elliott agreed with Rubin thatLa Clinica could be held responsible forback taxes and that federal contractscould be jeopardized.

• After Rubin was fired, two of the boardof directors’ most qualified membersresigned. L. Sharon Churman, whochaired the board’s personnelcommittee, was a medical social workerat Kadlec Medical Center in Richland,and board treasurer Zaccaria’s full-timejob was as the clinic director forAdvanceMed Hanford.

• It was revealed in court last monththat, before she resigned in late 2005,Churman had written Castillon that shewas frustrated to be reading so muchnegative information in the localnewspapers about him and La Clinica. Inan e-mail message introduced intoevidence in the Wong lawsuit trial,Churman wrote: “What in the world isgoing on? The truth is needed.”

• That same day Castillon wrote toboard President Brisa Guajardo about

‘La Clinica’ continues on Page 9

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FEBRUARY 2008 TRI-CITY CITIZEN – LOCAL NEWS & LOCAL VIEWS PAGE 9

“We are supporting Mitt Romneybecause, of all the candidates, he is themost conservativeand most supportsthe principles andideals that wesupport,” saidDennis DeFord —adding, however,that “we will supportwhatever candidatethe party ultimatelyputs forward.”

“I voted for MittRomney because Ibelieve he standsfor Americanbusiness and thevalues of the Republican Party,” said FernRidout. “I believe he will let us knowwhere he wants his delegates to go.”

Eric Butterworth also voted forRomney. “I believe he understands howto run the economy of the United States atthis critical time,” Butterworth said.

Byron Gessel voted likewise. “Romneyrepresents the values that I hold as acitizen,” he said.

Jamie Wheeler, the Tri-City communitycoordinator for the Fair Tax — a proposalto do away with the IRS and replace the

income tax with anational sales tax— gave her vote toHuckabee becausehe has made hissupport for the FairTax idea a majorpart of hiscampaign.

Matthew Polkgave his support toRon Paul. “I wantthe U.S. involved inless illegal warsaround the world,and I believe in less

government,” he said. And Paul Gessel voted for John

McCain. “I think he’s best on the issuesthat are most important for our nation,” hesaid.

Local caucuses support lessgovernment, lower taxes

The caucus-goers throughout the statewere asked to respond to aquestionnaire about the issues they feelare most important.

“The top three issues were cuttinggovernment spending, cuttinggovernment spending and cuttinggovernment spending,” says BentonRepublican Chairman McBurney. “MostRepublicans want to see better financialstewardship by our elected leaders. Thatcame across loud and clear.”

Of 14 possible issues caucus-goerswere asked to rank, “controllinggovernment spending” came in first with159 votes. “Winning the war on terror”and “securing our borders” received thenext high number of votes.

Relating to transportation and thePuget Sound congestion problems,Benton caucus-goers favored “sensibletransit solutions that are cost-effective

and user-friendly.”In education, Benton Republicans

wanted the Legislature to authorizecharter schools to be funded by the state,as well as more local control overcurriculum decisions.

For health care, the Republicanssupported tax-free “medical savingsaccounts,” from which people could helppay for their health-care costs. They alsowanted to “reduce mandates that drive upthe cost of health care.”

When asked, “Should stategovernment implement a clean version ofthe 1 percent property-tax limit with noloopholes?” the Benton Republicansagreed 543-64. A federal balancedbudget constitutional amendment wasalso heavily favored, 474-142. Nearly two-thirds of the Republicans also agreedwith the statement that “spending can becut because state government is notbeing run efficiently, and there is toomuch waste in government spending.”

The Benton Republicans opposedsame-sex marriage 619-43 and opposed“civil unions” 448-177.

With a ratio greater than 6:1, theBenton Republicans favored abortion-related measures including “a mandatory24-hour waiting period prior to having anabortion,” “parental notification for minorsseeking an abortion,” and discontinuing“taxpayer-funded abortions.”

Also with a ratio of about 6:1, theRepublicans pronounced that there were“too many regulations and taxes.”

And the No. 1 priority for immigration,according to attendees, was “securingour borders.”

A slight majority felt that “to prohibitgovernment from condemning privateland for the purpose of generating morerevenue” was the top property-rightspriority. A small majority also felt lawsrelating to Second Amendment rights tobear arms should be “kept as they arenow,” not made tougher but not morelenient either.

Democrats went for ObamaAmong Democrats, U.S. Sen. Barack

Obama (D-Ill.) crushed Sen. HillaryClinton (D-N.Y.) in Washington State 2:1in caucuses statewide, meaning Obamawill receive about two-thirds of the 78delegates the state will send to theDemocratic National Convention andClinton will receive one-third.

Obama was also favored byDemocrats at both Franklin and Bentoncounty caucuses, but by a much smallermargin in Benton County. And FranklinDemocrats gave only a small advantageto Obama in their voting.

McBurney says the large caucusturnout was important to the party.

“It was great. We had a turnout thatexceeded our expectations. We had 713people participate, and, in contrast, at the2006 caucuses there were only 148participants. So our participation literallyquadrupled. There was a sense ofexcitement, a sense of enthusiasm. It willreally help the Benton County RepublicanParty grow,” says the Republicanchairman for Benton County.

“We haven’t seen this kind of turnout in20 years,” McBurney says.

Another encouraging sign to theparties was that up to one-third of thoseattending the Franklin County Republicancaucuses were first-timers, according toChairman Sant.

‘Caucus’Continues from Page 3

Jamie Wheeler

Fern Ridout

‘La Clinica’Continues from Page 4

Churman: “This lady is out of control. Youand Jason [Zaccaria] need to take thislady on.” Castillon also exchanged e-mailwith his administrative assistant, YvetteCastaneda, and then-administratorChuck Swift about the situation withRubin. Castaneda wrote on Nov. 1, 2005:“We need to see this through to the endso we can shut those jerks up and makethem eat crow. Nothing is more satisfyingthan winning a battle you didn’t start.” E-mail messages about Churman referredto her “mood swings” and “bad behavior.”In court, Churman said she was“sickened” to read the e-mail exchange,and noted that using lawsuit settlements,terminations, intimidation and othertechniques, Castillon was able toeventually “shut those jerks up,” in hiswords.

• Rubin filed a wrongful terminationlawsuit. Clinic officials issued memosthreatening employees who talked toRubin, for which Rubin then filed anotherlawsuit and asked the Superior Court tofind La Clinica officials “in contempt forobstruction of justice” and for“intimidating and tampering withwitnesses” in his initial lawsuit. “Thecrime of intimidating a witness coversveiled threats as well as express threats.…The court should hold La Clinica incontempt for its misconduct inintimidating witnesses,” the lawsuit read.

• After becoming aware of the secondlawsuit filed by Rubin, La Clinica issueda “clarification” of the earlier memos,claiming the memos were not intendedto intimidate potential witnesses. But theDec. 1, 2005, follow-up memo still saidthat while employees could legallydiscuss non-confidential issues with Mr.Rubin, “we would just prefer that legalcounsel be present during anydiscussions.” Rubin eventually settledhis lawsuit for $137,500.

• Since La Clinica had already followedup on the previous memos byterminating two health-careprofessionals — physician assistant MelGochioco and nurse practitioner YolandaGarcia — the message to otheremployees was very clear. The twohealth-care providers also filed lawsuits,charging they were fired for beinginvolved in efforts to form a union ofhealth professionals at La Clinica and formore recent efforts to protect their fellowprofessionals from a negative workenvironment at La Clinica.

• Another former health-care provider atLa Clinica told me there wasn’t muchinformation coming out of La Clinica fromemployees after that. “There is a climateof fear. This is the Mafia at its best.”

• For a while, after severalresignations, the clinic’s board ofdirectors lacked a quorum for conductingbusiness according to its bylaws. Most ofthose remaining lacked professionalexperience to help them know how tohandle the situation. The majority ofthose on the board of directors whoultimately agreed to hire Castillon full-time at a salary of more than double hispredecessor’s were recruited and/orinducted by Castillon.

• Pressure was mounting inDecember 2005 for Castillon to resign,but after Castillon issued a memodeclaring he was not a candidate, hisopponents dropped their guard. After all,he would be gone soon. His memo ofDec. 22 said: “I am told there is a rumorwithin La Clinica that I will request to bethe permanent CEO here. While it is truethat I have enjoyed most of my work …itis not true that I will be asking to stay.First, as the board publicly announcedseveral times in the past, the personserving as interim executive director isnot eligible. … Also, I have a number ofclients that have been very patient duringmy longer-than-anticipated work with LaClinica. My obligations to themnecessitate my leaving La Clinica assoon as the board has selected a new

permanent CEO.”• In a press release issued as late as

mid-February 2006, Castillon implied thathis replacement was imminent. But thenthe La Clinica board of directorssuddenly and unexpectedly hiredCastillon as the permanent director.

• The press release about Castillon’sselection as permanent CEO claimed:“The ‘healthiness’ of the clinic in generaland the morale of staff both haveimproved dramatically in the yearFrancisco has worked with us. …Withoutcooperation, communication, mutualrespect, and trust — all else is irrelevant.As La Clinica’s organizational cultureimproved, we simultaneously realizedand initiated many other positive gains:the board reached a new level ofprofessionalism and effectiveness,tension between providers (and otherstaff) and management has begun todisappear, media relations aredramatically better…and La Clinica staffhave repeatedly expressed theirsatisfaction and renewed focus onpatient services because of thesesignificant improvements.” That in itselfwas a huge misrepresentation.

• David Bowman of the HumanResources and Services Administration’scentral office in Maryland told me that,while his office oversees thousands oflocal agencies, “this is one we’refocused on. …”We have trainedprofessionals looking into the allegationsat this time and plan to take action soon,if it is warranted. …I can assure you thatwe are aware of the allegations. Yourefforts have helped keep us focused onthe situation.” However, no action wasever taken.

• According to recent testimony in court,three lawsuits filed against La Clinicawere settled in 2006 for a total of$437,500. But they undoubtedly includednon-disclosure agreements.

• Rampur Viswanath, a member of theclinic’s finance committee, tried to defendCastillon in recent court testimony,claiming the agency is in great financialshape. However, under cross-examination, he admitted the clinic haslost money continuously since Castillontook charge in 2005. He could provide noreason why.

CEO’s background relevantMy court appearance was canceled by

the heavy snow of Jan. 28 and has yet tobe rescheduled. However, since mysources were too afraid to speak on therecord, Wong’s attorneys really need toforce the original sources to speak out.

Former La Clinica Medical DirectorJogaratnam Vernidharan — aka “Dr.Verni” — provided me valuable back-ground information. He could pointWong’s attorneys in the right direction.Federal officials overseeing Castillon’swork in California should be forced totestify, and their testimony should lead toother testimony by officials at Californiaclinics regarding Castillon’s background.

Judge Cameron needs to break theseal on the settlement agreementsbetween Castillon and his formeremployers. In civil court, there is no FifthAmendment right not to incriminateoneself, because by definition it is not acriminal case. That suggests there arefewer rights in civil court, in general, thanin criminal court. A defendant can even beforced to testify against himself. So whynot force the parties to previous lawsuitsto provide relevant testimony in Wong’scase against La Clinica?

Castillon misled La Clinica officialsfrom the very start as to the quality of hisbackground and his capability to movethe non-profit agency forward. Therefore,how he performed for his previousemployers is very relevant to this case.That testimony could help the FranklinCounty court determine whether Castillonis really a health clinic expert or more of acon man.