In response to the WDN's freakin out | Eastern North Carolina Now

     Publisher's Note: We've been a bit short of staff this week, so we here at BCN do very much appreciate this excellent submission from the staff of the Beaufort Observer.

    Now we're tempted to go into the relative merits of the original proposals but that would be ridiculous. Those proposals were only starting points in a negotiation process that is about as complex and technical as anything can be. We agree with Chairman Langley and apparently four other county commissioners, in saying that we all need to wait and see how the proposals stack up against each other after all the details have been addressed.

    We don't pretend to be as wise as Messrs. McRoy, Klemm or our august peers at the WDN but it kind of makes sense to us that you don't bargain away your health care system in a multi-county area without knowing what those details are.

    So that brings us to the central question raised by the crusade the WDN has launched. Why? Why would they jump into a sell out of the hospital without knowing what they were getting? How can they know until they know what the final proposals are? Obviously they don't know. So we're back to the original question: Why are they trying to drive the county into a deal with UHS?

    They obviously don't like the approach Hood Richardson has championed--sometimes called the "dual track," meaning shore up the Hospital's current financial condition while seeking the best deal from those that might be interested in taking over the Hospital.

    The "previous" Hospital board would have entered into a deal with UHS without any leverage. They refused to shore up the hospital's finances and seek other bidders before being willing to simply turn over the hospital to UHS. Common sense tells us that is not the way to get the best possible deal for the people of Beaufort County. But the WDN has bought into that nonsense lock stock and barrel. Fortunately, the "new" hospital board at least has tried to improve the operating efficiency and to drive the negotiation process with a competitive bid process.

    So what does the WDN do? They attack the person who has led the effort to negotiate from a position of relative strength rather than go to UHS hat in hand. Why? Why would any sane person advocate for such a strategy?

    Frankly, we don't buy the WDN's stated reasons. To review (from their 12-5 and 12-7 editorials) here are their stated reasons to scrape the "due diligence process" that is required by law and public trust and just essentially give the health system to UHS for a pittance and a promise that is millions of dollars less than another offer in which we would retain the real estate at the end of the lease. The UHS Crusaders say: "never mind that. Just go ahead and give it to UHS." And there reasons: "its close by and they have a good reputation." Their position is like you telling your realtor to sell your house to the first of five buyers who drive the shiniest car for whatever they want to pay for it. Who in their right mind would do such a thing? (Actually, the better analogy for the WDN's position is: sell it to the person who drives the least distance to get here, no matter what they are willing to pay).

    Nope, we think something else is going on here. Somebody's got some cards up their sleeves. They certainly are not laying all their cards on the table and they insist that we not see what the other players' hands look like.

    Messrs. McRoy, Klemm, the Committee of 100 (which has paid the WDN a good chunk of change to publish their position) and the WDN say they have "researched, studied etc." the options and there is only one way to go. Now think about that. Only one way to go. And they decided that without even knowing what the value is of the assets are they would give away.

    But if that strikes you as being as absurd as it strikes us, we would moreover suggest that what is even more absurd is the idea that "we're not even going to negotiate (or at least we are not going to negotiate legitimately)." Why would anyone do that?

    Furthermore, we would offer the strongest argument against their crusade for UHS. They have to resort to personal attacks rather than base their case on facts, data, numbers and logic.

    The UHS Crusaders remind us of our children when they were teenagers and saw something they thought they liked. How much it cost, how long it would last before it broke, and what real good they would get out of something was not anything they were concerned about. Somebody else had it so our kid had to have one too. And what parent has not seen immature minds make that mistake?

    The WDN rants about Hood's "conflict of interest" because he serves on both the Hospital board and the County Commission. They do so without disclosing that this is true in just about every other county with a similar health system. We've just talked to commissioners in two neighboring counties who serve on both boards. You'll be hearing more about that research after the negotiations are concluded, but suffice it to say at this point that if the WDN had done its homework they would know that dual membership is the standard in this state, more so than not. It is not only not a conflict of interest, it is good public policy. We wouldn't be in this mess with the hospital if the County Commission had known what was happening before the past year. What more proof does the WDN need that joint effective membership on the two boards is good public policy.

    But while the WDN is so concerned about "conflicts of interest" we challenge them to disclose how much money they have received in ads from the UHS Crusaders.

    And if we are going to get in the gutter, we might as well offer this. When are they going to run a piece with all the signatures of "the public" that is wanting to accept UHS's first offer, without negotiating the best deal. We'll bet that this "public" they talk about is only not a majority but actually is less than 10% of the population of Beaufort County. Reckon if we apply their logic if that means that Hood represents the other 90%?

    Now in the preceding five paragraphs we are poking cynical fun at the WDN and Committee of 100. In all sincerity we would appeal to the people of Beaufort County to let the Hospital board negotiate the best deals from each "suitor" and then tell us the pros and cons, as they see them, of each deal. Then let them make a recommendation to the County Commissioners. At that point, and not before then, we'll debate the merits of those proposals. And you can count on our doing just that. Debating the merits of each one. If UHS has the best proposal we'll advocate for them. If they don't we'll advocate for whichever course of action has the most merit.

    The people of Beaufort County deserve no less. And the WDN should be ashamed of itself from trying to deprive the people that and suggesting that any public official not honor their public trust by trying to make the best decision. And making a decision before you know the details is a crap shoot, not a good decision. Frankly, it is beyond our comprehension to understand why "responsible" community leaders (except politicians looking for votes) would advocate such a course of action as the UHS Crusaders have, unless it be for nefarious reasons.

    And we have a hunch why the WDN has freaked out over Hood. They are trying to aid the petition that some of the UHS Crusaders tried to get signed to "remove Hood." Since they have not presented the petition after weeks of efforts we have to assume they are now desperate and thus the WDN trying to rouse the dwendling troops.

    But the interesting thing about the petition crusade is that it has no basis in law, just as there is no basis in law for Hood's motion to deny McRoy and Klemm a vote (which he knew at the time he offered the motion he said, but said it was simply to make a point). There is no recall procedure in North Carolina (unfortunately). Just one more example of how the Crusaders have failed to do their homework. But if they want to make a point, why have they not disclosed the signatures, many of which we understand are bogus?

    As Alice said, "things sure are getting curiouser and curiouser around here."

    Let's hope the bunch in the Other Washington does a better job of resolving the tax increase issue than the bunch in the Original Washington has done over our health care.