MARICOPA SPECIAL HEALTHCARE DISTRICT TO VOTE ON $95M NO-BID CONTRACT TONIGHT!

YET WE’RE NOT SURE THEY READ THE CONTRACT!

 

Friends,    

We at Arizonans In Action have just learned that the Maricopa Special Healthcare District has called a special meeting, open to the public, to approve a $95 million NO-BID contract with Medical Professionals of Arizona this evening at 5pm at the Maricopa Medical Center in Auditorium 4.

  

We touched on this issue last week in our blog post on the Maricopa County Special Healthcare District.  If you missed it, <!– –>please take a look. 

  

While the fact that this HUGE contract for county services is a NO-BID contract is of great concern, we are hearing word that the MIHS Board of Directors has not even read the 300 page contract!!!  According to multiple sources, it was not even received until Thursday.  In this time of economic turmoil where taxpayers and Maricopa County are struggling to make obligations, we want to know how elected officials can proceed with the approval of a contract that they haven’t read?

 

 

 

ACTION ITEMS

 

1.  Please contact immediately the MIHS Board of Directors and tell them you want them to read the contract before any decisions are made let alone those with such a HUGE price tag.

 

2.  Tell them, that as elected officials, they have an obligation to be fiscally responsible with taxpayer dollars and should reject NO-BID contracts.  Any services that the government needs should be sent out for bid to provide opportunity for companies to put forth their best prices for the best quality of services.  Competition breeds efficiency!

 

3.  Please forward this post to your friends and family.  Encourage them to contact the Board of Directors as well.  Lastly, also encourage them to visit the Arizonans In Action website where they can sign up to stay informed on our efforts and breaking issues. 

 

 

Thank you for your help.  If you receive any response, please let us know!

 

Now, let’s make our voices heard that we demand accountability and efficiency in every corner of government.

***UPDATE***

We have received responses from two of the MIHS Board of Directors over the past couple of days and we wanted to share those responses with all of you.

District One Bil Bruno:  [excerpted from email response] “We’ve spent several hours last week and today in board meetings discussing its terms and I read and highlighted the contract over the weekend. Today after the meeting I met with a VP to question 23 different sections of it.” 

District Two Greg Patterson:  [excerpted from email response]  “Yes, we’ve read the contract—more importantly, the management team and the lawyers have spend thousands of hours—and several hundred thousand dollars—negotiating it.”

We are glad that these gentlemen have carefully read this contract considering its GIANT price tag and we appreciate their response to their constituents.  Yet, we do wonder whether the other members of the Board have also read it.

$347 Million Court Tower Boondoggle Drama Continues

We emailed you on Tuesday and blogged about the Maricopa County $347 Million Court Tower Boondoggle and the scheduled meeting that was to take place on Wednesday.  Well, we want to give you a bit of an update on what actually went down (or better yet, what didn’t go down) at the meeting.

Just prior to the meeting and responding to grassroots reactions, the agenda item on the $347 Million Court Tower Boondoggle was removed from discussion.  From what my sources tell me, it was because of the pressure we put on the Board of Supervisors.  But what does this mean for the future of this extravagant expenditure?

At this point, the budget-busting project is still moving forward so we must do whatever it takes to pressure the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors from allowing this project to continue.  We have stated before, Maricopa County has a HUGE budget shortfall even after laying off employees at the Superior Court and cutting law enforcement budgets by 15%.  Sheriff Arpaio is even having difficulties finding deputies to transport inmates to the courthouse.

This is a critical moment for Maricopa County and the taxpayers.  We need to stand up to the Board of Supervisors and remind them they are accountable to us, not to the contractors making political contributions.  BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE…

 

 

Maricopa County Board of Supervisors In Their Own Words

 

We also wanted to let you know about some research we conducted that we find very interesting in light of this excessive spending.  We told you about the political contributions that may be influencing the obstinacy of the Board of Supervisors but we thought you might be interested in what some of the Supervisors have said in the past about the satellite court houses throughout Maricopa County.

Let’s take a look Special Meeting Minutes from July 19, 2002 at the Dedication Ceremony of the Superior Court NW Regional Center in Surprise.

“Chairman Stapley stated that he was pleased to see this facility, serving the northwest valley, become a reality. The goal of regional services is to meet the needs of the outlying areas, and he predicted that this center would become the heart of judicial services for this community.”

“Having formally represented the area, Supervisor Wilcox stated that the City of Surprise had worked for many years toward obtaining a regional center, and she was happy to have been a part of the initial planning as well as completion of the project.”

 

Now, we should take a look at the BOS “Summary of Key Accomplishments from the 2001-2005 Maricopa County Strategic Plan”:

“Completed planning and have begun building five new regional court centers to expand access to the Court system in localized areas throughout the County. This eliminated a 10-day delay for preliminary hearings and arraignments….Two additional RCCs are planned for the Northwest and Southeast regions, to be operational before the end of 2001.”

 

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors continued to comment.  In 2002, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors submitted the “Regional Court Centers for Felony Case Processing” for a NACM 2002 Justice Achievement Award.  Here is the description they submitted for consideration of the award:

“Benefits include tangible cost savings, such as jail housing and transportation costs.”

 

Finally, we have yet another quote that we would like to draw your attention to coming from the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors “Maricopa County Justice System Annual Activities Report – Fiscal Year 2000-2001”:

“The Justice Courts and Superior Court greatly streamlined front-end felony processing, by coordinating early court proceedings at Regional Court Centers which expedite case processing, and reduce jail overcrowding and inmate transports.”

 

We are left with confusion about the Board of Supervisors – do we believe the words and evidence from recent times, their comments of today, or the political contributions from contractors involved with this lavish and unnecessary spending.  Our take is read their words of the past and then follow the money.

 

AIA ACTION ITEM:

Will you please do two things for us today?

1. Contact all of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors today and demand that this project be stopped immediately.  Tell them that you are forced to reevaluate your personal spending and that they have a responsibility to the taxpayers not to be engaged in excessive and frivolous spending.  Fix the courts that we have already in place! http://www.maricopa.gov/BOS/contact.aspx
2. Please forward this message on to your friends and family and ask them do to the same.

 

Thank you for all of your help.  If you receive a response, please let us know!

Huge Victory for Joe and Judy Taxpayer

Late on Thursday afternoon, Governor Brewer issued a very important executive order to Arizona taxpayers.  The order reaffirmed Arizona as a “Right to Work” state.  Governor Brewer rightly pointed out:

“It was long ago decided by the citizens of Arizona to provide protection in the Arizona Constitution to ensure the freedom of workers to choose whether to join and participate in a union.”

Governor Brewer is referring to Article 25 of the Arizona Constitution:

Right to work or employment without membership in labor organization

No person shall be denied the opportunity to obtain or retain employment because of non-membership in a labor organization, nor shall the State or any subdivision thereof, or any corporation, individual or association of any kind enter into any agreement, written or oral, which excludes any person from employment or continuation of employment because of non-membership in a labor organization.

Governor Brewer takes it one step further in her press release to talk about the “meet and confer” order that former Governor Napolitano issued in December allowing for executive-level public employees to meet with a third party representative (union delegate) to represent their grievances, concerns, and complaints to department heads.  This move essentially primed the pump for public employee union organizing within state government.

“The establishment late last year of a broad meet and confer process for all of state government, without public discourse or legislative policy discussion, unnecessarily exposes the state to legal claims and conflicts with Arizona’s right to work laws,” according to Governor Brewer’s press release.

Arizonans In Action, who led the charge against this executive order issued by Napolitano in the waning days of her administration, responded to the news and had this to say:

“This is a great day for the taxpayers of Arizona… We know Governor Brewer saw that this issue was important to Arizonans, felt the support of our members, and was able to come to a decision reaffirming Arizona as a right to work state,” said Nathan Nascimento, Executive Director.

Nascimento continued,

“Governor Brewer, by rescinding this order, has protected the rights of state workers, preserved the voice of the taxpayers, and restored honor and integrity back to the office of governor.”

This statement comes on the heels of a the reminder that Arizonans In Action sent to Governor Brewer just days before her order.

Governor Brewer should be thanked for standing up to the strong arm tactics of the unions and looking out for Joe and Judy Taxpayer.