Corruption Running Wild
Down by the Texas Line
Rep. Chris Kannaday and Josh West
Help Make it Possible
HB 3042 was one of the bad bills on the 2018 Oklahoma GOP Platform Index, a bill that authorized the issuance of high interest bonds to build a new $35,000,000 Veterans Center in Senator Simpson's district, down in the Ardmore area on I 35 to the Texas line. The bill was ran by liberal Republican Chris Kannaday and Senator Frank Simpson and pushed hard by Rep. Josh West. The money is to be sold through the Oklahoma Capitol Improvement Authority.
The bill was bad for many reasons. First we have a perfectly good veterans care center down in Talihina, one that has experienced staff and doctors, and a town that supports the facility.
Second, bonds carry high interest, are sold only to the donor class as they aren't offered to the great unwashed of society to use one of the donor class terms. That means that the $35 million dollar cost will be doubled or tripled before the payments are finished. The state can afford to save up for such spending instead of paying high interest or just borrow the money at the current cheap interest rates.
Third, this is just a politician bringing home the bacon to his district at the expense of the existing town and the taxpayers of the state. Pure waste. Add the cost to demolish the old center and you will likely add 50% to the final cost of moving the veterans. Don't forget the families that have likely moved down that way to be nearer to one of their veterans. The plan is to fire all the doctors and nurses and begin to wind down medical care for veterans by consolidating the seven centers into fewer centers, perhaps just the one down near Ardmore if West, Simpson, and Kannaday get their way.
And now we have learned that there might be some financial chicanery that went on in this deal. Kannady and Simpson have been planning this for years. Their first move was seeing that former House parliamentarian Joe Kintsel was sent over to the ODVA for the specific purpose of organizing the shut down of Talihina and the building of the new center. Kintsel was appointed as Deputy Director of the ODVA. Just over him is BG Doug Elliot, the Executive Director for the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs (ODVA). Just under Kintsel is Tina Williams, a Registered Nurse who serves as the Clinical Compliance Director for the seven State Veterans Homes.
And it seems that financial irregularities have embroiled both Executive Director Doug Elliot and Tina Williams to the point where a press conference is to be called tomorrow by Representatives Brian Renegar, Chuck Hoskins, and David Perryman for the purpose of asking Governor Fallin to fire both Elliot and Williams.
There have been plenty of rumors of scandals over the past few years about the leadership of the ODVA including one computer outage that put the medical records down and ODVA officials asked the nurses to download the patient info on the smart phones, a clear HIPPA violation.
The local Choctaw Tribe has a medical center within a few miles of the existing Talihina center and are very supportive of the facility. The local town spend over $50,000 improving the water system and while there have been a few complaints some of the complaints have been hyped by those wishing to see the Talihina Center shut down.
