Feature Commentary

February 5th, 2009

This week’s Guest Editorial is reprinted from the Valley Center Roadrunner

PPH Boondoggle
Why Not Give the Money Back?

After seeing that the Palomar Pomerado Health System is hiring a professional fund-raiser (in addition to a professional PR expert that it pays $400,000 annually) because it needs to scare up millions of dollars or else throw its expansion plans into the trashcan, I say cut our losses, give the taxes that we taxpayers voted the hospital back to us—or as much of it as they haven’t spent.

At the very least we need to cut up the district’s credit card and keep it from drawing on the $496 million bond Prop. BB that we credulous voters approved four years ago. Although it may already be used up!

It’s obvious to me that Valley Center will never get the outpatient clinic that we were promised, since last year the district was $500 million short of completing Palomar West and to refit the existing Palomar Hospital, for a total of $1.12 billion.

It’s about time for CEO Michael Covert to be photographed in front of the construction at Palomar Medical Center, or perhaps another Covert operation, Pomerado Hospital, with a banner slung behind him that reads: “Mission Accomplished!” or for the president of the board to be quoted saying to him, “You’re doin’ a heckuva job, Mikey!”

Yeah, I think it’s time Covert was fired. And maybe we voters could ask the recently reelected board if we can get a do-over on that election. Or maybe they could just do the right thing and resign. VC resident Don Brust, who ran for this board last year, had it right on the money when he declared, “The more information that I gathered, the more I discovered a can of worms—the can kept getting bigger and worms kept getting bigger also.”

And here’s some advice for our local folks: whatever you do, don’t return any phone calls from this new fund-raiser, Terry Green. I’m sure he’s a very nice guy, but unless you think that Michael Madoff is a good investment counselor, signing over checks to the hospital district is about as smart a move as just moving your money into a pile and setting it on fire.

On the other hand, with this kind of a track record, maybe the hospital district could apply for some of that federal bailout money.