Thursday, February 24, 2011

Governor Scott and the PDMP: Accusations replace Facts

Unfortunately, Governor Scott pulls out all the stops to attack the supporters of the PDMP including the PDMP Foundation.
These are indeed groundless accusations without factual evidence to support the arguments made.


http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/editorials/scott-makes-it-up-again-accusations-against-group-1276631.html?sms_ss=email&at_xt=4d6663c1bb07e380%2C0

Excerpt from the article above:

Gov. Rick Scott is inventing another excuse for opposing a statewide prescription pill database.

Without offering any evidence, the governor this week accused the private foundation that is raising money for the database of wasting donations. "It's come to my attention that thousands of dollars have been spent on lawyers, travel, meals for board members," Gov. Scott told reporters on Tuesday. "I believe it's an invasion of privacy. And right now with that database, it appears that the money's been wasted."

In fact, board members of the Prescription Database Monitoring Program haven't charged a single expense to the foundation. A private company started by the former chairman of the foundation's board has picked up most of the legal expenses. "The first communication from the governor's office to our foundation was a baseless accusation. It's desperate," said foundation Vice Chairman Rene Bruer. He is a financial analyst who worked for the director of Florida's drug control office under Gov. Jeb Bush. "We're rising up above the politics. We just want to deal with the problem."

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/fla-drug-database-fund-raiser-disputes-gov-scotts-1273905.html?page=2&viewAsSinglePage

Excerpt from article above:

Scott's attack on the foundation took Bruer [Vice-Chairman of PDMP Foundation] by surprise, he said.

"We've never ever had anybody from Rick Scott's office ask us questions, join one of our phone calls. Nothing. Ever. There has been no dialogue between us. We welcome that," he said.

The foundation is caught in the middle of a political battle of wills, Bruer said.

"The PMDP Foundation is not here to play political ping-pong. We're strictly here to look at the overarching issue which is people dying from prescription drug abuse and doing what we can within the letter of the law to make sure that one of Florida's worst public health epidemics is dealt with," he said.

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