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They blinked.
Kaleida Health Care last week reversed its decision to close Buffalo Children's Hospital in the face of almost universal outrage on the part of elected officials, the media and -- most importantly -- the public. Still, we smell a rat.
New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, Comptroller H. Carl McCall and Senator Hillary Clinton have all expressed concern over reports -- first printed in this paper and later given a wider audience by Rich Newberg on Channel 4 News -- that top Kaleida executives pocketed millions of dollars in bonuses while their not-for-profit corporation was drowning in a sea of red ink.
Equally troubling is the fact that a former Kaleida board member, Bryant H. Prentiss III, was paid $300,000 by the company for a piece of property adjacent to Buffalo General while at the same time recommending Children's Hospital be closed and moved closer to Buffalo General.
And there's more. Right now we're looking into the business relationships between Kaleida and a number of its current board members. Many, it seems, are profiting from their association with the health care conglomerate while -- at the same time -- making decisions and public pronouncements which they claim to be in the best interests of the community.
We sincerely hope that Kaleida's sudden retreat does not signal the end of interest in the matter on the part of our public officials. If Spitzer was planning on reviewing the health care giant's books before, there's no reason why he shouldn't do so now.
Sources familiar with Kaleida's accounting practices tell us that the revelations that came to light during the Children's Hospital controversy represent the "tip of the iceberg" as far as the company's financial woes are concerned.
The region's health care system is far too important to be put into the hands of anyone more interested in personal social advancement or monetary gain than in the common good.
While some in the media have patted Kaleida executives on the back for "doing the right thing," it looks to us as though they simply chickened out in the face of media and governmental scrutiny. Which means they have something to hide.
As with the NFTA-Cintra deal, the federal investigation into Laborers Local 91 and other quality-of-life issues affecting all of us here on the Niagara Frontier, the Reporter intends to stay on the Kaleida case.
It's our job, and we take it very seriously.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | March 19 2002 |