"Links to Delahunt disclosed late in marijuana bidding; Official had held fundraisers for Delahunt; final say on permits was shifted to her deputy" by Kay Lazar | Globe Staff, February 11, 2014
The state public health commissioner held two fund-raisers in 2005 and 2006 for then-US Representative William Delahunt, a fact she failed to disclose until her agency was in the final weeks of reviewing applications from the former congressman and dozens of others to operate medical marijuana dispensaries.
Cheryl Bartlett said on the conflict-of-interest disclosure form filed Dec. 31 that she would be selecting the license winners. But two weeks later, her deputy, the new director of the state medical marijuana program, was granted the authority to make the final decision. At the end of January, Delahunt’s group was awarded three of the coveted 20 licenses that were issued.
Bartlett, who became commissioner last June, had previously acknowledged that she donated to Delahunt’s campaign in 2007 and that the two attended charity events to raise money for AIDS patients and homeless people. But the form obtained by the Globe shows she also hosted political fund-raisers for Delahunt in 2005 and 2006.
The ties to Delahunt are raising eyebrows of competitors, given the success of his firm, Medical Marijuana of Massachusetts, in gaining all three licenses it sought, when no other firm got more than two.
New details also emerged about the credentials of the California resident, Avis Bulbulyan, who was hired by Medical Marijuana of Massachusetts to run its cultivation site and dispensaries in Plymouth, Mashpee, and Taunton. Bulbulyan was listed in an initial application last fall as an executive of the company, but in the final application he was taken off the leadership team, meaning he was not subject to an extensive background check. Such a check likely would have turned up that an Avis Bulbulyan of Glendale, Calif., filed for personal bankruptcy in 2011.
In interviews with the Globe over the past month, Bartlett and department spokesmen have stated that the agency had long intended, as far back as last April, to hire a director for the new medical marijuana program who would make the final licensing decisions.
Bartlett said in an interview last week that the director’s job was posted in October and that Karen van Unen, a part-time consultant who had worked with the agency since June on the program, was hired as director on Dec. 30.
Yet a day later, Bartlett filed the disclosure form with the Executive Office of Health and Human Services stating that she, and not van Unen, would be making the final choices for the licenses. “It is my responsibility to make the decision to approve or deny each application submitted,” she wrote, adding that she could do so “objectively and fairly.”
Her boss, state health secretary John Polanowicz, also signed the form.
Two weeks after that, on Jan. 13, van Unen filed a disclosure form stating that she would make final selections.
It’s not clear why Bartlett waited until Dec. 31 to file a conflict of interest form, even though the applicant-review process began last summer, or why the agency did an apparent about-face two weeks later and delegated the final licensing decisions to van Unen.
Asked those questions Monday, a department spokesman released a statement saying Bartlett had “no role” in the final selection process.
“After the holidays, the commissioner finalized the delegation of authority to Karen van Unen for final sign-off on Registered Marijuana Dispensaries,” the statement said. “This was well in advance of any recommendations that were made by the Selection Committee — that happened on Jan. 23.”
Bartlett’s conflict of interest form notes that she also made a campaign contribution in 2005 and in 2008 to former state senator Frederick Berry, who is listed as a director in the application of Mass Organic Therapy, a company that lost out to Delahunt’s in its bid for a license in Plymouth. Mass Organic received the second-highest score from an outside consulting company that reviewed all 100 applications submitted. Delahunt’s company received the highest scores for all three of its applications, besting Mass Organic by just two points.
A Boston Globe review of the winning applications found that, compared with the other firms, Delahunt’s company provided scant information about Bulbulyan, the Californian who was initially listed as a member of the firm’s leadership team. He will still be running daily operations at its dispensaries and in charge of cultivation.
In its final documents submitted to the state, the Delahunt group’s application states, “Although Mr. Bulbulyan has cultivation knowledge and skills that are valuable to the company, the board has since determined that such knowledge and skills do not parlay into executive management or business operational oversight skills and experience.”
Asked about Bulbulyan’s removal from the executive team in an interview last week, the group’s chief operating officer, Jonathan Herlihy, said, “It makes a lot more sense that the worker bees report to the chief operating officer.”
Herlihy said he could not recall names of medical marijuana firms where Bulbulyan had worked in California and has not provided the Globe a copy of Bulbulyan’s resume, despite promising to do so last Wednesday.
Delahunt also said in a brief interview that the company would provide Bulbulyan’s resume, but it had not done so as of Monday night.
According to the state application process, background checks would be conducted on each member of an applicant’s executive management team and board of directors. The check includes a consumer credit report and reports from “banks, credit bureaus, financial and other institutions.”
Attempts to reach Bulbulyan were unsuccessful. But a Globe review of court records shows that an Avis Bulbulyan of Glendale, the community in which Herlihy said Bulbulyan lived, filed for bankruptcy in 2011. The bankruptcy records give a home address that matches the business listing of a former medical marijuana collective in the database of the California secretary of state’s office.
The court file shows Bulbulyan owed about $44,000 to a dozen creditors, including a loan company that repossessed his BMW in 2009, a hunting and fishing club for hunting fees, and credit card firms.
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Feeling kind of hungry now and I don't know why:
"Utah district vows not to toss school lunches again" Associated Press, February 06, 2014
SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah school district that came under fire for taking away $2 school lunches from about 40 students whose parents owed money on food accounts is vowing to make systemic changes to ensure it never happens again.
Salt Lake City School District child nutrition department director Kelly Orton delivered a brief, preliminary report Tuesday night to the school board pinning the incident on violations of agency procedure and a failure to notify parents that their children’s lunch accounts were empty or in the negative.
‘‘We took food trays away and embarrassed students, and for that I am sorry,’’ Orton’s report said. ‘‘No child will have their meal tray taken away ever again.’’
To avoid that happening again, Orton said they have created new communication guidelines for kitchen managers. The district also plans to notify parents when their balance is at $10, when it’s empty, and then every day after as it accrues a negative balance.
The incident occurred Jan. 28 at Uintah Elementary when students trying to buy lunch had their meals thrown away, angering parents and stirring outrage across the country. The district put a cafeteria manager and a district supervisor on paid leave as the inqiuiry began last week.
The report did not indicate whose decision it was to toss the lunches.
Doing that more and more these days.
The children who had their meals thrown out were given milk and fruit, a standard practice when students do not have lunch money.
Then the kids were better off with the 21st-century equivalent of bread and water.
Some parents urged district leaders to hold Orton and his staff accountable.
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Related: Kids in Utah Schools Going Hungry
Readers didn't like that plate.
Now if you will excuse me, dear readers, I will be breaking for the lunch hour; however, I will be returning for some dinner posts.
NEXT DAY UPDATE:
Must have fallen asleep for some reason because I never made it back for dinner, and it looks like I will be skipping the war-mongering shit again today:
"A medical marijuana business planning to open in Boston’s Back Bay provided false information to state regulators in its license application, erroneously claiming to have support from state legislators and the district’s city councilor.
In addition, Boston City Councilor Stephen J. Murphy told the Globe Tuesday that he felt he was manipulated into writing a letter on behalf of Good Chemistry of Massachusetts’ application by the company’s consultant....
You know what? I'm going to put the Globe joint out now. You can keep smoking it if you want. Just isn't good chemistry for me, sorry.
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UPDATE:
"Massachusetts health regulators took the unusual step late Wednesday of ordering companies that received medical marijuana dispensary licenses to submit sworn statements that their applications were truthful, while on Beacon Hill the House speaker called for an investigation into whether some dispensary applicants submitted false information.
The Department of Public Health in a statement raised the prospect of rejecting any of the 20 dispensary licenses awarded last month, saying, “None of the dispensary licenses are final.”
House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo said Wednesday that he became concerned after news reports that several medical marijuana companies receiving state licenses had submitted false information on their applications. He directed the House public health committee chairman to investigate....
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I've had enough of the Globe joint and think I'll start passing on the hits.
