INVESTIGATION RAISES MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS IN CDC SHREDDING INCIDENT

Lawmakers troubled by lack of transparency and documentation

AUGUSTA–Following an independent investigation into allegations that public documents were shredded at the Maine Centers for Disease Control, lawmakers on the Government Oversight Committee were left with more questions than answers.

The documents in question concern last summer’s distribution of money to the 27 Healthy Maine Partnership (HMP) programs in the state.  Last year, the CDC altered the levels of state funding for these organizations with little public input or explanation.  The CDC based the changes on internal scoring causing some questions by lawmakers to better understand the scoring and award process.

“It’s clear the CDC didn’t use common sense let alone standard contracting procedures when they adjusted the HMP contacts,” said Democratic Senator Emily Cain of Orono, the Senate Chair of the Government Oversight Committee. “There’s no paper trail and no documentation to show whether or not their actions were appropriate. The lack of transparency and documentation is concerning.”

The request for an investigation comes on the heels of public allegations by a Maine CDC director that she was harassed and assaulted for refusing to comply with an order to shred scoring results in order to prevent their outside distribution.

After the CDC changes the HMP contracts,  Lewiston’s Healthy Androscoggin, one of the larger HMPs, saw its budget cut by more than half, while smaller programs like the River Valley Healthy Communities Coalition in Rumford, which serves fewer people, was selected as a lead agency and awarded more funding.

“This level of mismanagement of public dollars is becoming the status quo under this administration,” said Democratic Senator Margaret Craven of Lewiston, who also serves on the Government Oversight Committee. “Changing numbers to manipulate specific outcomes is dishonest.”

The investigation report includes recommendations to improve transparency and documentation, including to “adhere to the relevant protocols for an RFP process as closely as possible and…ensure valid and reliable methodologies are used.”

The Government Oversight Committee will continue reviewing the report, and seek public input, at its next meeting. The committee specifically requested information from the Department of Administrative and Financial Services, the CDC, and Archives about the RFP process, the methodology used by CDC to award contracts, and the procedure for documenting records, respectively.

The Government Oversight Committee will be meeting next year when the legislature reconvenes in January.

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