Money - PP's Raison d'être & PPGG's Downfall for Not Making Any

The other day I put up a post about the fact that Planned Parenthood was kicking the Golden Gate affiliate out of the organization because of money woes (More Proof Planned Parenthood Only Cares About the Benjamins). Well, more of the story of their financial woes has come out. & as Jill Stanek says in the post she put up about it, "the backstory is getting juicier". IMHO, that is an understatement.

2 articles have recently come out in Frisco newspapers (Financial Docs Raise Questions About Planned Parenthood Golden Gate, Planned Parenthood aborts its San Francisco affiliate) that pulls back more of the curtain.

Even though PPGG didn't come out with an annual report last year, becaues it is a "not-for-profit" organization it still has to fill an annual report with the IRS. & that report has to be made public. & what they show is a ship that has been taking on water & is sinking fast. The report for the fiscal year ending 30 June 2009 show PPGG losing up to $2.8 million. I say up to for a reason. According to the Bay Citizen "it’s unclear just how much money the organization lost because it filed three separate sets of numbers with the I.R.S. In the filings, losses ranged between nearly $1.9 and $2.8 million. Two different accounting firms signed off on the various filings." & that is only the start of the whole mess.

The SF Examiner reports "The charitable trusts division of California’s attorney general’s office said it had not received reports from the Planned Parenthood Golden Gate Action Fund for at least 10 years." PPGG has been warned that warning that "if the organization failed to file the required forms within 30 days, its registration would be suspended and its officers would be held personally liable for all late fees."

it also turns out that a lot more than the late MediCal payments or the recession are behind their financial woes. The Bay Citizen reports that "Tax documents for the year ending June 30, 2007 show that the organization lost $181,000 that year." & they have gotten ahold of some internal PP documents that show that the organization’s fiscal problems date even farther back. The paper goes on to say that "Documents associated with a 2004 accreditation review of Planned Parenthood Golden Gate show that the local affiliate did not meet the national federation’s financial standards for its affiliates. Of nine indicators of financial health, Planned Parenthood Golden Gate was given a “not met” rating for five of them. For instance, the affiliate had only 11.4 days of cash on hand, as opposed to the required 60 days."

Planned Parenthood Federation of America refused to comment on those documents saying they were internal and confidential. Karen Ruffatto, vice president of affiliate services for the national organization, did tell the Bay Citizen that “The fiscal and administrative challenges related to this restructuring of local services emerged over the last couple of years and the national office worked closely with the affiliate to try to find solutions to address the issues.”

Then there is this letter sent in October 2008 by 30 clinicians & doctors who work for PPGG to then CEO Dian Harrison: "It is apparent that while Medical Services has been mandated and has complied with financial reform and cost savings, the Executive Administrative members have failed to adhere to their own mandate for financial restrictions. Executive staff’s personal expenditures are excessive and are not aligned with the mandatory fiscal restrictions. Flagrant use of PPGG funds to pay for personal belongings, personal services and exorbitant technology products is seemingly unchallenged and not subject to the same financial scrutiny that clinic supplies and staff salaries are, for example."

Harrison did reply in November 2009. In the letter she assured the clinicians & doctors that administration was feeling the fiscal pain, too: “Administration has temporarily or permanently frozen a number of positions, budgets were cut, expenses were halted for a period of time and office supplies were not purchased.” she wrote. You will not that Harrison did not address the allegations that executives had misappropriated funds for their personal use.& last week last week, interim CEO Therese Wilson said that “there has been no evidence of any fiscal mismanagement at this organization.”

(18 Aug 2010 @ 12:18 am - Just noted I published this rather than saved - so here is the rest.)

I am not surprized that Wilson denies any mismanagement, lies & denial even in the face of facts is SOP @ PP. & this is another prime example of that fact.

In this case it looks like the past administration took PP's lust for money to a new level, a selfish 1 that showed the administration cared only for itself. But in reality they were just doing what PP always does, take the money & run never mind the women we claim we care about. They were just giving into their selfishness.

& in 1 case, her ego. Remember that horrible cartoon I told you about in my previous post. Well the (alledged) heroine was modeled after then PPGG president and CEO Dian Harrison. The same 1 the letter was sent to, w/ a carbon copy to Cecile Richards, complaining about mismanagement.

According to the SF Bay Guardian this was part of a pattern of marketting campaigns that also didn't sit well with the employees. They report that "A former PPGG employee with knowledge of the organization’s internal affairs described a longstanding pattern of financial mismanagement when former president and CEO Dian Harrison was at the helm. There was widespread concern about spending on expensive marketing campaigns and lavish functions, the person said, and a high level of employee turnover and discontent."

The Bay Guardian also reports that there was internal problems much further back that the 2004 problem I already mentioned. "An internal PPGG document provided to the Guardian displays the agency’s on-hand cash reserves as compared with other affiliates, suggesting that the reserve ratios were at or below the minimum required by the national Planned Parenthood federation for all but one year from 1998 to 2007 -- and well below that of other affiliates of similar size. That is a key requirement for meeting accreditation standards." People from PPFA may not want to comment, but it is clear that the problem runs much deeper & further afield. Someone higher up had to be helping PPGG cover up.

But there is even more evidence that Harrison was more concerned with building a monument to herself than fiduciary responsibility. Jill Stanek had reported last year about the remodeling of the Oakland facility, something that becomes completely inexplicable in light of the financial woes. (Here’s video from the architect.) & Harrision can't plead ignorance in justifying what she did.

"Dan Cohen, a spokesperson of the Packard Foundation -- a major donor to PPGG -- told the (Bay) Guardian that Packard awarded PPGG a 12-month, $30,000 “organizational effectiveness” grant, which will expire in September. The grant “allows an organization to select a talented, external provider to help them think through some of these challenges,” Cohen explained. The Packard Foundation also awarded a 3-year grant for general operating support for $800,000, which will also expire next month." Interestingly, it was a year ago that Harrison took medical leave. A quid pro quo for the grant money????

Jill Stanek also has brought up 1 morelast item to watch. "PPGG was one of the CA PP affiliates named in the massive fraud lawsuit filed by former employee P. Victor Gonzalez. In July the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated that case, so it is still live." Jill goes on to say "Who knows if PPFA has further knowledge of that case and thought this another reason why to cut PPGG lose." As I already mentioned, I suspect someone did. But things got too hot even for whoever that person is for him/her to continue abetting PPGG's coverup.

I honestly am not shocked or surprized at the mismanagement & wasteful spending. What does surprize me a bit is their failure to fill out the governement documents they were required to fill out. Did they honestly think that their politcal cover would be able to protect them? I suspect the answer is yes, they did. PP has shown time after time that they will not obey the law unless forced to. They fight any attempts to make them subject to laws any other medical provider are required to meet. So why shouldn't they think they could get away again until they could restore financial stability????

IMHO a perfect storm has occurred that will probably shut down at least some of the clinics, if not all, despite PPGG claims to the contrary. With all this, even as an independant organization there is no way they can keep going. The only ones that won't be shut down will be those they sell to some outsider. Let us pray that PPGG is too tainted for even another abortionist to want to touch anything of theirs. In fact, what I hope & pray is that someone will buy the buildings, kick out the abortion mills & turn them into crisis pregnancy centers.

Source: Jill Stanek Planned Parenthood Golden Gate’s IRS/state filings a mess; former employees squealing