New ad addresses Carmona’s temperament issues

PHOENIX – Jeff Flake for Senate unveiled a new ad today that features Richard Carmona’s former supervisor while he was the U.S. Surgeon General.

The ad features the personal testimony of Dr. Cristina Beato, who served as Acting Assistant Secretary of Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 2003 to 2005. Dr. Beato recounts the night that Dr. Carmona angrily slammed on her door in the middle of the night in a rage to continue an argument that he started earlier that day.  The incident, which was investigated by the House Oversight Committee, was reported on in May by Politico and more recently by the Arizona Republic.

Click the image below or this link to view the ad

The ad begins airing statewide on broadcast and cable television today. A Spanish-language version of the ad will also air on Telemundo and Univision.Click this link to view the Spanish version:

Transcript 

JEFF FLAKE:  I’m Jeff Flake, and I approved this message.

DR. CRISTINA BEATO:  “There was an angry pounding on the door, in the middle of the night. I’m a single mom. I feared for my kids and for myself. It was Richard Carmona and I was his boss. Carmona is not who he seems. He has issues with anger, with ethics and with women. I have testified to this under oath to Congress. Richard Carmona should never, ever be in the U.S. Senate.”  

“It’s clear that Richard Carmona does not have the proper temperament for the United States Senate,” said Andrew Wilder, communications director for Jeff Flake for Senate.  “Far from being an isolated incident, Dr. Beato’s experience appears to be part of a pattern.”

CARMONA’S TEMPERAMENT – A HISTORY OF QUESTIONS

ANGER

“A number of Carmona’s former co-workers and employees, however, describe a man whose instinct is to escalate hostilities rather than resolve them.” (“Squaring Off Over Nominee,” Los Angeles Times, 07/08/02)

“Charles W. Putnam, a University of Arizona surgery professor who has worked with Carmona, told Kennedy in the letter that he did not want as his surgeon general someone ‘who was removed from his two previous administrative appointments … because he could not work in an effective or even a civil manner with health professionals and other constituencies of those positions.’” (“Squaring Off Over Nominee,” Los Angeles Times, 07/08/02)

“Carmona has acknowledged in interviews that not everyone likes him. Some former supervisors and colleagues, however, say the conflicts have been more than simple personality clashes.” (“Squaring Off Over Nominee,” Los Angeles Times, 07/08/02)

“Several people who clashed with Carmona, contacted for this report, refused to speak on the record, citing Carmona’s reputation for suing or threatening to sue people he believed had wronged him.” (“Squaring Off Over Nominee,” Los Angeles Times, 07/08/02)

“Two years later, Carmona was hired as chief executive officer and medical director of Kino Community Hospital in Tucson. There he clashed repeatedly with the hospital’s longtime chief of surgery, Eric Ramsay. They fought over staffing and the residency program.” (“Squaring Off Over Nominee,” Los Angeles Times, 07/08/02)

“’Never in my entire medical career have I seen such gross interference by a hospital administrator without the slightest attempt to reach a cooperative understanding,’ Ramsay said in a letter to Carmona dated March 7, 1996, the day he quit. ‘Clearly you need a lot of help and instruction in how to manage your current position for which you have had no training or previous experience.’” (“Squaring Off Over Nominee,” Los Angeles Times, 07/08/02)

“Carmona also battled with home health-care workers over a proposal to cut their hourly wages from $10 to as little as $6 an hour. After the workers complained publicly–noting that Carmona recently had raised the pay of top aides–he issued a warning.  In a memo, Carmona threatened to transfer their work to the private sector if the aides continued ‘to maliciously and falsely spread rumors … in hopes of discrediting us and/or destabilizing our organization.’ The Tucson Weekly printed excerpts from the memo after he threatened to suethem for saying he retaliated against dissidents.” (“Squaring Off Over Nominee,” Los Angeles Times, 07/08/02)

“Beato’s most eye-opening accusation involves two incidents in which she says Carmona banged on her door at her house in the middle of the night, screaming at her over issues the two disagreed on. Beato, a single mother with two children, said she refused to open the door because she was frightened of his behavior. The two lived in the same neighborhood on the National Institutes of Health campus at the time.” (“Richard Carmona Draws Fire From Former Boss,” Politico, 05/21/12)

“While many colleagues say they never had any problems with Carmona, reports surfaced ahead of his2002 confirmation hearing about repeated clashes with co-workers during histenures at the Tucson Medical Center, Kino Community Hospital and the Pima County health system, including a legal dispute over his contract with the medical center that was later resolved out of court.” (“Richard Carmona Draws Fire From Former Boss,” Politico, 05/21/12)

“’No, I do not make this stuff up,’ Beato told The Republic. ‘And I did fear for my life, and I am not a little withering flower, either. It was personally very frightening.’” (“Carmona’s Focus: Jobs, Immigration,” Arizona Republic, 10/04/12)

“And then there has been Carmona’s uncooperative, even truculent, relationship with the Pima County Health Care System Commission of citizens with which the Board of Supervisors two years ago required him to work in formulating policy.” (“Dismiss Carmona,” Arizona Daily Star, 7/13/99).

ETHICS

“Regarding the travel expenses allegation, Carmona was forced to pay back the department for improperly reimbursed personal expenses, according to her testimony, emails between senior health officials and several people familiar with the matter. Beato told House investigators she was “extremely concerned” that Carmona was making a disproportionate number of visits to the San Diego and Tucson areas, where he owns homes, and was sending drivers to run his personal errands.” (“Richard Carmona Draws Fire From Former Boss,” Politico, 05/21/12)

“Carmona’s campaign acknowledged Friday that he repaid the government $3,580 for his travel expenses in 2003. But his aides said the reimbursements were for a mix of innocuous reasons: a staff error, Carmona extending a trip because of appendicitis and his delivering of a commencement address at the University of Arizona.” (“Richard Carmona Draws Fire From Former Boss,” Politico, 05/21/12)

“In the interview with POLITICO, Beato stood by her 2007 testimony. Beato said one of the issues that led to a midnight visit by Carmona involved his wish to visit the University of California, San Francisco, his alma mater, to receive an honorary degree. Beato alleged that Carmona wanted to pay for the trip using government funds, which she refused to allow.” (“Richard Carmona Draws Fire From Former Boss,” Politico, 05/21/12)

WOMEN

“In one case, hospital administrators cited his ‘bullying’ of a nurse who said he failed to diagnose a young boy’s skull fracture in 1991. Carmona demanded Angie Calvino’s resignation after she complained to colleagues about his medical judgment, rather than reporting her concerns to the hospital’s confidential peer review committee, court records show. In a mediated agreement, Calvino agreed to a demotion if Carmona did not report her to the State Nursing Board for not following protocol, according to those familiarwith the case. However, court records show that a few months later Carmona did report her, and Calvino remained demoted.” (“Squaring Off Over Nominee,” Los Angeles Times, 07/08/02)

“His final battle there came in a dispute in May 1999 with county health commissioner Sylvia Campoy, who had reported to the county attorney allegations that a Kino doctor with a drug abuse problem had written false prescriptions to access drugs. Carmona had already dealt with the doctor on the issue two years before, and after an internal investigation, encouraged the doctor to report himself to the Board of Medical Examiners. After Campoy reported the allegations, Carmona became irate, saying she had violated the accused doctor’s confidentiality, an opinion shared by the Kino Community Hospital board and the Pima County Medical Society.” (“Squaring Off Over Nominee,” Los Angeles Times, 07/08/02)

“’What I got from Dr. Carmona [after reporting the case] was antagonism and … threats,’ Campoy later told an investigator from the Arizona Department of Public Safety’s prescription fraud unit, according to a state Board of Medical Examiners document obtained through Arizona’s public records law. ‘I was screamed at, I was yelled at. I was told it was none of my business. I was told that I had breached peer review.’” (“Squaring Off Over Nominee,” Los Angeles Times, 07/08/02)

“Beato gave her testimony in secret in 2007, saying Carmona was an ‘extremely angry’ person, a ‘living nightmare’ to work with, had trouble working for a female supervisor and abused travel privileges by improperly billing taxpayers for some personal expenses, according to the testimony. When POLITICO contacted Beato recently, she confirmed her testimony and reiterated her accusations on the record, five years after she originally gave them to the House committee.” (“Richard Carmona Draws Fire From Former Boss,” Politico, 05/21/12)

“’I think any normal woman, when somebody comes in at midnight demanding and raising their voice, would feel threatened,’ Beato said in the interview.” (“Richard Carmona Draws Fire From Former Boss,” Politico, 05/21/12)

Stay up to date on Richard Carmona’s campaign to be a rubber stamp for Democrats’ liberal agenda in Washington by visiting www.RubberstampRich.com.

For more information on Jeff Flake and why he’s running for the U.S. Senate, please visit his website at www.JeffFlake.com.

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