The Statement: press release from Dale Sweetland’s campaign
Title: “Sweetland’s Medicaid Fraud Initiative Saves County Taxpayers $2 Million in 7 Months”
From: Republican Dale Sweetland’s campaign for 25th Congressional District in New York State. Sweetland’s opponents are Democrat Dan Maffei and Green Populist Howie Hawkins. They are competing to succeed Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Walsh, who is retiring.
Type: Press Release from www.sweetland08.com
Date: Sept.10, 2008.
URL: http://www.sweetland08.com/news+pressreleases/tab/aspx
What It Says:
This press release praises a program to cut fraud in Medicaid, the joint state and federal tax-supported health insurance program for the poor. New York is one of the few states that passes some of the state’s share of the program’s cost down to the county governments. The Medicaid Fraud Initiative passed by the Onondaga County Legislature as Resolution 95, on May 1, 2007.
The initiative went into effect while Sweetland was chairman of the county legislature in 2007. The release refers to the initiative as “Sweetland’s,” and says that the initiative saved county taxpayers $2 million by preventing Medicaid fraud from both vendors and clients. The release also quotes Sweetland as saying he worked hard for the passage of the initiative, and that he will do similar things in Washington.
The key text from the press release:
“In a recent memo to Onondaga County Legislators, the Onondaga County Social Services Department revealed that the county’s Medicaid Fraud Initiative, implemented under the leadership of former Legislature Chairman Dale Sweetland, currently a candidate for Congress, has saved Onondaga County taxpayers $1.8 million in the first seven months of 2008.
“ `During my time as Chairman of the Legislature, I worked hard for passage of the Medicaid Fraud Initiative, to save taxpayers money and keep people from defrauding the county of millions of dollars. This was an effort that required support from both sides of the aisle and, with the support of the County Executive, we were able to get it done’,” Sweetland said. “ `It’s this kind of leadership that I will to take to Washington. I am committed to opening the books and making sure that these programs are working as they should. I’m not afraid to take on big government and special interests to get things done’.”
In April of 2007, the Onondaga County Legislature, led by former Chairman Sweetland, passed legislation to implement the Medicaid Fraud Initiative.”
The campaign uses the press release to give voters examples of work Sweetland did when he held office previously, and to suggest the type of work he would do in Congress.
The two key items in the press release center around the amount of money the Medicaid Fraud Initiative saved county taxpayers and Sweetland’s role in getting the program going.
The Facts:
•The money:
The initiative “saved county taxpayers $1.8 million in seven months of 2008.”
This is accurate, said Steve Morgan, executive deputy commissioner of the Social Services Department of Onondaga County. The release cites a memo that was sent to Onondaga County Legislators from the Social Services Department. The Social Services Department, which handles medical assistance programs in the county, drafted the $1.8 million figure. The initiative has actually saved county taxpayers $1.8 million in the first seven months of 2008, Morgan said.
•Sweetland’s role:
The press release twice uses phrases that suggest that Sweetland played a central role in creating the program. The first describes the program as “implemented under the leadership of former Legislature Chairman Dale Sweetland.” The second describes the initiative as Sweetland’s: “Sweetland’s Medicaid Fraud Initiative saved county taxpayers $2 million in 7 months.”
The phrasing in those descriptions is misleading. It’s true that Sweetland was chair of the legislature when the initiative passed. But by that logic, Sweetland could get credit for everything the legislature did – even if he played no role other than having his name attached to the chairmanship. So the question is: What exactly did Sweetland do for the initiative?
The initiative was passed as Resolution 95 on May 1, 2007, said John Corcoran, director of the legislative budget review in the county.
Sweetland was still chairman of the legislature, at this time.
The Legislature Minutes Archive says that the initiative was passed unanimously by the Social Services Committee on April 18, 2007. Sweetland wasn’t a member of the Social Services Committee. The committee does much of the work on resolutions before the legislature votes on it. The minutes can be found at: http://www.ongov.net/Legislature/minutes/?m=dis_page&page_id=31.
John Corcoran, director of the legislative budget review in Onondaga County, explained the process: “The resolution was drafted by the Social Service Administrator and sponsored by the chair of the Social Services Committee. The chairman would have introduced the resolution in committee and the Commissioner of Social Services would have provided the background for the resolution.”
The legislature, Corcoran added, passed the initiative unanimously on May 1, 2007. A unanimous vote by the legislature indicates this was likely a non-controversial initiative. In other words, it likely didn’t require much persuasion to get legislators to pass the initiative.
In an e-mail interview, Travis Glazier, a Sweetland campaign spokesman, stuck to the campaign’s credit for Sweetland in passing the initiative. “Dale was an advocate and worked for the passage of this legislation in a bipartisan effort,” Glazier said.
But it’s not clear how Sweetland advocated for the legislation. The county Web site does not contain the minutes for the legislature’s vote on Resolution 95.
Still, it is misleading for the release to classify the initiative as “Sweetland’s.” Other legislators also were working in a bipartisan effort to get the initiative passed. And as county executive at the time, Nicholas Pirro was the one who actually had the power to implement the initiative.
Conclusion:
The press release is accurate in citing the $1.8 million saved by the Medicaid Fraud Initiative in the first seven months of 2008. But it overstates the credit due to Sweetland in passing and putting the program into effect. The release gives Sweetland more credit than he deserves for the initiative because he was chairman of the legislature at the time it passed. He wasn’t a member of the Social Services Committee, which drafted the proposal before the legislature voted on it. Second: it was also a unanimous vote. There wasn’t much persuasion required to get this initiative passed because it had everyone’s support. Third: Sweetland was part of a bi-partisan effort to pass the initiative, so the credit should be shared by the members of that effort.
(Jamie Munks is a senior with dual majors in newspaper and political science.)
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