by Dave Workman
Senior Editor
For nearly a year, San Francisco General Hospital has, perhaps unwittingly, been providing the anti-gun "Million" Mom March (MMM) organization with rent-free office space through a non-profit organization called the Trauma Foundation, Gun Week has learned. The discovery coincided with a report in the New York Times that the San Francisco-based MMM had laid off 30 of its 35 employees. Among the MMM staffers whose jobs were reportedly cut was Andrew McGuire, MMM executive director.
Requests to the hospital for interviews received no response. Calls to San Francisco General Assistant Administrator Angela Carmen were not returned to Gun Week, and calls to the office of Hospital Administrator Gene O'Connell were referred to a public information officer, Gloria Rodriguez. Likewise, calls by Gun Week to the shared Trauma Foundation and MMM telephone number received no response. There were recorded messages at all extensions.
The Trauma Foundation is described as a non-profit policy center "dedicated to reducing injuries and deaths due to injuries." However, as long ago as 1995, it has been accused of mixing anti-gun politics with research. It is headquartered on the third floor of Building 1 at the San Francisco General complex. Copies of correspondence obtained by Gun Week indicate that some 7,450 square feet of office space had been provided to the Trauma Foundation, apparently rent-free.
The "Million" Mom March Foundation's website has always listed San Francisco General as its headquarters. That got the attention of two Bay-area gun rights activists, Jim March and Nadja Adolf. They told Gun Week that they objected to what amounts to an anti-gun lobbying organization being housed in a public facility at taxpayer expense.
In a letter to March, Carmen disclosed, "There is no lease agreement with the Trauma Foundation. At this time the Trauma Foundation is not paying rent." Initially, the Trauma Foundation had "assisted in the launching of The Bell Campaign" in 1999, which last year became the "Million" Mom March Foundation, according to a May 2000 news release. In that announcement, it was noted, "The Bell Campaign has 100-plus chapters around the country that," are now 'Million' Mom March chapters. The board of directors of The Bell Campaign voted unanimously to merge the two organizations for the benefit of the movement." So intertwined were the two organizations-Trauma Foundation and The Bell Campaign-that, in an advertised job description for a Bell Campaign financial director position, it was noted: "The Financial Director reports to the Executive Director and is responsible for all aspects of accounting for the Trauma Foundation and The Bell Campaign, with total annual operating budgets of $5.5 million."
Yet, with that large a budget, apparently there was no money earmarked for paying the rent, or at least, the hospital never asked for rent. What March and Adolf called a "questionable arrangement" between the hospital and MMM, with the Trauma Foundation in between, apparently began unraveling when the two activists started asking about the MMM use of Trauma Foundation space.
March is convinced that his initial inquiries to Carmen caused the hospital administration to take a close look at what was going on in the Trauma Foundation's offices.
"Angela Carmen told me she was shocked" when she apparently looked up the MMM website and found the hospital address listed as the organization's headquarters, March said.
Added Adolf: "She did not seem to be aware of who was occupying that space. There seemed to be some confusion as to who was located there." Confusing, that is, to everyone but a delivery man that the activists encountered one day while actually searching the hospital complex for the MMM offices.
"We went all over the place, and nobody seemed to know where their office was," Adolf recalled. "Finally, there was this delivery guy we had ridden up and down the elevators with, and he said they were over in Building 1 on the third floor. It struck me as very strange. I don't know whether there is an elaborate hide and seek going on, or some fraud about MMM being there (allegedly) as another organization."
But the delivery man's directions led Adolf and March directly to the Trauma Foundation's rent-free office space. His recollection of what happened when they finally found the right building was even more curious. "So we head over there," he recalled, "jump in the elevator, hit the third floor button and nothing happens. We hit it again. No joy. So we get back out, look around and discover that to get to either of the two floors (occupied by the Trauma Foundation) you have to buzz an intercom and try to beg an audience."
March was refused, but Adolf managed to gain access for the pair when she told a receptionist over the intercom that "we're here to pick up documents you're legally required to hand out."
When March asked about the necessity of the security measures, he was told by one of the MMM staffers: "We have security in place for a reason; there's all these NRA nuts running around." That's when March contacted Gun Week.
'No Such Documents. . .'
When March corresponded with the hospital about the rent-free agreement in late February and early March, he sought copies of "any documents from the Trauma Foundation or any other organizations" using hospital facilities, and documents that might have informed the hospital what activities the Foundation and MMM were engaged in. Carmen wrote back that "no such documents exist."
In a subsequent inquiry, March sought a list of all employees, volunteers and other individuals who have hospital access because of their involvement with either the Foundation or MMM. He also requested a list of all hospital staff who also work on the staffs of either the Foundation or MMM. The terse response from Carmen: "I do not have this information. You will need to inquire directly with the Foundation."
As far back as 1995, the Trauma Foundation has been the subject of inquiries about its activities. In October of that year, US Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA) began asking about the Foundation because it was receiving grant money from the federally-funded Centers for Disease and Control (CDC). In a letter to CDC Director David Satcher, Barr noted, "In its spring 1995 newsletter, this organization specifically advocates legislative action opposing and endorsing certain federal legislation and laws, and, among other things, urges its readers to engage in picketing activities. I consider these activities, involving federal taxpayer dollars, to be not only questionable, but very likely illegal. I would hope that, despite CDC's interest in promoting an anti-gun agenda, you would nonetheless be concerned with the integrity of the system that places very important restrictions on how taxpayer dollars can be spent."
Funding Disallowed
On the same day Barr wrote that letter, he also sent a letter to Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT), then chairman of the Subcommittee on Human Resources and Intergovernmental Relations, calling Shays' attention to the Trauma Foundation's activities, calling it "a matter that goes beyond impropriety, and in my judgment crosses the line to potential illegality." Satcher later responded to Barr, acknowledging that CDC had reviewed the Trauma Foundation's newsletter and found the contents to be "an inappropriate use of funds under the anti-lobbying provisions of federal grant guidelines." As a result, CDC "disallowed" the costs charged to the CDC grant for publication of the newsletter, but apparently took no other action. March said he may ask for an inquiry by either the California state legislature or the state attorney general's office into San Francisco General allowing the use of its facilities rent free by what amounts to a lobbying organization.