Chicago mayoral candidate Gery Chico says he wants "more openness, transparency and accountability." But will he walk the talk by answering questions about the "shady non-profit"* he was "instrumental in bringing to the Chicago Schools"?

Save-A-Life Foundation press release, April 24, 2003

December 13, 2010

Sent via e-mail to gchico@chiconunes.com, gery@gerychicoformayor.com
Faxed to (312)463-1001

Gery ChicoChico & Nunes, P.C.
333 West Wacker Drive Suite 1800
Chicago, IL 60606

Dear Mr. Chico,

I haven’t received a reply to my November 30 inquiry to you in which I asked three quick questions about investigations re: the Save-A-Life Foundation (SALF), a Chicago-area nonprofit with which you and your wife Sunny were associated.

According to a SALF press release, Mrs. Chico said you “were instrumental in bringing SALF into the Chicago Schools.” Based on a video of a 1999 presentation to the Chicago School Board by SALF founder/president Carol Jean Spizzirri and SALF board member Carlos Azcoitia, that statement appears accurate.

In a 2006 WLS-TV I-Team story, Chuck Goudie reported:

One of Illinois' highest profile charities teaches the Heimlich maneuver to children while maneuvering the truth to get money from government and big business. It's called the Save-A-Life Foundation and is known across Illinois as an organization that teaches schoolchildren how to respond in emergencies. For the past few years, Save-A-Life has received millions of dollars in government funds and corporate donations. An ABC7 I-Team investigation has uncovered a series of misleading claims and deceptive credentials that raise doubts about Save-A-Life's integrity, funding and training.

Since then, dozens of critical media reports about SALF have appeared around the country. Reportedly the IL Attorney General’s office is now investigating the organization. Last week I learned that the US Department of Health & Human Services has asked the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) to review concerns about a CDC Deputy Director who simultaneously worked as SALF’s corporate treasurer while the CDC was funding SALF. As I informed you in my November 30 letter, last month a San Diego newspaper story by veteran reporter Don Bauder entitled Where Did the Save-A-Life Money Go? included troubling details about Ms. Spizzirri’s criminal and personal background.

Since my previous letter, a number of news stories have reported your call for higher standards of conduct by public officials, such as this December 2 Sun-Times column by Lynn Sweet:

"We don't have to wait for the Illinois Legislature or the federal government to create more openness, transparency and accountability in city government," Gery Chico said. "Let's do it now, let's do it ourselves and let's give our Inspector General the necessary tools to make government better at all levels."

In that spirit, I’m re-submitting my three questions.

1. Have you or has anyone you know been contacted by anyone connected with the Attorney General’s investigation of the Save-A-Life Foundation? If so, please provide details.

2. In federal reports, Save-A-Life claimed it had used a portion of $3.33 million it received from the US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention to train thousands of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students. However, in response to a federal subpoena and FOIA requests, CPS apparently has no supporting records. Do you recommend that the Inspector General of the Department of Health & Human Services initiate an investigation to determine if those federal millions were properly administered?

3. CPS paid Save-A-Life approximately $62,000 in public funds to provide first aid training to thousands of students, however CPS records indicate that at best a few hundred may have received training.  Do you recommend that CPS Inspector General James M. Sullivan initiate an investigation to determine if the $62,000 paid by CPS to Save-A-Life was properly administered?

Please feel free to add additional related comments of any length.

I’m copying your media representative Brooke Anderson on this e-mail as I did on my November 30 letter. If I don’t receive a response from you or Ms. Anderson in the next few days, my understanding will be that you don’t intend to respond.

Thanks for your continued attention and I hope to hear from you and/or Ms. Anderson.

Sincerely,

Lee Cary
Writer, Andrew Breitbart's Big Government, the American ThinkerLittle Elm, TX
lee.cary@att.net

Cc:

Brooke Anderson, Gery Chico for Mayor
Tim Bagwell PhD
Chuck Goudie/WLS-TV
Don Bauder/San Diego ReaderLynn Sweet/Chicago Sun-Times

* In Case You Missed It: (Sen. Norm) Coleman Connection to Shady Non-Profit Highlighted, MN Democratic Farmer Labor Party press release, September 26, 2008

1999 presentation by Save-A-Life Foundation founder/president Carol J. Spizzirri to the Chicago Board of Education

(1:20) Carol J. Spizzirri: "We've trained over 5000 children since October in schools throughout the city. We have an additional one to 43,000 children to train by the end of June." (Chicago Public Schools cannot produce any substantiating records.)

(7:35) School board president Gery Chico: "How many schools have you said that you've been in with this program?"
Spizzirri: "I think we've been in a dozen we've completed."
Chico: "What's it cost?"
Spizzirri: "It's at 75 cents a child. Except it's a dollar for the instructor."
(9:00) "I don't think we can afford to do anything but do this (SALF program). I don't know what your capacity is. We may have to partner up with the Red Cross."
Spizzirri: "Oh, we have the...we're self sufficient."
Chico: "No, but I mean to do 580 schools, 430,000 students."
Spizzirri: "We still can handle it."

Arne Duncan, Gery & Sunny Chico appear at 2003 Save-A-Life Foundation annual conference

Political writer Lee Cary asks educator/Northeastern IL University chairman/former Save-A-Life Foundation director Carlos Azcoitia about investigation(s) of SALF

Carlos M. Azcoitia PhD

Presentation by Save-A-Life Foundation (SALF) founder/president Carol Spizzirri and Carlos Azcoitia at a 1999 Chicago School Board meeting with Paul Vallas & Gery Chico. Azcoitia, who according to IRS records was SALF's Director for three years (page down), appears in the video at timestamp 8:30. Dr. Azcoitia is now Chairman of the Board of Trustees for Northeastern Illinois University and an assistant professor at Chicago's National-Louis University. 

E-mailed to carlos.azcoitia@nl.edu  and faxed to (312)261-3121

December 10, 2010

Carlos M. Azcoitia PhD

Assistant Professor

National-Louis University
122 S. Michigan Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60603    

Dear Dr. Azcoitia,

I’m reporting about the Save-A-Life Foundation (SALF), a Chicago-area nonprofit. In November 2006, ABC7 Chicago reported a variety of false claims associated with the organization and its founder/president Carol J. Spizzirri. Since then, dozens of media reports have raised additional related concerns, such as a San Diego newspaper article last month that reported Ms. Spizzirri’s criminal record.

Since you’re identified as Corporate Director on several years of SALF’s tax returns and you helped the organization gain entrée to the Chicago Public Schools, I’d appreciate your answers to the following quick questions.

1. SALF is reportedly under investigation by the Illinois Attorney General. Have you or has anyone you know been contacted by anyone connected with that investigation? If so, please provide details.

The US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) awarded $3.33 million in federal grants to SALF. In financial reports submitted to the CDC, SALF stated that the money was used to provide first aid training classes to thousands of Chicago Public School (CPS) students. Last year, SALF’s founder/president Carol J. Spizzirri told the Chicago Tribune that her organization trained hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Chicago Schools students. Here’s a list of hundreds of Chicago schools in which SALF allegedly provided the training. (The list also highlights Chicago schools at which SALF allegedly trained thousands of students in a program funded by Ronald McDonald House Charities.)

However, in response to a federal subpoena and FOIA requests, CPS records fail to support these claims. In fact, CPS’s entire records re: SALF apparently consist of 22 invoices dating from 2000-2007 indicating that at best a few hundred people may have received training.

As described in a Bagwell for Congress press release last month, a public letter was sent by Tim Bagwell to the Inspector General of the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) requesting an investigation to determine if the CDC millions were properly administered.

2. Do you recommend that the HHS Inspector General initiate such an investigation?

At a 1999 Chicago School Board meeting, in response to a question by board president Gery Chico asking how much her organization’s first aid training program costs, Ms. Spizzirri stated, "It's at 75 cents a child. Except it's a dollar for the instructor." The 22 invoices show CPS paid SALF about $62,000 from 2000-2007. Again, however, CPS records indicate that at best a few hundred people may have received training.

3. Do you think that CPS Inspector General James M. Sullivan should initiate an investigation to determine if the $62,000 in public funds paid by CPS to SALF was properly administered?

Please feel free to add any related comments of any length. Thanks for your consideration and I look forward to receiving your answers, preferably by Wednesday, December 15. If you require more time, please let me know and I’ll do my best to accommodate your schedule.

Sincerely,

Lee Cary

Writer, Andrew Breitbart's Big Government, the American Thinker

lee.cary@att.net

Cc:

Gery Chico, Chico & Nunes P.C.

Tim Bagwell

Of related interest:

11/30/10: Chicago mayoral candidate Gery Chico asked about Save-A-Life Foundation investigation(s) 

12/6/10: Schools CEO Paul Vallas asked about his 10-year association, promotion of the Save-A-Life Foundation

Carlos Azcoitia listed as Corporate Director on Save-A-Life Foundation IRS returns, 2000-02

2/1/01 Save-A-Life Foundation letter listing corporate officers

HHS Inspector General: questions about CDC Deputy Director working as Save-A-Life's corporate treasurer sent to CDC for review, but no mention of the million$ CDC gave to Save-A-Life. (Still in play or MIA?)

HHS Inspector General: concerns re: Deputy Director Doug Browne referred to CDC for further review, 11/8/10


December 8, 2010

Daniel R. Levinson

Inspector General
Department of Health and Human Services

Room 5250 Cohen Building

330 Independence Ave. SW
Washington, DC 20201

Dear Inspector General Levinson:

This is to follow-up my October 11, 2010 letter requesting that your office determine whether $3,335,578 awarded by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the Save-A-Life Foundation (SALF) was properly administered and to review concerns regarding Atlanta-based CDC Deputy Director Douglas R. Browne, who served as SALF’s Corporate Treasurer from January 1, 2004 until September 17, 2009.

Please see attached a copy of an October 20, 2010 e-mail sent by your office’s Correspondence Control Specialist Sue Yee that includes this description of my letter:

The Control Number For this record is: EX-2010-01320

The Document Title is: Letter to Daniel R. Levinson -- request to review and determine whether monies awarded to CDC were properly administered - from Timothy C Bagwell, Ph.D.

Please also see attached a November 8, 2010 letter to me from your office’s Special Agent in Charge Elton Malone stating:

The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Inspector General (OlG), Office of Investigations (OI), Special Investigations Branch (SIB), is in receipt of your letter dated October 11, 2010. In your letter, you allege potential misconduct on the part of Douglas Browne, an employee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Specifically you state that CDC may have improperly approved Browne's outside activities with the Save-A-Life-Foundation, and that Browne may have exceeded the scope of the approval which he received from CDC management.

HHS/OIG/OI/SIB has reviewed the information you provided, and has determined that there is not enough information presented to warrant an investigation for potential violation of criminal statutes. HHS/OIG/OI/SIB has referred this matter to CDC for further review, and appropriate administrative action as this matter appears to be more appropriately addressed through CDC's administrative review process.

Special Agent Malone’s letter includes no mention of what Ms. Yee accurately described as a “request to review and determine whether monies awarded to CDC were properly administered.” Therefore it’s my understanding that your office considers that request to be open and under review. If my understanding is incorrect, please clarify.

Thank you for your continued attention to this matter. Please note that my contact information has been updated since my previous letter.

Sincerely,

Tim Bagwell, Ph.D.
ADDRESS/PHONE REDACTED

Saint Louis, MO 63139
tim@timbagwell.com

Cc:

Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH
Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Barry Goldberg
Assistant IL Attorney General
Charitable Trusts Bureau

Donald White, Public Affairs Specialist
Office of the Inspector General
Department of Health and Human Services

Tim Bagwell's follow-up to HHS Inspector General re: $3.3m CDC funding of Save-A-Life Founation, 12/8/10

Schools CEO Paul Vallas asked about his 10-year association, promotion of the Save-A-Life Foundation and the IL Attorney General's investigation

Public Service Announcement by Paul Vallas claiming "the Save-A-Life Foundation has trained over 400,000 Illinois children and adults in the lifesaving skills of first aid, CPR, and the Heimlich maneuver and they can train you."

 
"Your organization is an excellent example of how involvement in education can truly make a difference. Our students and teachers have been and will continue to be the recipients of the benefits of that involvement which includes exposure to new technology and AED training. On behalf of the students and teachers of the Chicago Public Schools, and the people whose lives they may help to save, I again thank you. We look forward to continuing this exceptional partnership. PS I love receiving all the thank you letters from children SALF trains." - Paul G. Vallas, CEO, Chicago Public Schools (source) 

"In 1997 I brought SALF to the children of the Chicago Public School system to teach Life Supporting First Aid, CPR and the Heimlich maneuver and the results were positive beyond expectations. I look forward to working with you and SALF to bring this empowering program to the Commonwealth and I am happy to assist in any way I can." - Paul G. Vallas, CEO, Philadelphia Schools, August 12, 2003 (source)

Paul Vallas's approval of Save-A-Life program touted to Philadelphia Schools by SALF, four months after ABC7 Chicago exposed SALF frauds (page down); note bogus training claims.
Paul Vallas approval of Save-A-Life touted to Philly by SALF, bogus training numbers, 3/16/07

The following letter was e-mailed to paul.vallas@rsdla.net and faxed to (504)309-3647. Also see Chicago mayoral candidate Gery Chico asked about Save-A-Life Foundation investigation(s).

December 6, 2010

Paul Vallas

New Orleans Recovery School District

1641 Poland Avenue

New Orleans, LA 70117

Dear Mr. Vallas,

I’m reporting about the Save-A-Life Foundation (SALF), a Chicago-area nonprofit reportedly under investigation by the Illinois Attorney General. In November 2006, ABC7 Chicago reported a variety of false claims associated with the organization and its founder/president Carol J. Spizzirri. Since then, dozens of media reports have raised additional related concerns, such as a San Diego newspaper article last month that reported Ms. Spizzirri’s criminal record.

Since you promoted the organization when you were CEO of the Chicago Public Schools and later when you were CEO of the School District of Philadelphia, I’d appreciate your answers to some quick questions.

###

On May 26, 1999, you and Chicago Schools president Gery Chico signed a Chicago School Board resolution stating, “(The Save-A-Life) foundation has trained 35,000 statement (sic) in 1998, including 10,000 Chicago children.”

However, in response to a federal subpoena and FOIA requests, the Chicago Public Schools’ entire records re: SALF apparently consist of 22 invoices dating from 2000-2007 indicating that at best a few hundred people may have received training.

In a Public Service Announcement you recorded for SALF after you left the Chicago Schools, you stated that the “Save-A-Life Foundation has trained over 400,000 Illinois children and adults in the lifesaving skills of first aid, CPR, and the Heimlich maneuver.”

Diligent attempts to verify SALF’s training records indicate that at best hundreds of people in Illinois ever received any training. 

1. In the 1999 resolution you signed and for your PSA promoting the foundation, did you verify the numbers of students you claimed were trained or did you simply repeat information provided to you by SALF?

2. Have you or has anyone you know been contacted by anyone connected with the IL Attorney General’s investigation of SALF? If so, please provide details.

The US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) awarded $3.33 million in federal grants to SALF. In financial reports submitted to the CDC, SALF stated that the money was used to provide first aid training classes to thousands of Chicago Public School (CPS) students. Last year, SALF’s founder/president Carol J. Spizzirri told the Chicago Tribune that her organization trained hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Chicago Schools students. Here’s a list of hundreds of Chicago schools in which SALF allegedly provided the training. (The list also highlights Chicago schools at which SALF allegedly trained thousands of students in a program funded by Ronald McDonald House Charities.)

However, as I explained, CPS’s entire records indicate that at best a few hundred people may have received training.

As described in a Bagwell for Congress press release last month, a public letter was sent by Tim Bagwell to the Inspector General of the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) requesting an investigation to determine if the CDC millions were properly administered.

3. Do you think that the HHS Inspector General should pursue such an investigation?

At a 1999 Chicago School Board meeting, in response to a question by your associate Gery Chico asking how much her organization’s first aid training program costs, Ms. Spizzirri stated, "It's at 75 cents a child. Except it's a dollar for the instructor." The 22 invoices show CPS paid SALF about $62,000 from 2000-2007. Again, however, CPS records indicate that at best a few hundred people may have received training.

4. Do you think that CPS Inspector General James M. Sullivan should pursue an investigation to determine if the $62,000 in public funds paid by CPS to SALF was properly administered?

Please feel free to add any related comments of any length. Thanks for your consideration and I look forward to receiving your answers.

Sincerely,

Lee Cary

Writer, Andrew Breitbart's Big Government, the American Thinker

lee.cary@att.net

Cc:

Siona LaFrance, Director-Communications/Media, New Orleans Recovery School District

Gery Chico, Chico & Nunes P.C.

Tim Bagwell

Paul Vallas, Gery Chico sign 1999 resolution with dubious Save-A-Life Foundation training claims

(7:35) Gery Chico: "How many schools have you said that you've been in with this program?"

Carol J. Spizzirri: "I think we've been in a dozen we've completed."

Chico: "What's it cost?"

Spizzirri: "It's at 75 cents a child. Except it's a dollar for the instructor." 

(9:00) Chico: "I don't think we can afford to do anything but do this (SALF program)."

Paul Vallas & Gery Chico hype Chico's mayoral campaign, Fox News Chicago, November 25, 2010
  

 Lee's questions to Schools CEO Paul Vallas about the Save-A-Life Foundation, 12/6/10 - NO REPLY