A Couple Million Dollars in Cost-Cutting Not Enough to Keep Former Broward Health Attorney in Job

• And now for the big news: STEVEN STOLL WAS INDICTED in federal court for his alleged participation in a mortgage fraud scheme. If anyone had doubts about that guy before, they should be gone now.

• You made some good points there. I did a search on the topic and found most people will agree with your blog.

• @ Anonymous: You, too, need to get the real facts. Seidman lowered the amount of work going out to firms like Scherer's and Tripp Scott. Then again, you never let the truth get in your way, do you? You know that she had CANCER and you continue to post lies about her being away in her "mansion" when she was really sick. Everyone knows by now that you are nothing but a hateful, jealous little shrew.

• FY '08/'09 would show mostly what Kishbaugh did. FY '09/'10 shows what they expect Goren to do.

• @IT: I said in my comment that Goldstone and Truhe "began" cutting costs. That's based on records I've received that make reference to those efforts on their part. But neither of them were in their positions long enough to realize any hard statistical evidence. Rather, documents show that upon arriving they found the legal department had shoddy record-keeping and little to no organization. There's no telling how many legal bills were left unpaid. Seidman's salary was still on the books. Kishbaugh had saddled them with two major internal investigations that would have to be paid for. The numbers that DeGroot quotes also lump in the legal costs during Goren's tenure, which can't be all pinned on Goldstone and Truhe. Finally, if there was evidence that Goldstone and Truhe were rigging the legal department for their friends, why on earth didn't Bernstein mention this when the board fired them? No, for him it was all about the professional standards of the Florida Bar. I'll grant you that Bernstein's effort to jettison Scherer was financially prudent. It was also complicated by politics. And if it was all about financial prudence to him, then he'd be howling to replace Goren with a full-time general counsel with enough expertise in health-care law to perform much of the district's legal work in-house, as opposed to sending out to firms. It's been six months, and still no sense of urgency to rein in spending in the legal department.

• Tom, Tom Francis says: @IT: Thanks for the finance lesson. I'd like to go point by point through your note, but I've got another few posts to write before the end of the business day. I'll get to it. For now let me make one point: You appear to be attacking on Bernstein's behalf, and that's fine; but none of what you put in your comment addresses the issue of whether he's been responsible in his role as a district commissioner, especially when it comes to his meddling in the GC's office. Broward Health Fiscal Year Legal Expenses 2005/06 $5.6 million 2006/07 $2.9 million 2007/08 $5.0 million 2008/09 $6.0 million 2009/10 $6.6 million (budgeted) So what happened in FY 2007? That was the year Laura Seidman reduced the District's legal expenses by nearly half- This comes from De groot's web site. What it shows is Bernstein was right on bringing in Seidman, Fernandez made up the crap about legal expenses going up under Seidman, and Bernstein had every reason to want to get rid of Goldstone, who was not only unlicensed, but at Fernandez, Cobo, and Spencer levine's direction, reversed the whole process of reducing expenses and started giving away huge legal work to their friends. The numbers don't lie, and yes I am defending Bernstein, because the numbers appear to show he was doing the right thing, and until De groot's post, no one including you checked the facts. Your assumptions are wrong so try starting with the real facts and then make sure the story you print is backed up by those facts.

• IB wanting to know if IB is the farmer from Freehold NJ who relocated to Broward County in the 70's to engage in FARMING of a different kind. IB wanting to know if it is also true that back in old Freehold he B beating his wife when crops were bad and he had his poo farm boy drive the tractor into a pole so he B collecting the iiinsurance scam money. IB wanting to know about buying all those cobbettes from Pine Belt chevy and driving them down to the farm in broward. good crops in broward them years ah boy! IB wanting to know about JEB.ORG on da barn up on 95. IB wanting to know about the farmer next door of da bay view farm who went to prison because of his crap, IB wanting to know who worked on that farm. What's that? oh, drive them cars, work on that farm, once one make lots of money one can buy self-respect, and all that not B true, Sorry, IB wrong for saying that.

• UB 100% WRONG and to the provincial doc, i find it very hard to believe that you come in at 6 am and work until midnight, go home and are well rested the following day to be a competent doctor. your not out to make a good living doc, but rather a great killing. i just hope it's not some of your patients that you are killing. don't show me your ignorance. bernstein is no alter boy. he's no better then the rest of the ones you mentioned, he has his agendas, he is a political appointee with a smile of a used car salesman. a leopard does not change his stipes. maybe he toned down some after laura hosed him down. find bruce and you might be enlightened, unless there is an agreement in place forbiding disclosure of past activities, politics too. get some rest doc, the district deserves competent well rested doctors. your lack of rest is distorting your perception of reality, another reason the district is in a shamble. very provincial of you, very provincial! in closing doc i will admit that i do suffer from an incurable disease called THE TRUTH however doctors who are not well rested have misdiagnosed this as STUPIDITY...on there part i do believe.

• 3:00, HUH??? First, I don't know who Bruce Burnstein is. Second, You are correct that many doctors are not good business people. As for someone buying a surgery center from a bunch of doctors who ran it into the ground, that sounds to me like a good businessman. You buy low and sell high. Am I missing something here? The point I think you are making about doctors not being good business people - please understand something...I and most of my physician colleagues enjoy practicing medicine. I save lives. I help make people feel better when they are ill. I studied and trained until my early 30's, and yes, I expect to earn a good living practicing what I do. If I do it well, I expect to earn more patients and more income. THAT is how it should work. In the case of the District, doctors like Michael Chizner have done little to build their practices and do not work 16 hours a day to help people. Rather, while people like me see 30 patients a day to make my income, Chizner gets a huge contract from the District - a POLITICAL contract supported by the same people who fund the likes of Scott Rothstein - and when anybody threatens his little nest, he either runs them off or tries to destroy them. That's why people like me have taken our patient business elsewhere, and its why the "hear center of excellence" is known to be a joke among the medical community. That's also why you see people attacking Bernstein. He tried to stop this contract, and others that smelled just as bad. And the attacks keep coming. Its why Chizner and his buddy Stoll tried to run Levine off. Levine was renegotiating contracts and saving money. And it was widely known Levine hired a consulting firm to come analyze the doctor practices to make sure the Doctors were complying with their contracts. This was a threat to the cabal of doctors who had sweet deals. And who is Chizner's lawyer? George Lemieux and the fine lawyers at Gunster Yoakley. And who on the Board worked for Lemieux while she was on the board? Maureen Jaeger. And then along comes Cobo with his routine. I can't tell you how many times I had colleagues tell me Cobo tried to use his position on the Board to get their business. Doctors literally wold leave the physician dining room when he would come in. What a revolting person. The bottom line, Mr. Francis, is that there are good people at the District who try hard to do their work and do fine work. We need board members who will stay out of the politics and actually try to focus on helping the district be competitive. Many doctors would return, and plan to, when people like Chizner no longer are able to use politics to enrich themselves.

• 3:00 obviously, you don't like Bernstein. you sound like an angry person. Do you beat your wife? See how easy it is to make accusations about people with no proof. What's that? oh, you did beat your wife! Sorry, IB wrong for saying that.

• I call it as I see it. As far as the health care system goes, please explain to me why such brilliant physician such as you and your "colleagues" let the practice of medicine get to where it is to day. It is a FACT that doctors are the world's worst business people. Very few of you go into medicine to help others most go into it soley to help your pockets. Do not be fooled by the likes of Burnstein, they needs shmucks like you to stoke their ego and line their pockets. You are just not sophisticated enough to notice it. Bytw, how is bruce bernstein doing? Is Burnstein still doing consulting work? Very provincial of you my good doctor. Just an fyi, the medical center he started, he purchased from a group of "brilliant" doctors in miami who ran it into the ground. he picked it up for pennies on the dollar when he was a loan officer at city national bank. so much for brilliant doctors. trust me he can read shmucks like you from a mile away. Very provincial of you my good doctor.

• Rock, That's a pretty brutal hit against Bernstein. I'll leave all the inappropriate personal stuff to the side, since maybe your parents just didn't raise you better. I'm pretty certain Bernstein has been out of the workers comp business for more than 10 years. Most recently, he was in the surgery center business, but he sold that several years ago. Currently, I think he's in the credit card processing business. So, no, I don't think there is a conflict of interest. Tom, in all seriousness, the reason so many people attack Bernstein is because he is an outspoken person who rails against the wasteful spending at the district. He spoke out against commissioners giving district money away just to promote themselves (like stoll and sallarulo); he came down hard on district management when they requested to spend capital but couldn't back up their financial projections; he pushed to have all the bloated contracts renegotiated. His real mistake was trying to oppose Michael Chizner's outrageous contract. Chizner is a cancer in the District, and Bernstein spoke out against his huge contract. He got run over at the meeting (I know, i was there and saw it, along with some of my physician colleagues) when he tried to reduce the amount to something less than $1 million per year for 10 years with no out provision. That contract was the reason my colleagues left the district and took our paying business elsewhere. Chizner is the doctor to the stars (you know...people like Huizenga and all the downtown crowd - the same people who showed up for Cobo. Just listen to the meeting, Tom. The SAME people came to that meeting in 2006 and blasted Bernstein). At the end of the day, its about the money. I, for one, appreciate the job Bernstein is doing on the Board, and his being there gives me confidence at least someone will speak up.

• how can scum like bernstein sit on the board when he is the owner of WCMC n/k/a Spectrum Health. WCMC is a company that competed directly with hospital's emergency room services. WCMC/Spectrum Health marketed themselves by offering companies an alternative to simple on the job injuries by getting their workers back to work faster and cut out the bs of workers milking sick days a/k/a worksmen's comp (thus the name Workers Comp Medical Centers). is rothstein, sorry i ment bernstein, in his position as a commisioner privied to information which would be benefiacial to Spectrum Health in competing with the hospital district to attract patients at a lower rate then the hospitals themselves. ask this pillar of the community about his ethical business dealings, the cocain days at city national bank, a od at hialia general. the FBI should be on to him by now. if he is siding with seidman there is a reason why because this kike bastard does nothing unless he benefits big from it. check out the supervisor of election web site to see how much he gave to husband larry seidman's re-election this year. too bad for the lupis it's too bad "rock" bernstein didn't get it. this smuck could not get laid in a french whore house with a 1000 bill hanging from his dirty business. he stole his brother's stuart then girlfriend, laura, and promissed her he would make her rich if she married him so she did... and you all are wondering about kimmie rothstein. the amreican jews 3 steps below garbage. he also is a friend of the our beloved governor. pleeeese! to the seidmans...show me who your friends are and i'll tell you who you are. to tom...please find out the TRUE connection between seidman and bernstein, i don't believe you will be disappointed.

• Oh, I'm working on a Rothstein / NBHD post. But you'll have to wait till next week...

• Or maybe you should check out why scott rothstein's law firm got work at the district, without the consent of the general counsel, when joe cobo and spencer levine pushed for, and contracted with rothstein over the objections of the acting general counsel when he was still at the district. At the same time rothstein was on the judicial nominating commission that recommended spencer levine for a judgeship. Another crist ally gets a leg up from a crooked lawyer.

• Maybe you should go look at how much of that outside legal work went to firms directly or indirectly associated with members of the Judicial Nominating Committee at the time her husband Lee Jay Seidman was trying to get elevated to Circuit Court. It sure is a hell of a coincidence that your new found interest seems to come long after her departure but right after her husband got two challengers for his race to be retained as Judge. Many people have wondered if her quesionable departure may become a part of that campaign. Sure seems like you are doing a nice job to make those questions go away. Interesting that there is no excuse or otherwise to explain away the excessive absenteeism and excessive use of staff. What about the rumors she spent 3-4 days a week at her mansion in North Carolina? Maybe the money outside lawyers made went down, but who an why the firms that did get those cases should be examined.

• @IT: Thanks for the finance lesson. I'd like to go point by point through your note, but I've got another few posts to write before the end of the business day. I'll get to it. For now let me make one point: You appear to be attacking on Bernstein's behalf, and that's fine; but none of what you put in your comment addresses the issue of whether he's been responsible in his role as a district commissioner, especially when it comes to his meddling in the GC's office.

• I'm an attorney that desperately needs a job. I'll take anything in the legal field. Please provide contact information. Thanks, MMP

• I'm an attorney that desperately needs a job. I'll take anything in the legal fiend. Please provide contact information. Thanks, MMP

• OK Tom, I will let you in on a little secret since you have not done your research. Far be it for an ametuer to tell a seasoned reporter how to do his job, but appearantly you need a quick lesson in finance. From the time of goldstones arrival until his departure legal costs went UP , referrals went up, and costs went up. That is a fact. You took Goldstones lawyers word for it that they went down and believed Fernandez story, most of which he made up. You have never requested the documents nor done the research to back up the statement that Goldstone continued to cut costs. You are wrong, and worse then that, you try and make other people like Bernstein look bad with your incorrect information. First get your facts straight, then report when you know what you are talking about. Do you really think there was no politics behind Goldstone being at the district? Funnier then that, do you really think Goldstone was a stranger to the board and management. Do your homework, ask some tough questions, and make people prove what they say. Then maybe people like Bernstein will talk to you. At this point I don't blame him. What you have printed is the equivelent of mystery meat, and your excuse being that the guy won't talk to you does not mean you are not responsible for making sure that what you are told by others is the truth.

• @interested taxpayer: If Bernstein promoted Seidman purely because he thought her skills as a manager would lead to savings in the district -- and not for Republican political reasons -- then it stands to reason he'd have defended Goldstone and Truhe as they began cutting those costs even more. Or that he'd have encouraged them to deal with the district's institutionalized cronyism and a host of Stark Law problems with the potential to bankrupt the whole system. Instead, Bernstein led the campaign to fire those two, and he has yet to tell us who tipped him off to the supposed irregularities in Goldstone's bar admission. As for Fernandez's motives to get rid of Seidman in order to hire Goldstone (if that's what you're saying), that dog don't hunt. The talent-finding firm that recommended Goldstone would have had to have been in on it. Also, Fernandez made little-to-no effort to defend Goldstone, even though Bernstein had what looks like a very flimsy case for firing Goldstone.

• And the truth shall set you free. Good article Tom.

• Hey tom, here is an idea you might want to consider. Since Seidmans outside billing and total costs were two million lower then the previous GC, maybe Bernstein deserves credit and he promoted Seidmans hiring because he thought she was a good manager, and there was nothing devious about it. That is possible, isn't it? Here is something else you should consider. Since we now know the truth, that under seidman, the GC office reduced costs substantially, Chairman Fernandez just made up the crap in his memo berating Seidman, since you can only compare her total costs to the costs under the previous GC. They went down, not up. Fernandez committed a political hit job. Then see who supported goldstone and you will see who he committed the political hit job for. No one should have been surprised that Fernandez cut off the Cobo investigation mid stream!

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