Editorial: Barbara Garcia Resigns Amid Corruption Probe

Call For Action:

As of today, August 27, 2018 Jonathan Vernick remains the executive director of Baker Places. I call upon the public to contact Mayor London Breed’s office and demand that Jonathan Vernick be removed immeditately. Please contact the Honorable Mayor at Contact Mayor London N. Breed | Office of the Mayor - SF Mayor's Office.


On August 22, 2018 Barbara Garcia, the head of the Department of Public Health (DPH) in San Francisco, was forced to resign amid a possible criminal investigation into violating the state’s conflict-of-interest laws. Here is what happened:

In 2009 the California Institute of Integral studies (IIS) was awarded a $1 million sole-source 7-year contract from the DPH. Garcia's wife-to-be, Dorotea Reyna, worked for the school in professional development. The source of the money was from Proposition 63 which put a 1% tax on millionaires. In 2011 Garcia became the head of DPH. In 2014 Barbara Garcia and Dorotea Reyna were married.


From 2014 to 2016 Ms. Reyna received about $100,000 from the school, IIS. The contract was a no-bid, single source contact. The problem: When Garcia and Reyna became married in 2014 the contract had to be open to other bidders in order to avoid California’s conflict-of-interest-laws. 

On Tuesday August 21, 2018 Garcia was given an ultimatum: Immediately resign or face being fired and face a criminal investigation by the City Attorney’s office. She choose to resign. Garcia announced her resignation to the public on August 22, 2018. For additional insights see: SF health director Garcia forced to resign over conflict-of-interest ...

Analysis:


The above corruption probe parallels the criminal corruption charges I made with the District Attorney George Gascón: See: Criminal Indictments Against Jonathan Vernick and Barbara Garcia.  Some observations:


* Barbara Garcia is an expert in using various sources of funding such as: The Proposition 63 funds, obtaining grants from the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Development (in San Francisco), the Ryan White Act (to support those with HIV), federal grants for HIV education, and private grants. Indeed, in her nearly 20 years in DPH she had acquired literally dozens of funding sources.


* An example of her expertise is in the funding of HealthRight 360, an arm of Waldens’ House at Mission and Van Ness. Garcia was able to obtain funds of $3.2 million for a new building. See: HealthRIGHT 360 Announces Location of New SF Healthcare Center ...


* Note to Investigators: There is evidence that HealthRight 360 at 1563 Mission is engaged in massive medi-cal and medicare fraud.




* Barbara Garcia’s modus operandi is to engage in lying, deception, and evasion. For example, in an email her department agreed to publicly announce Jonathan Vernick, the executive director of Baker Places,  retirement by Febraury 15, 2016. When I went to her office to confirm this announcement on Febraury 12, 2016 a spokeswoman from her office lied a second time, claiming the announcement would occur in early in March of 2016. Needless to say, such an announcement was not forthcoming. See Reply To Reader: Why Are You Seeking Barbara Garcia's Resignation? a post on this blog on May 10, 2016


* Jonathan Vernick has announced two retirement dates: 


1. October 31, 2016 in which he told the gay press in San Francisco that Brett Andrews the CEO of Positive Resources would be the new executive director of Baker Places. This did not happen.


2. March 31, 2017 Jonathan Vernick release a press announcement of his impending retirement. See: [PDF]Jonathan Vernick Steps Down as Executive Director of Baker Places  This did not happen.

* When I confronted Barbara Garcia about her not keeping her word and also allowing Vernick to lie to the public (note: Baker Places is funded by DPH) she choose to ignore me. This forced me to post flyers exposing the matter to larger public.

* July 2017 I spoke with an insider in DPH who provided me with documents showing that Barbara Garcia had known and approved of the sale of a building which had been donated by the Mayor’s Office on Housing and Development. This building at 54-56 Francis Street housed ten clients such as those who were HIV+. The building was sold for nearly $800,000 in order for Jonathan Vernick to pay the IRS back taxes. This was misuse of public funds.

* Attorneys informed me that Barbara Garcia had been publicly corrupted for allowing Vernick to misuse public funds.  Hence, I filed criminal indictments against Barbara Garcia and Jonathan Vernick for public corruption.  See:  Criminal Indictments Against Jonathan Vernick and Barbara Garcia .

* Note that Baker Places have two long-term case managers who would do a great job as the new Executive Director of Baker Places:

1. Masami Endo—A leader in the Asian-American community. Contact number: 415-255-6544, extension, 257.
2. Jesse Ponce—A leader in the Hispanic community who builds rapport with a diverse population. Contact number: 415-255-6544.

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