“You pay your taxes and Healthcare and Family Services (Medicaid) managers think it is OK to spend that money partying out on a boat, in Boston harbor, with a vendor that was soliciting Illinois for over 100 million dollars in business.”
Would you think it is appropriate for someone to spend your tax dollars for a conference to go party with a vendor spending lavish amounts of money to entertain on private boats, given gifts and extreme amounts of alcohol. HFS responded in partial to our FOIA request and we believe they only released the names of those they think are expendable.
We do find it interesting that they don’t know who paid for that party. That being the case is it safe to say they didn’t? If so, have they violated the State Officials and Employee Ethics Act? For anyone that has ever been to the Boston Harbor rest assured if your going partying on a boat in that harbor it’s a safe bet you will exceed the $75 a day limit the state has in place, specifically item #8 of the act.
These very state workers collectively under the leadership and direction of Chief Information Officer Stephen Depooter have executed an Intergovernmental Agreement with Michigan circumventing Illinois procurement to hand over to the party throwers (CNSI – Vendor for Michigan) 30 million+ dollars in business this year.
CNSI is currently under federal grand jury investigation initiated by the Louisiana Attorney General for the same type of business. Improper contact with state officials! Southeast Michigan Health Information Exchange is also suing CNSI currently for contract violations while at the same time the State of Michigan enters into an agreement to sell their services to Illinois. CNSI has a laundry list of states that are suing them and have had extreme cost over runs and continue to low ball contracts and then ask for more money after they are awarded.
We have one question for Julie Hamos, who is in charge of Illinois HFS. Who is minding your shop?
The Edgar County Watchdogs are working closely with Adam Andrzejewski on multiple projects of which this has been our primary effort for the last three months that included a trip to Louisiana to share information with Tom Aswell of the Louisiana Voice.
You may recall last month that For the Good of Illinois ran a call to action piece found here. That notification was the first peep of exposure of what citizen activists can uncover and expose.
For those that think you can’t make a difference, I want to make a special call out to Diane Benjamin of Ellsworth, Illinois (BlnNews.com) who was the one person who is responsible for bringing this to the right people to be investigated and exposed! One person does make a difference!
We have now established multiple whistle blowers from several state agencies to include senior managers who have assisted in the gathering of this information. Currently we have approximately 1,000 documents and emails.
We are about to unleash a massive amount of information online showing the corruption including how one of the managers had business ties in a company that was being awarded tens of million of dollars as part of the $190,000,000 MMIS replacement project. Stay tuned as our team of investigators continue to compile the information over the next week!
http://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/2013/06/its-your-money/
More on this story next
CNSI didn’t like the story. Their lawyer replied to the charges. Here is our response back: http://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/2013/07/dedicated-response-to-cnsi-senior-vice-president-legal-counsel/
It’s always fun to think that you’ve uncovered corruption. Sometimes, however, you’re just being played and this is one of those times. Your “anonymous” tipster was paid by one of CNSI’s competitors to defame them. CNSI has attracted very powerful enemies because it built a Medicaid information system that is just too cheap for Xerox, Hewlet Packard, Molina and the other big dogs sucking on state government nipples all over the country. They want to make sure Obamacare is the most expensive project ever undertaken and you’ve swallowed their lies.
The so-called grand jury investigation that your confederates reference in the above blog splattered above on your site is a typical corrupt Louisiana sham. No charges. Nothing to find. Just subpoena boxes of paper and let them sit in a corner as a way to embarrass Governor Jindal and the entire conservative movement by sabatoging and smearing his cost-saving medicaid initiative. Jindal panicked and fired CNSI for nothing. Guess he’s just not the brave conservative he pretends to be.
Very funny! How do you explain S. Dakota, Maine, and Michigan all suing CNSI? That story was just the tip of the iceberg. More next week. The whistle blowers are citizens fed up with Illinois corruption. They should get awards. They also know much more than just the CNSI mess. We are just getting started.
We ask that you subscribe to our site to keep updated on the situation. The whistleblowers do not have any ties to any vendor and are managers for the government. Also your characterization that the FBI, Federal Courts and the judge issued a grand jury investigation frivolously and put their state in the situation they are in doesn’t hold water. Why would the courts waste their time when CNSI themselves stated that this course of action will cost the state more than keeping them on and letting them finish the job. WE can tell you why! Corruption! Instead of flagrantly making statements online we suggest you submit to us documents or hard evidence supporting your claims.
I’m not following the actual “corruption” here and this blog seems to be more focused on a vendor which means either the whistleblower or the blogger is looking to discredit this company. Coming from a Tea Party blog I’m sure this will be a lot of noise and no substance. I do like the suggestion of posting evidence…Can this site please post links to actual legal documents where the states of Maine and Michigan sued this company so your readership can be certain there is no one “flagrantly making statements?”
Watch for the article in the Wall Street Journal.
The article “did not” come from a Tea Party blog. I authored the article and will be posting additional links to documents in our next article, which is a direct response to the attorney for the company in question. The original story had the link to Michigan but I have to admit curiosity has got the best of me in regards to your request for legal documents from Maine. There was no mention of Maine being involved in a law suit so why would you mention them? Yes, Maine identified a laundry list of problems but I have not seen any legal suit from them. I can assure you, discrediting information based on who posted it is a big mistake. Facts are what they are, regardless of who posted them. The Truth has no agenda! There were no flagrant statements made and if you think there were please point them out so I can explain why such a claim is flagrant in itself!
Read the site web staff comment. Yes, there was a mention of law suits from 3 states including Maine. This blog is clearly focused on discrediting a vendor and not government “corruption.” Not surprised the company counsel had to intervene.
Keep watching! If you read our statement, it is obvious the counsel is busy playing CYA. We aren’t done with the State or other vendors involved.