Public Record Doesn’t Support Richard Carmona Claims on Pima County Health Care System Resignation

Scathing Arizona Daily Star editorial called for Carmona’s firing

PHOENIX – In an effort to explain his dismal record as head of the Pima County Health Care System, Richard Carmona has offered nothing but excuses. Unfortunately for him, these excuses have no basis in reality.

Rather than pushing for change, it was Carmona’s reluctance to institute any meaningful reforms or cut spending that led to the hospital system’s financial woes and Carmona’s eventual forced resignation.

On July 9, 1999, the Arizona Daily Star Editorial Board said “County leaders and Pima County Health Care System head Richard Carmona must move immediately to slash jobs and programs if they want to save the hospital from far worse jeopardy in the near future.” They referred to Carmona’s “muddled explanations” and lack of aggressive reforms as “managerial weakness” (“Kino Needs Cuts - Now,” Arizona Daily Star, 7/9/99). Another Star editorial was more blunt: “The bottom line: Carmona’s record as a fiscal manager demands his ouster” (“Dismiss Carmona,” Arizona Daily Star, 7/13/99). If Richard Carmona refused to cut spending to save Kino Community Hospital, why should voters believe he would make the tough decisions to cut spending andbalance the budget in the U.S. Senate?

When the Arizona Daily Star called for Carmona’s firing in an editorial on July 13, 1999 entitled “Dismiss Carmona,” they said, “…the Carmona years have been disastrous years characterized by drift and squabbling that the CEO never transcended” (“Dismiss Carmona,” Arizona Daily Star, 7/13/99). If Richard Carmona can’t transcend politics at the county level, why should voters believe him when he says he’ll transcend politics in the U.S. Senate?

The Arizona Daily Star called Carmona “uncooperative, even truculent” (“Dismiss Carmona,” Arizona Daily Star, 7/13/99). If Richard Carmona couldn’t work with others to solve problems and manage the Pima County Health Care System, why should voters trust him when he says he’ll sit down and work with others solve the major issues facing the country?

For more information on Jeff Flake and why he’s running for the U.S. Senate, please visit his website at www.JeffFlake.com.

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Paid for by Jeff Flake for U.S. Senate, Inc.