What did Tarrant know?
2006-10-16
Source: Burlington Free Press
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rss feedRich Tarrant, while serving on Fletcher Allen Health Care's board of trustees in late 2001, gave hospital President William Boettcher a glowing vote of confidence just as evidence of a hospital construction project scandal was surfacing.
"His courage to take a strong position when community activists attack is refreshing," Tarrant, now the Republican Senate candidate, said of Boettcher in a Nov. 12, 2001, e-mail to board Chairman Phil Drumheller. "We are lucky to have Bill Boettcher."
Nine months later, Boettcher was forced to resign after the state Banking, Insurance, Securities & Health Care Administration alleged hospital administrators had lied to state regulators to conceal $200 million in project costs.
Boettcher pleaded guilty in 2004 to a federal criminal conspiracy charge in connection with the scandal and is serving a two-year prison sentence.
According to hospital board documents obtained by The Burlington Free Press, Tarrant's upbeat perception of Boettcher in late 2001 was at odds with the views of other board members. In December 2001, the documents show that the board gave Boettcher a "tough review," telling him he needed to address the way he was communicating with people inside and outside the hospital.
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