Arizona Medical Marijuana Blog Naturopathic Physicians Medical Board Robert Gear
Ties to Gov. Jan Brewer cloud medical board
The man who appears to be lined up to inherit the $105,000-a-year state job as interim executive director of the Naturopathic Physicians Medical Board has strong ties to the governor’s husband, and there is a recent history of formal complaints against him.
Republican Gov. Jan Brewer appointed Robert Gear to the board, which regulates about 700 licensed naturopaths who combine traditional medicine and natural medical approaches to treat patients. The seven-member board also plays a key role in the state’s medical-marijuana program: Many naturopaths are recommending marijuana to patients, and this panel must ensure they follow the rules.
Brewer in January appointed three other new members to the naturopathic board: John Eldridge, Billie Broadman and Sheelah Golliglee.
The governor removed Golliglee from the board Thursday after The Arizona Republic started asking questions about Golliglee’s professional connections to Gear. Board rules forbid Golliglee from having any connection to someone in the health field. Golliglee’s company website earlier this week listed Gear, a naturopath and chiropractor, as a consultant. References to Gear were removed from the website by Saturday. The board and Attorney General’s Office are now reviewing the matter.
Gear announced at his first meeting this month that he wanted to resign and cut financial ties to his north-central Phoenix practice and take over almost immediately as interim executive director. Gear’s move came as the board’s longtime executive director abruptly resigned amid frustrations with the appointees and suspicions they were violating open-meetings laws.
At that July 12 meeting, Gear recused himself from the board table while members contemplated his possible appointment as interim director. But he sat in the audience and berated members for their hesitation and vowed to use his relationship with the governor and her husband to get his way.
“I’ve got the ear of the governor if I need — it’s a good, strong ear,” Gear told the board at the meeting.
In the end, board chair Catherine Walker’s vote stood between him and the job. The board will revisit the decision of naming an interim director within the next few months.
Arizona Medical Marijuana Blog Naturopathic Physicians Medical Board Robert Gear
John Brewer, the governor’s husband, was executive director of the naturopathic board until 2001, when the board fired him amid allegations he shredded public documents and misrepresented his credentials. Gear and John Brewer are known within the naturopathic community as longtime professional and political allies.
Governor’s spokesman Matthew Benson said Brewer’s appointments are made at her discretion and that she receives input from “a variety of places.” He said John Brewer “had no connection” to the recent nominations to the naturopathic board.
“She (the governor) makes appointments that she thinks will best serve the mission of the board,” Benson said, adding that Gear’s professional experience makes him “well-equipped” to serve the naturopathic industry.
Craig Runbeck, who recently resigned as the board’s executive director, said John Brewer did play a role in the nominations. He said Eldridge told him on two occasions that John Brewer asked him to serve on the board.
A Dec. 15, 2010, e-mail from a former governor’s staff member to a naturopath who applied to be on the board illustrated the governor’s interest. The e-mail refers to Linda Stiles, the governor’s director of boards and commissions.
“I spoke with Director Stiles and she informed me that the Governor wants full control of this board since her husband used to sit at (sic) Chairman,” former gubernatorial staff member D.J. Shooter wrote in the e-mail The Republic acquired through a public- records request.
According to other e-mails, board minutes and other records obtained through public-records requests, Gear also has a history of accusations of rule-breaking in his practice.
Gear was one of the governor’s four appointees to the naturopathic board in January, but he could not immediately take his seat because the board was in the process of investigating allegations of misbehavior by him. The governor rescinded Gear’s initial appointment but then re-appointed him in June.
Board investigators determined there was sufficient evidence to find that Gear failed to adequately examine patients, failed to maintain proper patient records and used false and misleading advertising.
Gear did not return repeated calls seeking comment. According to audio recordings, he told the board during a May meeting that he did not act inappropriately.
The board chose to do nothing with the allegations.
That decision contributed to Runbeck’s departure. He said in an interview with The Republic that he believes the new board members did not put public safety first when considering the allegations against Gear. Instead, he said, they were motivated by politics.
“Not in my 11 years have I seen anything like that,” he said. “I thought the evidence was pretty overwhelming that he’d been stepping over the bounds.”
Runbeck believes Golliglee’s vote to dismiss the charges against Gear was motivated by her relationship with Gear. Golliglee is listed on a website as a founder of a medical-marijuana application assistance program in Payson and Lakeside; Gear was listed as the “independent evaluation consultant” through the Five Point Health Pain Clinic.
Prior to Brewer removing Golliglee from the board, Golliglee told The Republic that Gear is “not in any way affiliated with my company” but said her company refers patients to him for medical-marijuana recommendations.
“Certainly this was not information that the governor or her staff were aware of at the time of her appointment,” Benson said, adding that Golliglee told the governor’s office the information was added to the website after her appointment. “We learned of it within the last few days.”
As a public member of the board, Golliglee is to have no connection with any person practicing “any form of healing or treatment of bodily or mental ailments.” Runbeck believes Golliglee had a clear conflict when she made a motion to dismiss the allegations against Gear.
“She definitely shouldn’t be directing motions that protect her personal pocketbook.”
Walker echoed Runbeck’s sentiments. She abstained from voting on the Gear disciplinary matter, saying her vote would not have mattered because a majority voted to dismiss the allegations.
“The allegations that were against him were serious — and possibly illegal,” she said. “Certain board members did not handle it well.”
Walker on Saturday said she has asked the Attorney General’s Office to allow the board to reconsider the allegations against Gear.
The governor’s two other recent appointees did not return The Republic‘s calls seeking comment. Gear also has prior relationships with them. Governor’s Office records show Eldridge and Gear had volunteered together before joining the board. Gear encouraged Broadman to apply.
Records show Gear also has a history of complaints with the state board that regulates chiropractors. That board notified Gear in April and again in June that he failed to create and maintain adequate patient records and failed to properly advertise himself as a chiropractor. Both times, Gear told the board that he had remedied the problems and would comply with the law. The board elected not to discipline him.
source: Ties to Gov. Jan Brewer cloud medical board – News from The Arizona Republic
