Lee School Board member: Lee official offered to stop FTC action if CON opposition withdrawn

LEESBURG — A member of the Lee County School Board said one of the key drivers behind the proposed development of a hospital in Lee County encouraged him to have Dougherty County officials withdraw their objection to the project’s certificate of need application in exchange for leniency from the Federal Trade Commission.

Attorney Louis Hatcher, who has served on the Lee School Board for 15 years, said Lee Development Authority Director Winston Oxford suggested that Hatcher talk Phoebe CEO Joel Wernick into using his influence to squelch the Dougherty Commission’s opposition to the hospital to stop “hundreds of millions of dollars” in fines that the FTC is planning to levy against the Albany hospital.

The FTC has not confirmed any interest it might have in the proposed hospital. Under an agreement with the federal agency that allowed the Hospital Authority of Albany-Dougherty County to maintain ownership of the former Palmyra Medical Center in Albany, Phoebe Putney Health System officials are bound not to oppose any certificate of need applications for hospitals within a defined area that includes Lee County. Phoebe officials say they have done nothing to violate that agreement.

The Georgia Department of Community Health is expected to decide next month on Lee County’s request for a CON for the proposed $123 million, 60-bed hospital that would be located on the now closed Grand Island Golf Course.

“I’d always been friendly with Winston, but when we got through with that conversation, I was floored,” Hatcher, an attorney with the Albany-based Watson Spence law firm, said. “Winston said the FTC was going to come down hard on Phoebe — hundreds of millions of dollars in fines — because they had evidence that Phoebe was directly involved in trying to stop the CON, which is against the consent agreement issued by the FTC. Then he told me he had a way Phoebe could avoid those fines.

“When he finished, I was so amazed, I asked him to go through that again. He did, then told me, ‘I don’t think Phoebe can survive what’s coming.’”

Oxford, who acknowledged that he had a conversation with Hatcher about the hospital “two or three months ago,” denied that he told Hatcher the FTC was willing to withhold fines against Phoebe if Wernick convinced the Dougherty Commission to withdraw its opposition to the Lee hospital.

“That’s not even close,” Oxford said Wednesday when asked about Hatcher’s comments. “Louis called me and we talked about a number of political issues. He was upset — hot as a firecracker — about something written by Will Geer in the Phoebe Factoids (Facebook page), and I assured him that neither I nor anyone associated with the Lee County Medical Center had any connection to Will or the Phoebe Factoids.

“I did tell him that the county had been in contact with the FTC and that they had kicked things up a notch in their concern about Phoebe’s possible involvement in this matter. But there’s no way I would have even hinted that I have the authority to make that kind of deal with the FTC. I haven’t talked with the folks from the FTC; our attorney (Jimmy Skipper) has talked with them. I think Louis is just mad because Mike Sabot has come out and said that the School Board should pass a resolution like the Leesburg City Council did supporting the hospital.”

Hatcher also alluded to comments made by Sabot, an official with the Lee County Republican Party. He said Sabot and others have put direct pressure on School Board members to make a statement in support of the hospital.

“Look, I have issues with the School Board making any kind of endorsement,” Hatcher said. “First of all, I know we don’t have the expertise in this matter; quite frankly, the Lee County Commission doesn’t have the expertise, and none of them has done the due diligence that indicates to me that they understand this process. They’re just taking the word of (developers) who have a lot of issues, including a failed hospital, on their hands.

“I don’t know that the School Board could legally endorse a private endeavor like this; I don’t know if that’s violating some law. I do know that if we did do that, we’d be setting ourselves up to have every business that comes to town asking for the same kind of resolution that we did for this other private entity.”

Hatcher said accusations that he has not personally — nor with the School Board — thrown his support behind the hospital because his law firm has represented Phoebe on certain legal matters are false. He noted that while he has been involved in litigation in which Phoebe was a party, “I don’t know that I’ve ever had a conversation with Joel Wernick or any of the other executives at the hospital.”

“I’ll put my reputation of loyalty to Lee County — and especially our children — up against anybody’s, and I mean anybody’s,” Hatcher said. “I’ll put my service up against the entire County Commission combined and everyone involved in the Phoebe Factoids. I’ve given literally hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of time to our children in Lee County, as coach of the high school’s mock trial team, as a volunteer coach with the varsity, ninth-grade and eighth-grade football teams, and as a recreation football, baseball and basketball coach.

“I’d say I’ve written checks to every extracurricular program in the Lee County School System. I believe strongly in being involved with our youth, and I love Lee County. No one can question my loyalty to our community.”

But Hatcher said the hospital issue has left him with mixed feelings.

“There’s one thing I know, and one thing that you’d think our elected officials would acknowledge, and that is that if Phoebe Putney Hospital goes down, we all in this region go down with it,” Hatcher said. “I was reading all of this stuff on that Phoebe Factoids site, and I put up a post that said there should be more civil discourse involved in the discussion. I mentioned that I thought Phoebe must remain a viable entity for our local economy to continue functioning. And I was attacked, viciously, by some guy who lives 200 miles away from here (Geer).

“Probably what bothers me most is that people like Billy Mathis, Rick Muggridge (both Lee County commissioners) and Winston Oxford have come out in support of this project without even studying what the impact will be on the community. And they won’t distance themselves from Will Geer and the Phoebe Factoids, which is very cowardly. If you’re not involved with him and what he’s doing, you ought to have the leadership skills as elected officials to stand up to him. But none of them will. The timing of all of this taking place just throws up too many red flags.”

Hatcher said he is not opposed to development of the Lee County Medical Center. But he insists that Lee leaders should have done more research into the impact of the hospital and the background of the development group behind the facility before putting the project before the public.

“Proverbs 29:9 says, ‘If a wise man contends with a foolish man, whether the fool rages or laughs, there is no peace,’” Hatcher said. “I have decided to leave the fools to God in this matter and to just be about serving Lee County. There are people out there actively pressuring the School Board to make some kind of statement (in support of the hospital) just so that they can control the message. But by doing this, they’re getting into the area of our schools, and nobody — and I mean nobody — is going to hurt the children of Lee County as long as I have anything to say about it.

“I’ve had about all I can take of this from leaders who don’t lead and a guy who doesn’t even live here stirring everyone up. Frankly, the community would be better served if the hospital was allowed to succeed or fail on its own merits. But these people have chosen to attack anyone who opposes what they say. Well, I’m not afraid of them. They can’t hurt me. In fact, I’d like to line all of them up — Will Geer, Rick Muggridge, Billy Mathis, any of them — versus me in a boxing match. I just want them to know that I’ve had enough of them. Their scare tactics don’t work on me.”