Apparently Dr. Fitzgerald does not believe the Hippocratic Oath covers making money off of tobacco induced disease.
2
If we're worried about conflicts of interests as result of investment, ownership or business relationships then government travel to Trump Hotels, Trump owned golf resorts, Trump owned Florida retreats, etc should be strictly tabooed.
6
She's resigning because of a conflict of interest? I thought that was a prerequisite for serving in this scam of an administration.
12
Fitzgerald sounds like a typical Trump appointee, i.e. everything about her conflicts with the mission of her agency. What manner of dead albatross will the next appointee be wearing?
3
I’m outraged. She’s almost as bad as Obama’s Surgeon General or Gilead’s abuse of Patent Law. Attention must be Paid! Trump is coming for me and you and women and ...
2
Well at least we got one fox out of the hen house.
3
And Lord knows this administration is trying to inject more politics when they choose words that the CDC can or can't use.
2
The perfect Trumpian Swamp Dweller. Another indication of his sinister, cynical approach to government. Very disrespectful of the American people.
3
We know all of DT’s buddies/appointees are incompetent if not downright malevolent, but this is a new low even for him. What kind of downright fool does that?
4
drain the swamp, then fill it up twice as big-trumpism
2
The Trump Administration, a confederacy of crooks and dunces.
There is no bottom.
5
Why does Trump have so many losers serving with him in his administration and administrative positions?
4
Just one more sleazy appointee given to us by the Donald as he promised to only have the BEST people in his administration. These people are all traitors to our country. BTW I've had breakfast on cold winter mornings with construction workers from West Virginia and coca-cola was their beverage of choice.
2
The inmates are running the prison.
1
How dumb. Would have been better had she sold the tobacco stocks short?
1
Our government only cares about keeping it taxpayers in an endless cycle of sickness and stupidity. So naturally they will invest in ways to drive personal profit. This administration has zero credibility.
4
Today, Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald instructed her portfolio manager to sell all the tobacco stocks. And buy alcohol stocks instead.
3
See Trump is getting rid of the swamp.
Was there any mention of her holdings in Smith&Wesson and Jim Beam?
3
You're kidding.....the director of the CDC invests in tobacco related stocks. Simply unbelievable !! But of course, its a Trump appointee...now it all makes sense.
7
Typical Trump appointee.
3
No doubt another victim of Team Trump's extreme vetting process. Oh wait, that just applies to immigrants, not appointees. Never mind...
6
Come on Brenda if you had real principles we would be seeing you in a smoking jacket, with a Marlboro unfiltered, sipping bourbon mixed with COCA-COLA. Show the public a little respect...
6
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson MD should immediately implement and strictly enforce the HUD ban on smoking in public housing. Tobacco control has run it's course and the tobacco end game is now imperative. "Finish it!"
2
We have the best government money can buy...
4
Given Trump's track record this is totally predictable.
A real news story would be of someone competent and ethical.
Now that would be a story.
2
Trump’s appointments are truly deplorable.
4
This story is kind of important, and yet it’s not getting very much coverage. The flu this year is widespread and potentially lethal, and our CDC is in turmoil. Does nobody else think that this is a major problem? Who cares about the memo!
3
Really--is there a SINGLE person in this appalling administration that has an ounce of ethics?
2
Tobacco plants are green; money is green.... they go together- I guess. Seriously;where do these people come from? Is there a little-black-book slipped under Trump's door with the title: "Sleaziest most compromised candidates we can find?"
1
How in the world does a doctor invest in tobacco, and then become director of the CDC?
What a sick travesty. I wonder how many people haven’t fared well under her care - er, I mean, “care.”
Good grief.
1
I wonder if she is familiar with the Hippocratic Oath. Maybe Dr. Fitzgerald should purchase a carton of cigarettes and review it while chain smoking.
1
BA - Ditto, ditto and ditto... appalling.
Is there any reason at all to be surprised by this?
It is astonishing how quickly Mr. Trump, his appointees, and the GOP are destroying the effectiveness of the federal government. When an agency like the CDC is begin run by political appointees with zero ethical sense, you know our country has gone off the rails (like the train literally did today with all those Republican congressmen). This damage is going to take a generation or more to undo: I sure hope the younger generation includes a bunch of folks who are both smart, compassionate, and illogically optimistic!
2
This is shocking, since Trump assured us that he only HIRES THE BEST PEOPLE. But, from the cast of Wall Street bankers, billionaires, millionaires, Russian sympathizers, and those who lied to Congress and the FBI, and the exceptionally unqualified, those with conflicts of interest, and those who hate the department they run and want to see it destroyed, this shouldn't be surprising. It isn't a surprise, actually.
1
It’s a good thing Dr. Jonas Salk never had his wallet scrutinized like everyone today does. All those millions of more kids in leg braces would be pitiful but nothing compared to the damage inadequate financial disclosure could have caused.
1
“Due to the nature of these financial interests, Dr. Fitzgerald could not divest from them in a definitive time period.“
They’re simple stock positions, and could have been sold before the end of the business day, which is what any truly honorable person committed to the welfare of the C.D.C. and its mission would have done without a second thought or regret.
The mantra and motto of the entire Trump administration, top to bottom, is clearly It’s not enough to merely injure the public and institution of democracy; one must also make a profit doing it.
1
Dr. Fitzgerald's assertion that her post appointment investment in a tobacco company was made without her knowledge by a financial advisor, should earn her an election to the Lame Excuse Hall of Fame.
It means that either she didn't tell her financial advisor not to invest in merchants of death after she became the head of the Centers for Disease Control, or that she is lying. Ouch.
Sadly, she takes her place alongside fellow fox-in-the-henhouse Trump cabinet appointees - Scott Pruitt, Betsy DeVos, Ryan Zinke, Tom Price, Wilbur Ross, and, of course, the mendaciously forgetful son of the confederacy who perjured himself and masquerades as the US Attorney General, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions the 3rd.
1
She was tapped to head the Center for Disease Control because she had investments in major nicotine supply companies, thus exhibiting her willingness to consign nicotine addicts to ill health, like cancer, in order to enrich herself, and also her willingness to create more profit-bringing addicts by supplying potential addicts with nicotine-..
But, when it was recognized that therefore she'd be the perfect person to handle addiction epidemics, she knew enough to divest herself of those stocks. Presumably, she instructed her brokers to get rid of it.
But her brokers could not figure why on earth she gave up all those lucrative nicotine stocks, so, concerned for her wealth, invested in nicotine for her again.
Now she is replaced by someone with experience in epidemics, public health research and the like?
Uh-oh. That wasn't supposed to happen.
Wow, you can’t swing a dead cat in Washington DC without hitting a Trump cabinet member or top aide who has been fired or resigned during Trump’s first year in office. If he were the CEO of a publicly traded company, operating under the scrutiny of a board of directors, he’d be fired.
Build a swamp ... the outcome when you bring into government people with no or poor quality public policy experience.
Business is just not the same as government.
An ignorant person in charge of a complicated organization will destroy said organization. Donald Trump and his administration are doing their best to rob, steal, and profit as our country now appears to be running out of money, on the road to war with North Korea, pro white, pro Russian anti FBI banana republic. And the GOP has allowed weak vetting and all of this to happen.
No person can serve two masters: for either she will hate the one, and love the other; or else she will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. King James Version altered. There are many business people who don't have these complicated conflicts. Try harder, for God's sake, if not our own.
1
She should have been deemed unacceptable for this position based on her business with Coca Cola. Coke sponsoring obesity research is like Exxon sponsoring climate change research. That this physician would own extensive holdings in tobacco companies should not surprise anyone following Trump’s appointments. Most are cravenly opposite of the agencies they are picked to lead and have little respect for whatever it is the agency is supposed to stand for. Betsy DeVos was the most glaring example but it is clear that this administration is getting some very dark advice from their wealthy donors to systematically dismantle every agency that would get in the way of their business from the top down.
1
Tom Frieden is a career public health scientist with a sterling reputation. If he is defending her, I am taking that at face value.
Unfortunately, in the absence of being vouched for by someone known and trustworthy in that manner, all Trump appointees must be assumed corrupt until there is evidence to the contrary. Sad, but that's how it is, based on most of what we have seen. She may be unfairly tarred, but you get stuff smeared all over you when get involved with Trump. That's just how it is.
What to tobacco and sugar have in common? Addiction, suffering and death. Fitzgerald is the proverbial fox in the henhouse. The fact that the CDC accepts money from corporate interests, by definition, means they are taking a corporate interest over the public interest. Corporations are designed to make money in any way legally possible, regardless of the consequences to the public health. And they do so with breathtaking efficiency. When does the government become accountable to its citizens instead of corporate profit?
How in god's name does a doctor, much less one heading up the CDC, invest in tobaccos stocks? Whatever happened to "do no harm"? This administration is thoroughly corrupt.
A corrupt appointee of the Trump administration? I have a hard time believing this. What do Trump voters think? Have you forgotten them?
It's nearly unbearable. Jaw dropping. What government? I don't see any government. I see a creepy clown show that's almost certainly the prelude to tragedy. Trump, his cronies and his hypocritical enablers embody a worldview of nearly perfect nihilism. It's a dark, foreboding, hopeless and violent view of human life and our relation to the natural world. Completely absent are the smile of reason, the warmth of compassion, the lightness of shared human hope and aspiration. We see only the smirk of collective arrogance, the sneer of vicious sociopathy and the blank glaze of stupidity.
1
Obviously she was a Trump appointment so that translates to she isn't interested in doing her job, she is only in it for the money!
It's bad enough she is tied to tobacco companies, foreign ones at that. More disconcerting are her investments in the two companies that seem to have a monopoly on prescriptions and medical testing. Many health insurers will not cover prescription meds unless they are purchased through CVS/Caremark. Quest Diagnostics seems to be the main billing company for lab tests and results. Quest adds a lot of copays, from $10 to $200, to a variety of medical tests.
The conflict of interest with Caremark and Quest is very unsettling. It's bad enough that CVS/Caremark wants your mailman to be your pharmacist and only source of meds. Quest with its variety of hidden copays loads up patients' credit records with a "collection" for each bill not paid in 30 days. Quest debts go to collection before the insurers can pay the claim.
( disclaimer: I was shocked to find 17 Quest collections on my credit record for a series of blood tests and biopsies as I waited for the insurance statements.)
2
Having just retired from 50 years in medicine, I can see the world's response to tobacco and my personal growth in rejecting affiliation with medical companies have both changed.
In residency training, on rounds I often followed a "grey lady" (hospital auxiliary volunteer in a grey smock) pushing a cart offering cigarettes to the patients in the hospital. By the end of my time, that (fortunately!) had stopped and I stopped even taking the pens and note pads often littering the offices in which I worked.
Dr. Fitzgerald's journey was probably different from mine, favoring a career in a more lucrative specialty, OBGYN, than my more modest one, family practice. As such, it would not be surprising if her tendencies were more toward acquisition and less toward service. Perhaps her sojourn into public health through the CDC was an attempt late in life to balance the ledger. I would at least hope as much.
2
As a former CDC employee I was shocked by her appointment in the first place to what should be a non-political position. No physician should be investing in tobacco stocks or, in my opinion, any health-care related companies.
Dr Schuchat followed me in my position at CDC as a young EIS officer and has had a sterling career there. I hope she will get the permanent job. It's too important to treat the CDC directorship as a a political gift like many ambassadorial appointments.
39
Perhaps it is time to approach conflict issues with a sense of proportion. I don't know the details of Dr. Fitzgerald's tobacco investments, but they appear to be minor elements of a manged portfolio. Wouldn't a rule that excluded from conflict analysis investments representing less than, perhaps 3%, of an official's portfolio protect us from "conflicts" having any real possibility of affecting decisions made in an official capacity while recognizing the reality of a diversified investment strategy and avoiding foot faults.
3
I respectfully disagree. A public health official buying stock in tobacco companies *while in office,
yet* should be expelled from the arena. That's not a foot fault. If her investment manager had not been instructed properly, that's a DQ for incompetent management by her. Hope for better next time, but this entire administration is ethically tone-deaf.
1
Few in public service have the heart for improvement in the overall health of those they serve than Dr Fitzgerald. She led Georgia from a state with no public health department at all to a state with a strategic plan to improve the health of ALL GEORGIANS. She led a department that was underfunded by the state, a department that was largely funded through her team's talent at securing funding from outside sources. The current case against her appears to involve investment decisions made by a portfolio manager. When she was made aware of the conflicts, she acted to address them. How many other federal officials have retirement funds that include investments in diversified mutual funds that could include tobacco related companies. For those of you who are reading this, do you know how your mutual fund managers invest your money? Even "socially responsible" mutual funds often include investments in companies that derive revenues from tobacco, alcohol, and other "sins." Bottom line: For no good reason, today we lost access to a talented leader and a dedicated servant. The dedicated professionals of the CDC will carry on regardless of the politics here, but Dr Fitzgerald had a vision for how CDC could build on the work of the past. She valued investments that address access disparities and the burden of chronic disease, while ensuring national security against biological threats, foreign and domestic, natural or terrorist enabled. We are not better off because she is gone.
9
And if she were a Democrat, Rwpublicans would argue that she should have known where her money was being invested.
Stop pretending otherwise.
1
She’s a criminal who should be immediately investigating for insider trading.
1
Baloney. Nothing to do with "sin." HEALTH.
1
Not to dismiss conflict of interest issues regarding Dr. Fitzgerald, but the NYT and the nation might be better served to look at the conflict of interest the CDC itself has in owning patents (and the income generated) on a large number of vaccines (as does HHS). One would think if an organization advises about the health and safety of vaccines, they should not be financially invested in selling vaccines, no? Many well-respected doctors have said that we should be discussing the risks of the number and timing of vaccines, but the government consistently shuts down ANY discussion. It should be evident why.
10
Kudos for investigative reporters. Need to happen more often.
14
Inspiring story on a self-serving MD took responsibilty for her financial malpractice ... Makes you wonder if she has any medical transgressions ... How would we know ?
5
This is emblematic of the banana republic corruption of the Trump administration. It is the picture of sorriness.
22
Just how many Trump swampers from the start of this muck of an administration will be there at the end, hopefully in 3 years or less?
9
With friends like Newt Gingrich and Tom Price, need we know more...........
20
You just can't make this stuff up...
16
Alas, so typical of this corrupt, cynical regime.
Historians will be challenged to find a good metaphor for this reign of shameless mendacity and venality.
We cannot call it "teapot dome II," but need something cataclysmic, like "mushroom cloud".
12
but ronald reagan said ''there is not a cough in a carload of chesterfields''
9
He was an actor. They read a script and get paid.
ironic, isn't it, that the new HHS secy, who is a former big pharma big wig, fires this person for conflicts of interest?
13
you are wise and insightful. This irony is not lost on me.
1
The president has set a new (low) bar so why not?
6
The damage to vital government agencies—like the Communicable Disease Center (CDC) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—begun by the utterly incompetent George W. Bush, is growing into a wildfire with the blight and catastrophe known as Trump.
A physician MD
15
Is there ANYONE associated with this administration that's not a crook? Anyone?
23
No, there isn't. It is a job requirement; that should be obvious by now.
Sounds like insider trading. Where’s the prosecution of this trump lowlife appointee ???
7
She's the face of Coca-Cola, a southern dream drink and tobacco, American tobacco. Hopefully, she has pull to get the foreign guests in to harvest the leaf and the cane.
9
I can only assume from these revelations that no one who smokes is allowed to work for the CDC as well. Next bombshell really should be intact hymen verification at the agency that deploys the human sacrifices. Who knows what we’re actually throwing into the volcanoes? Which could explain why the gods are so angry as of late.
3
So owning stock in a product she is supposed to be fighting against is ok? It's called conflict of interest.
The foul corruption of this presidency and its carnival of ignorance has destroyed any vestige of the world's respect for the United States as an intellectual standard bearer and serious world leader. The physician head of the government's proud public health agency investing in tobacco and pharmaceutical stocks! What a perfect representative for Trump's America. His whole MO is to thumb his nose at all conventions -- including, not least, those square pursuits, science and truth -- to show everyone what a bad boy he is. For me, his capsule image is him looking at the sun during the solar eclipse, while his young son and wife wear sunglasses. The naughty Richie Rich, what a card! The unfortunate fact is that he was elected by the sizable fraction of Americans whose core belief is that we're the only country that matters, that that entitles us even to destroy the world, that we're "God's" chosen people, or were until "He" abandoned us when we deleted him from the Pledge of Allegiance, and most importantly, that this is a white, Christian nation. What a stunning fall this is for a formerly admirable country.
18
Wow. Someone in the Trump Administration resigned over CONFLICT OF INTEREST??? That's pretty unique.
18
The big news here is that a morally flawed individual actually had to step down from this morally corrupt administration.
7
“Morally flawed individual”? Find one of us that’s not...
Her background is even better: "A former Georgia health commissioner, Dr. Fitzgerald..."
1
Gee - it seemed like such a good choice at the time, especially given the high ethical standards the Trump bunch employs while vetting their nominees.
Well, certainly he got the EPA position right. And the Supreme Court nominee.
Huh?
1
What kind of a human soul finds the moral excuses to invest in tobacco stocks these days and especially one entrusted with public health policy? Glad to see that swamp being drained so efficiently.
4
Such phony outrage. She should not have quit. Does investing in tobacco force people to smoke? You invest to make money, not virtue signal, which is what most of you are doing here.
1
Oh please! Phony outrage? I doubt that. Anyone who is paying attention and who cares about our institutions is, once again, appalled by the cynical appointments of Trump. Millions of us would never invest in tobacco, arms, etc. Some of us have a conscience too. You should try it!
Expecting officials to not be corrupt is virtue signaling?
1
Conflict of interest since the CDC fights against tobacco smoking.
The director of the CDC made money on tobacco stocks. Another great pick by the Trump administration. You just can't make this stuff up.
6
In this day and age, it is perfectly possible to direct your investment manager, if you have one, or to decide for yourself, to invest only in ethical companies. Why not? This ought to be at the top of the list for any investor: Ethical investments which you have carefully vetted. For me, it means, among other criteria, no investments in companies that use animals for profit in any way (food, clothing, entertainment, etc.) and, well, of course, tobacco. Apparel and food companies that exploit workers. Pesticide companies. The list is long. Gun and ammunition manufacturers and companies that make weapons of war are on my list, too. Why could not Dr. Fitzgerald do the same? Helpless? Of course not. Indifferent? I think so.
5
Another important position in the hands of someone who is not appropriate in the position. Who vets these people? And she does have a pretty warped sense of the mission of her agency if she is willing to invest in the tobacco industry. Good that she is shown the door.
3
If you personally oppose investing in "sin stocks", tobacco companies, arms manufacturers... and you own shares in a typical stock index mutual fund, or if you participate in a pension scheme that owns such mutual funds, be aware that you are invested in those "sin" industries.
1
Yes, J Jencks, it is inevitable, but investing in SINGLE tobacco stocks is flagrantly egregious.
I am encouraged to see all the people forced out of office because of their bad choices and unethical behavior. Something must be working in terms of our democratic process. I’m not sorry to see this gem of an appointment headed for the door, and can’t wait to see who else (ahem..) follows. There’s sure to be more.
1
A fairly low level Federal employee is barred from owning stocks that could cause a conflict yet this lady the director of the CDC owns a slew of Tobacco stocks. She must love those high dividend yields in tobacco.
1
Another flawed appointment by the Trump administration another failure in governing.
4
I told my financial manager, when I began working with her, that I did not to invest in companies that harmed health or the environment. It's as easy as that. Seems to be too confusing for top officials, though.
15
This is too funny, a CDC Director investing in tobacco. What next, investments in anthrax. Where do these people come from and how do we get them out of our country.
30
Well, maybe, "out of our country," is a bit too much. Just getting them out of our government is good enough for me.
They come from everywhere, and are rooted in the capitalist system. If you own investments (including mutuals and a managed 401K), you probably own some of those issues too -- unless you are very good at ethical investing. Other people in government, especially those at the executive and/or policy making level, have divested themselves of any possible financial conflicts of interest, and have, by law and policy, demanded the same of their direct reports. Not so, however, for you-know-who, one who sets the bar for flagrant avoidance.
8
What? You thought The Donald would find capable, ethical people to appoint? Please!
14
What's that coming out of her right ear?
5
It's an escape pod for her ethics.
Why wouldn't everyone want an ob-gyn to be head of the CDC who is invested in stocks (including tobacco, one of the major health threats in the country), the profitability of which is directly affected by decisions she makes as the head of the Agency that is the single most important resource for protecting the health of the U.S.A.?
What could possibly be wrong with that? This is liberal purism criticizing this fine lady. Why wouldn't you want a doctor whose specialty, when she isn't doing overpriced quack treatments, has almost nothing to do with the areas that the CDC is concerned with? Obama's head was Thomas Frieden, a infectious disease and public health expert. We need a change from that kind of professionalism so that we can drain the swamp.
18
Sarcasm I hope.
1
More damage to critical government agencies.
George W Bush’s disastrous record is continued by Trump and his lackeys.
A physician MD
10
Donald Trump, who a president, was going to drain the swamp; seems like he is sunk in the muck.
11
Is it any wonder so many positions throughout the Trump administration are vacant, when so many appointees or judges etc. are found, after a fairly short time, to be deeply compromised in numerous ways? Of course when the main qualification you need for the job is unquestioning loyalty to the “dear leader” you are bound to be found out eventually. I keep hoping against hope for the info which will sink DeVos, Zinke, Pruitt, and Mnuchin. Sigh.
19
Good to see that part of the swamp is cleared now. Well...momentarily anyway.
6
Another Trump-appointed grifter voted off the island! America is looking more and more like a Berlusconi-produced spectacle every day.
16
What it rally represents is the fact that the Administration is inhabited by a bunch of boobs who can't prepare and vet a candidate for a senior position in the government. What's complicated about investing in a tobacco interest? Couldn't someone have just given her broker a list of industries not to invest in and called it good? HOW HARD?
8
She seems like a perfect fit. Since when is representing "the American People" a qualification for anyone in this admin?
8
A greedy republican willing to trade the lives of others for financial benefit. Shocking!! I feel shocked!!!
11
Trump, Trump, Trump. The sound of the many feet of Donald's Deplorables marching out the door. Some willingly, some forced, and hopefully some in chains
10
One by one, Trump's "Best and Brightest" appointees resign in disgrace or get fired for ethics or criminal investigation. Who in the heck is picking these people?
Ten bucks Brenda Fitzgerald'is some sister in law to one of Trump's most loyal fans. Thank God she's no longer practicing medicine.
9
Actually, she is an old political pal of Newt Gingrich. That's an outstanding reason for an ob-gyn to be named head of the CDC, don't you think?
6
Now if only what’s her face from the Department of Education would do the right thing and go away.
13
Brenda is just one of the “Good Ole Boys.” Corrupt. No surprise. Power corrupts.
7
Are you kidding me, the head of the CDC invested in smoking stocks!!! Just another example our president’s immoral lead. He and those that support him are all about greed, not love of our country.
4
Too bad Trump won't recuse himself from the presidency.
10
If Willy Sutton was still around, I imagine he'd be secretary of the treasury
11
The Trump Administration: Laying waste to all it touches.
8
I don't think anyone in this administration isn't a devious, greedy, scandal-ridden person.
9
And many of them in horrible financial messes from greed and graft. I think many lie awake at night with fears of prison.
So what’s in YOUR mutual fund?
4
Exactly. Most of the people posting here most likely have 401Ks that are invested in all kinds of things they would not like, but because it's THEIR 401K, they will spare us the righteous indignation.
I have no indignation, righteous or otherwise. I simply invest in what makes money for me. But I am not a key force in decisions that influence the health of this country, other than if i cough on someone by accident.
The same cannot be said for the head of the CDC.
4
Very ethical stocks here. One can choose to suppose ethics or not care.
1
All Trump appointed heads of agencies are basically wolves guarding the henhouses.
7
I think you meant "foxes guarding the henhouse", but, on reflection, perhaps "wolves" is more appropriate.
1
Buh-bye! Conflicts of interest to the max. Pathetic.
Tobacco is a scourge on our society. Coke finding anti-obesity = the chicken guarding the hen house.
3
Nothing surprises me concerning this Administration.
It is sad that so many Americans have no moral compass and just want money despite their job.
3
Any kind of vetting going on for appointments?
2
What a disgrace to the profession. Now she'll get a lobbying job, no? Maybe Surgeon General would be a good fit for Trump?
2
Ah yes, "our new American moment". This, fellow Americans, is the state of our union.
4
All any any investment changes made MUST have a clent's approval. What companies require less?
3
The CDC Director invests in TOBACCO stocks!!
Coca Cola as an ally in fighting obesity!!
TRUMP: peeling back the layers.
I hope we have legal experts, involved in a forensic accounting of TRUMP's dealings and holdings.
I hope we have other experts, mapping the money flows to his campaign and other interests, with respect to these kinds of appointments.
A holistic forensic money mapping of Trump and his Republican allies, his appointees, his business interests.
Thank you NYT - for keeping the focus on these issues.
4
Only Donald Trump would hire a physician who peddled in tobacco companies.
This is surreal. American democracy is being steadily poisoned.
5
Are there any honest people in government anymore who really want to fulfill the jobs that were designed to protect the citizens of this country? The swamp is overflowing with corruption and self serving appointees. Enough already.
5
Does the CDC cover the disease that's infecting the Oval Office? It is a national issue that affects over half the country.
4
I’d be nice if this could funnel down to all healthcare practitioners - tobacco and obesity. It would be rather apropos to see those with the mandate of promoting healthy living appear to heed the advice they dispense to patients throughout the day. If you smoker or are obese you ought not be in the industry that advocates against both.
2
Well she saw Coca Cola as an ally to help fight obesity so in her defence, she probably saw Phillip Morris as an ally to help fight lung disease.
5
This...right here...is the basis for trump and his administration. Profit over principals. Making money over making good policy. The tax returns will never be released by trump without a court order. He is a money grubbing dog and so are the people who he taps to work for him.
3
A well connected friend of a prominent GOP er, very poor qualifications (quack). Passed by GOP's only in Senate. Now she is found Investing in Tobacco that she is supposed to help regulate. Resigning in disgrace.
Typical Trump appointee.
General Strike! Hit them in the pocket. Worked (sort of) in UK in 70's.
2
I don't understand why she quit. The kind of activity is SOP for the Trump Administration. Oh, I get it, she got caught. To paraphrase the Traveling Wilberrys. "In the Trump Administration, everything is legal if you don't get caught."
2
Resignation is fine, but where is Sessions law and order regime to through this individual in a privately run prison?
1
Another fine upstanding Trump appointee who put profit before patriotism bites the dust. Who's next?
2
Another corrupt Trump appointee with beliefs anathema to the organization she headed, quits in disgrace. SO sick of winning...
3
When are we going to accept that politicians are inherently corrupt and those appointed by corrupt politicians are even more corrupted.
3
Tobacco companies seem to make a lot of money. Who invests their money in things that only lose it? The criticism of her is so hypocritical and distorted.
Oh spare us the hypocrisy cheap shots. She’s Director of the Center for Disease Control for heavens sake. That the CDC Director would invest in companies that produce the leading cause for lung disease is wrong. Period.
This is why we need ordinary americans in our government instead of billionairs who have complex financial interests. You cannot look after the best interest of this country and look after your financial goals at the same time.
3
Another corrupt Trump appointment. Unfortunately, not even close to the most corrupt Trump appointment.
3
WOW.
It IS worse than we thought.
Well maybe, at first, the Portfolio Manager failed to get the memo. Or failed to understand the memo?
But this track record of entanglements while working for the state of Georgia traces this textbook case of conflict of interest right back to its roots. This is happening ALL over the Trump administration.
Conflict of interest is the main job requirement.
Trump once bragged that ’’You can make money running for President’’. He’s already proved that it is so much more lucrative when you actually land the job.
Jet expenses to the Winter Palace
drastically reduced. GOP gives him
a Mulligan!
3
The conflicts of interest in this administration -- not to mention contempt for and disregard of ethical norms and common decency standards -- flow from the top down headed by a commander in chief who conceals his taxes from the public and refuses to divest his extensive business interests while violating the emoluments clause of the Constitution by the simple act of drawing breath.
2
It's time to strip these federal agencies of top heavy political appointees. Too often, like Azar and Fitzgerald, they come from the industries they regulate or have complex and conflicting financial interests. Every federal agency has dedicated, knowledgeable career civil servants of unimpeachable character and credentials. Let them run the agencies without political interference.
6
Do you think, given the visibility of this department and the work they do, that the utter hypocrisy of not having a question like "Do you have any current investments, business partners, consulting contracts or any other ties that would imply or cause conflicts of a negative or improper nature when you assume the position for which you are applying?" on the flaming application might, just MIGHT have been an oversight? The Dems will have tantrums and the Repubs will turn a blind eye until the the ineptitude of these people replaces a nationwide scandal with a nationwide emergency,
2
Business as usual in the Trump administration---obvious conflicts of interest, indifference to taxpayer expenses, total lack of credentials and experience, barefaced dishonesty. The fish rots from the head down. The idea that obesity and sugar intake are unrelated should have been day 1 disqualification for the job of CDC head. Next time time you hear the word "elitism" try substituting competent, experienced and trained.
2
Dr. Fitzgerald will be remembered as the quintessence of what the Trump administration stands for. She was a guiding beacon of hypocrisy. I only hope that good journalism brings to light what we all know about the other members of the Gang of Trump.
5
Once again, Donald Trump demonstrates his complete lack of competence to govern this nation. His nominees have all been suspect, with the exception of McMaster. This 'physician' shows no judgement beyond that of expanding her wealth and distorted vision of the mission of the CDC. Trump himself cannot destroy our institutions, but his nominees, aides and enablers in the GOP sure can. Who's next on the 'Dumb Donald Appointee List' to demonstrate their utter lack of judgement and/or competence?
2
Another swamp dweller too blind to see how she would be unable to do the job. Knowing that she would have a hard time divesting herself and her husband of certain problematic holdings, why did she take the job? As for Dr. Frieden defending Dr. Fitzgerald, I find it incredible that she would not direct her financial account manager to stay away from tobacco, drug, biotech, and medical laboratory, and health insurer stocks. It is equally unbelievable that she could have been Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health with conflicted holdings at that time.
5
Most people let others make their investment decisions. Who knows what in that mutual fund or pension portfolio. If you’re weatherman and have an investment advisor managing things, then your even more removed.
I doubt she knew what was there. Even if she did, so what?
The CDC is about understanding and controlling disease. I think there’s no debate about tobacco products. We all know they’re bad. The CDC is focusing on other areas.
2
It’s pretty simple. You want to become a public servant. You are going to have to divest yourself from all conflicts of interest. Not knowing isn’t good enough. There are lots of sectors to invest in. Direct your investment advisor to choose one of those. Then you can do the job of serving the public and you can do so from a position of integrity and strength.
4
She committed that she would divest, and she did. So where is the problem? Why did she have to resign? Is it the fact that she had these stocks to begin with? I think tobacco is vile but last I heard, it’s still legal. As many others here have noted, it’s likely that many people unknowingly have these types of companies in their 401Ks. The idea that her financial manager might have purchased these stocks without her knowledge is not far-fetched, it’s actually pretty commonplace. If the only people allowed to service in public office are those who have a pristine past, there won’t be anyone available to serve.
Many people who own individual stocks selected by an advisor likely couldn't name most of them if asked on the spot. If an individual stock represents a small percentage of their portfolio, the change in value from any decision they might make while in their government role would likely be trivial in the context of their entire portfolio. While they should sell stocks to avoid the perception of conflicts of interest, there are many more important things for the press to look into with this administration. This is a 'tempest in a teapot.'
1
Years ago, members of the CDC invested in flu vaccination stock, until they were caught. Considering the CDC chooses the annual strain most likely to infect, regardless if it is wrong and thus ineffective, as it often is, it was a lucrative cash cow for them, albiet unconscionable. Investing in tobacco companies is even more unconscionable, as tobacco is an addictive and physiologically destructive substance. Big Tobacco was taken on by the government when I was a new graduate nurse almost 35 years ago, yet the government distributed free cigarettes to the military with food rations. I was a VA Medical Center nurse and was shocked that the effects of cigarettes maimed and killed my patients, not the wars they served. Dr. Fitzgerald was a government official employed for the health interests of our country; investing in tobacco is shameful.
7
One of the many corrupt public officials my state has produced and foisted on the nation. We're also No. 1 in hackable voting machines!
11
I lived in Georgia when electronic voting was first being discussed. I always considered it odd that Georgia, a place not synonymous with a populace craving technological innovation, would openly advocate for it. I have little doubt the right wing communication networks are heavily promoting electronic voting as being “fraud proof”. They know what they’re doing. There are no depths low enough that a Republican would consider not low enough. No one knows what brought an end to the great civilizations (Rome and Greece) of the past, but I’d wager a modern day Republican variant applying his trade was likely at the root.
3
And of course, tRump accused Federal employees of cheating honest Americans. Project much? Next up, prepare yourselves for revelations of potential conflicts related to new HHS Secretary Alex Azar and his longstanding employment by Big Pharma. There is no one associated with his orangeness that either doesn't have his/her hand out, or his/her hand in the proverbial cookie jar. That includes many physicians, apparently. Drain the swamp - no, Trump just gave all the swamp dwellers promotions and raises to cheat the American people. Flip the House in 2018!!!
6
Don’t feel too bad or embarrassed, Doc.
There were MD’s back in 1960’s who swore on a stack of bibles that smoking cigarettes was not only harmless but completely healthy.
1
Wait a minute, hasn’t trump deregulated tobacco and hasn’t all the science about it being bad for you been dumped? So I don’t see the issue here, she should be re-instated.
2
Dr. Fitzgerald's is not only morally bankrupt, she's a bad investor.
Besides the fact that her holdings were relatively penny ante, there is no objective rational evidence to suggest that owning a portfolio of "vice stocks" including tobacco, will do better than owning the S&P 500.
Personally, I do not own any stock as I believe that the stock market in general is mostly amoral. What was she hoping to gain anyway with these dumb investments?
Cynically speaking, her position at the CDC would have earned her infinitely more if she left like most other high ranking government administrators: through the revolving door.
2
Just another example of the stench emanating from the Trump Swamp of ongoing conflicts of interest and ethics violations. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Unfortunately, the country is wading knee deep in this stuff.
5
Michele Obama's efforts to combat obesity in children were mowed down by Coca Cola also. I believe that is mentioned in the documentary "Fed Up".
The food and beverage companies are poisoning us. Food is not food any more, it's just chemicals with some food in it.
2
Fitzgerald's longstanding anti-tobacco efforts were not weighed fairly against the actions of an investment advisor that she probably did not monitor very closely or select with care. Just like you...
Are all of you other 140-plus commenters loaded up with rigorously screened ESG funds and is your cash only in banks with the best track record on community support, etc.?
As the owner of a basic S&P 500 index fund through my 401K, I believe that my investments are wrapped up in many bad things done in the United States and around the world. You own the same types of funds if you own anything at all. The sanctimonious is these comments is silly.
If she was merely invested in index funds that include tobacco stocks, it would be a trivial matter to reallocate her investments into equities that excluded such companies. Clearly she is more deeply intertwined with those tobacco companies than that.
1
Perhaps the Trump administration should apply the "extreme vetting" to its appointees as well as potential immigrants.
6
Sounds of an auction for tobacco are heard in the background of her resignation.
And she was just about the bring back beautiful, clean cigarettes.
5
Honestly, you can't make this stuff up! When is America going to WAKE UP and boot out these so-called public servants (and the people who appoint them, ahem) whose only goal is to line their own pockets ???
3
You may recall that the CDC unofficially banned words terminology such as “evidence-based,” “fetus”, and “transgender” in budget documents not long ago.
Before that, at the end of the Obama administration, more than a dozen top CDC scientists organized and filed a complaint about the political corruption within the agency on many fronts. Details here: https://andthebandplayson.com/2016/10/23/cdc-corruption/
The CDC recognizes that pre-diabetes is a widespread health problem that can be brought under control with diet and exercise, but rather than make it clear what to eat and what to avoid, it refers the public to classes and coaching they can pay for to learn the public health information the agency has reviewed and approved.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Released a report [PDF: https://worldmercuryproject.org/wp-content/uploads/world-mercury-project... ] a few months ago alleging a long and complicated criminal history and cover up at the CDC regarding the link between infant vaccination, thimerosal, and autism, which the CDC has not been able to put to rest. (Note: I am not an anti-vaxxer, but I do take scientific methodology and honest reporting seriously.)
Corruption at the CDC did not begin when Trump appointed Ms. Fitzgerald as its Director and it will not end with her departure. This is a corrupt organization that shills for health insurance and medical industry lobbies. Millions get inadequate medical care because of its activities.
2
In Trumpworld, public service ends where the inability to profit from your position begins.
10
Let's see . . . you get appointed by the "deregulation" administration, and the first thing you buy is tobacco stocks . . .what do we think is coming down the pike, then?
2
Trump & Friends seem to be under the impression the federal agencies are intended to let the dogs out, not contain them.
4
She is no worse that the other agency heads trump has named. They all should resign for conflict of interest. None of them believes in advancing the goals and purposes of the agencies they head.
2
Conflict of interest seems to be the main qualification for people in this bizarro world administration. It is the sworn duty of every Trump appointee to make a buck off the misery of others. This is how America will be made great again. Just like the old days before labor unions, labor laws, health and safety regulations and environmental protections. As Trump drains the swamp, the swamp creatures will emerge and they are coming for your well-being.
2
Ironically hilarious. Of course this is one of Trump’s greatest and best minds assembled for his cabinet. Par for the course of this administration.
At first I said to myself typical Trump Administration incompetence. They didn’t discover this when they did the background check before appointing her.
Then I had a different, more troubling thought...they discovered it and then said to themselves, “A doctor heavily invested in tobacco? Sure, what’s wrong with that? Appoint her”.
You can’t make this stuff up.
2
Corruption!
It's also disconcerting that we elect people to congress who have worked for tobacco interests, while expecting them to create a health care system that favors the patients. Some of our leaders are corrupt to the bone marrow.
Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald (a physician) is cut from the same cloth as Dr. Derek Yach (also a physician), who recently became CEO of the "Foundation for a Smoke Free World," funded with a $1 billion grant from Phillip Morris International (maker of Marlboro cigarettes).
Fitzgerald and Yach's efforts are from the familiar distraction/insider/sow seeds of doubt playbook of the tobacco industry and regarded as the fox guarding the hen house by leaders of most of the prestigious U.S. schools of public health https://www.jhsph.edu/about/dean-mackenzie/news/smoke-free-world.html. Yach previously worked for Pepsi Co, in the same vain (pun intended) as Fitzgerald sought an alliance with Coca Cola.
PMI and Coke leadership and shareholders must be crestfallen with this loss of the CDC helm. It was too good to be true!
Thanks to Politico for their investigative journalism and reporting.
1
There’s a lot more swamp to drain at the CDC, that has been corrupt for a very long time, particularly with respect to vaccine safety. The director who just resigned was not a good fit in several respects.
Many parents with children with autism voted for President Trump. However, autism was never mentioned in his SOTU speech. Great speech, but it's time to acknowledge during prime time that 1 in 36 American children now have autism, and that there is a better than even chance that too many vaccines too soon in a child's life is among the causes.
By any standard that is a public health emergency, yet federal research budgets on autism are tiny, and misspent. The obvious environmental origin of most autism is ignored. The medical needs of people with autism are neglected. Special education resources are inadequate, and schools have been ignoring or harming many of these children. Little planning has been done for the tidal wave of young adults in need of employment, housing and daycare. Parents suffer emotionally and financially from the constant care they must provide to most of these children, oftentimes well into their adulthood.
Institutions that evaluate vaccine safety and efficacy have been dedicated mostly to protecting and promoting the vaccine industry. Yet evidence linking vaccines to autism is credible and in need of further honest research. The President asked Robt Kennedy, Jr. to chair a vaccine safety task force. Concerned citizens await the results.
2
The real story here, is how did these conflicts escape the Senate panel which approved her nomination by the Trump Administration!
This article reminds me that Trump totally should have taken credit for a 2017 without ebola, unlike those Obama years!
I had to go to CNN to find out when Brenda Fitzgerald was appointed to the CDC.
"Fitzgerald, an obstetrician/gynecologist from Georgia, was selected for the position in July by Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Tom Price. Price was forced to resign in September amid a scandal involving his use of private planes."
That should have been in the NY Times article.
1
How unfair! I’m sure she believed in “clean tobacco” and just hated those pesky Federal Regulations on advertising, sales to minors, tobacco free federal offices.
She also saw Coca Cola as an "ally" in fighting obesity. This woman has no moral compass. And I am equally dubious about her boss Alex Azar. Per Scientific American, he "served as president of pharmaceutical giant Lilly USA until January, has been widely criticized for raising medication costs. During his decade at Lilly, the company tripled the price of its insulin and was fined for colluding to keep its prices high in Mexico.
1
In a rational universe, Tom Frieden would have remained head of the CDC. Consider his qualifications - demonstrated expertise in infectious diseases and public health, author of over 200 peer-reviewed publications, and over 25 years of relevant public service. Dr. Fitzgerald's qualifications are not at all in the same league.
In the Trump Administration this seems to be the rule, not the exception.
1
Another reprobate appointment in the Trump administration bites the dust. Every cabinet member in Trump's administration has irreconcilable conflicts of interest. They oversee policies that enrich themselves and their families, and implement these policies without any oversight. We are being robbed by these people, and Trump's campaign promise to "drain the swamp" is just as hollow and empty as all his other promises to the American public.
1
Does no one vet these people? Are they clueless themselves as to what constitutes a conflict of interest?
1
Ignorance about her stock holdings is a lame excuse. Any intelligent person should have instructed his or her adviser to avoid such stocks that would conflict with his/her position in the government. The Coca Cola involvement shows her prior lack of understanding in conflicts of interest. She seems smart, but in the wrong way.
I have served in multiple positions in healthcare where I had to declare my interests, including one national advisory panel where they dedicated half a day going through our interests to assure there was no or at least no major conflicts. Her investments/ ties must have been pretty significant to warrant her resignation. Usually, things like possessing diversified mutual funds including such companies is not an issue and neither are past holdings (e.g more than 3 years ago).
Hmm. Why aren't similarly high-placed officials in the EPA resigning for ties with the coal or oil industry? Why is the furor only around Ms Fitzgerald (a woman BTW)?
8
Complex financial agreements AKA insider trading wannabe
The cash IN cash OUT leaders of Trumpism.
3
So. There is now an opening at the CDC.
Tom Price, M.D., former congressman and former Secretary of HHS is available.
He would bring the high ethical standards of other Southern members of the GOP.
3
The fact that the head of CDC has to resign, and in the midst of the worst flu pandemic in 20 years, AND with Amazon/Chase starting to disrupt healthcare, SHOULD be a major story. But, as is usual in the trump "administration," it's lost in a mire of competing atrocities.
5
So, is she getting a pension from her service? And a generous job-loss package?
2
Her conflict of interests owning tobacco stock - this conflict is different than the apparent conflict of interests Trump has in many of his government dealings?
3
I am surprised and pleased to see that a Trump appointee is capable of dismissing an inappropriate director appointed by a previous Trump appointee. A ray of hope? I had thought the same thing when General Kelly took the position of Chief of Staff. Until he went postal on Frederica Wilson.
You guys need to say to the people currently running your country that 'they need to get their priorities right.'
If they are serving you then there is no place for Directors of disease prevention with a divided heart.
In my opinion Brenda Fitzgerald should not have even been allowed to become the director because her heart is clearly divided
and she was effectively taken the health of the America people for granted.
I am sorry to say this but "I think that there is a serious lack of sound judgment and integrity " within your government.
If I had any authority I'd be calling Nathan Deal for appointing this woman to a position that should only be held by people who are passionate about public health and promoting disease prevention.
I think that Miss Fitzgerald is more passionate about filling her bank account than helping to preserve the health of the American people.
From now on you should all call for Directors that are devoted to preserving public health rather than profiting from things that ruin it.
Harsh words but if you think about it you all know that what I said is true.
Without health/life nothing is possible.
You wouldn't get in a bus/taxi cab that is being driven by a drunkard would you?
Well, why do you guys put up with people who are effectively driving your country to ruin in just about every-way possible?
Cigarettes have no place in a civilized country because they not only ruin health and life but they deaden the human conscience.
1
Ah Trevor you've missed the point of our current administration. Each appointee has two roles: destroy the agency and make as much money as possible whilst doing same. Heck the President is leading the pack on this one. People are at a loss for words to characterize what's going on but basically the President was supported by anarchists as in Mercers without their full comprehension at the level of his financial entanglements which require Russian oligarchs to bail out. He became a convenient tool for Putin, who mostly didn't want a Clinton victory. What we are waiting on is for Trump to get backed into a corner where his financial dealing become exposed and he does something illegal to protect himself.
Don't forget the Bill Clinton impeachment: they couldn't find anything criminal; even having an affair is not criminal; so they got him on lying to coverup the affair.
1
Not the first self serving administrator for an agency devoted to the public welfare appointed by Trump who has proven to be basely selfish. Since she took an oath to do no harm as a physician it kind of makes one wonder if having her focusing upon her own financial well being as the head of a public agency without seeing patients might have been a blessing.
2
She is not exactly the only physician who can handle a flu epidemic.
Even if she relied on financial advisors, she had an obligation to own zero healthcare stocks, and zero stocks of such things as tobacco and alcohol.
Conflict of interest is a qualifier for a job in this administration.The new head of Health and Human Services is from the drug industry.Trump declared in the State of the Union that drug prices were going down in a big way---do not believe it.
1
“Due to the nature of these financial interests, Dr. Fitzgerald could not divest from them in a definitive time period." Translated: She did not want to pay the taxes on the gains, possibly short-term capital gains which would be taxed at the rate of ordinary income. Now, that's the committed CDC director we want. Not!
3
If we are amused at the fuss this exposure of private investments caused one denizen of the swamp currently running things, think of the fuss we would
all really get to enjoy if those apparently all but forgotten about tax returns of numero uno were to be liberated from the IRS safe storage.
hmm hmmm.
2
Many years ago a friend’s mother died of lung cancer. That’s not a pretty way to go, believe me. Just after that I looked at the stock funds i owned and sold each one that contained any tobacco company in its holdings. I simply figured i would honor that poor woman’s death in a meaningful way. So very glad i did that and i never looked back!
2
Could this all be a brilliant strategy to disrupt the Deep State? Appoint an endless procession of ethically flawed. morally compromised and criminally incompetent candidates to public office while firing or otherwise driving out people who know how to do their jobs but are guilty of choosing public service as their professional calling.
Maybe it goes beyond even that! Perhaps this is what Grover McWhatshisface, the self-appointed, non-elected guardian of any and all national tax legislation means when he talks about drowning government in the bathtub or smothering it at birth or throwing it out with the bathwater or whatever currently passes for the rhetoric of rugged individualism and disruption in the libertarian discourse.
People who are unfit for office and don't know how to do their jobs: the answer to Steve Bannon's prayers.
2
As a health care professional, words can not express my anger and fear for the health of this country by daring to even appoint this "doctor" to be Director of the CDC. This is one more notch in the belt of this president in the name of greed and power...at the expense of our precious health and welfare.
How long before the rest of this country gets wise to the glorifying of pollutants, from the air we breathe to the water we drink? Yes, this woman resigned. But I would posit that there are more of her and her ilk tucked within this administration's closets, out of sight. Oh, how I hope that 2020 comes soon enough before this president completely destroys what our nation stands for...the protection of its citizens and their rights.
4
"C.D.C. Chief Resigns Over Tobacco and Other Investments"
There is just no accounting for a total lack of intelligence, or is it comprehension of what is right, or common sense. She should never have been nominated because of her stocks that she "couldn't divest."
But to become director of the CDC and then go out and buy tobacco stocks? The CDC has a long, on going campaign against tobacco, but she bought stock anyway, after becoming the director of CDC? Unbelievable.
Why is anyone surprised by this? It has been made very clear that the current administration values profits above all else.
3
Just another Trump official with ethics problems. This would be boring if it weren’t so sad for the country.
Make America Great Again. BRING BACK ETHICS!
2
Note from the article that she was a "chain"-appointee, via her predecessor, Tom Price, who was also forced to resign. I am a former smoker from a family of smokers and know the consequences of even short term tobacco use for some people.
I feel sickened by this administration and can no longer bear the sight of Trump's face. Last night I skipped most of Trump's SOU speech to watch "King Kong" on TCM. Kong tends to be the more committed and wiser ape.
2
Is ethics dead now? Does no one in this administration have to follow any laws? To paraphrase Leona Helmsley (a pre-Trump Trumpkin), rules are for the little people. To think that 72% of Republicans think that Trump is a good role model for their children is mind-boggling shows you how far the GOP has fallen.
2
What's the problem? A major conflict of interest is a requirement to work in the Trump administration. Trump as a stable genius sees these people as experts in their fields. And if he can't find an "expert" with a conflict of interest he'll just go with a totally unqualified person.
2
It is good that DR. Fitzgerald resigned over tobacco investments. A director of CDC should lead by example. Trump being a nonsmoker, non drug abuser and teetotaler is a good role model for Americans in preventing self inflicted health damage. Presumably all those with health related government jobs are held to the same standards as Dr. Fitzgerald with regard to not having investments in Tobacco products.
1
I am baffled by her lack of discretion. If you want to invest in stock market, there are hundreds of non-tobacco stocks. You could call me a feel-good person, I do not buy shares of companies involved in tobacco, military-industrial, guns and ammunition; and I am not a government employee.
2
This is almost unbelievable. People who study the science of childhood obesity implicate sugary beverages as the leading contributor. Insufficient exercise contributes, but by far, is not the leading factor. An anti-obesity campaign that focuses on exercise-only, or even exercise-first, is deeply misleading. To BRAND such a campaign with Coca-Cola, implicitly implying the soft drink can help eliminate obesity, shows that the goal of this campaign was not to reduce childhood obesity but rather to mislead the public in order to protect Coca-Cola's market size. This duplicity alone should have disqualified this candidate from public service.
Buying individual tobacco securities is not quite as bad, in my opinion because it doesn't directly and intentionally harm the public, but it shows this individual put's her private financial gain ahead of public service. Politico reported the shares were purchased, and they were individual securities, not embedded in a fund or other instrument. Honestly, how "complex" is trading in individual securities? Why could she not give a definitive date for divesting? It is simply not believable.
Aside from this much hated Trump administration, let's take a step back and critically examine this. I'm a family dentist. I have investments in such companies as Hershey and Nestle within my mutual funds and other investment vehicles. I probable invest in companies that have heavy investments in sugar and the sugar industry. Health issues related to sugar intake are insidious when compared to tobacco. Diabetes, obesity, tooth decay, etc. Should I NOT continue my investments? Is is OK if I invest in these companies as long as I'm not a public official. Would Dr Fitzgerald receive the same criticism if she weren't head of CDC? Should an elected official working in the EPA not be vested in companies that have caused contamination and environmental pollution? Then they should NOT participate in any S&P index fund, since Chevron and Exxon are listed.
The nation has fallen off the deep end. We've become reactionary without critical thought, looking to prosecute and judge others with dubious evidence and failing to recognize the hypocrisy within ourselves. This started well before Trump; he's only made it worse.
1
You bring up a good point. For the times I have worked on federal projects, they do not assume that people have NO interests. Most people who are experts in an area will: aside from investments for example, experts might have received funding for research, been speakers on bureaus sponsored by companies, or even have an ideological interest in promoting certain ideas. However the question is how much and how close to the present time (e.g. within 3 years), I too have index mutual funds but thus far, they have not been an issue. It might be different if I have significant investments in say a cancer drug company and the project I am on specifically evaluates the approval of that company's drug. Conflicts are assessed relative to a specific project. For the CDC director though, the conflicts can be very broad given the position.
Please tell me why this situation required the resignation of Dr. Fitzgerald, but the Trumps, all of them are still employed by the same Federal Government?
Tobacco is odious, but it's a legal product. And as POTUS I'm sure would be happy to explain, money has no conscience. You may have to explain to him the strange word. Conscience.
Dr Fitzgerald's demise at CDC has given me an idea!
Borrowing from the trend of social responsibility investing with a Sarah Huckabee Sanders reality inversion, an anti-social mutual fund could be created, designed to appeal to the Trump base.
A portfolio could be built from equities from the coal and oil industries, tobacco and soft drink companies, opioid producers, agri-chemical companies, for-profit universities, payday lenders, off-shoring banking firms, for-profit prisons, assault weapon and bump stock manufacturers and maybe the worst of the mortgage and student loan processors.
This would be a guaranteed hit with Trump voters because their representatives in Congress are ready to stand up for these companies at the drop of a hat or a political donation. In fact, such companies might eventually lobby for tax preferences, given the extend of their Congressional and White House support.
The market for what is bad for us seems more or less unlimited.
But aren't glaring conflicts of interest and questionable ethics part of the requirements for trump appointees?
9
Yes, that’s Trump’s business model.
2
She led the CDC during the #WORSTFLUSEASONEVER ! So sad!
1
Just look at that woman. Greed, hypocrisy, and self-aggrandizement oozing out of every pour. Investing in stocks of companies so completely evil and toxic to human life while directing an agency devoted to the care and protection of human life is beyond reprehensible. This woman should be totally isolated from the rest of mankind.
4
The C.D.C. fails in many ways, and perhaps in this article we're seeing one of the reasons why.
My own example: statin drugs. Statins seem to be of benefit when prescribed for secondary prevention (already had heart attack or stroke). No consensus of benefit for primary prevention.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention doesn't even track prescriptions for primary vs secondary prevention.
Of course no one is responsible for tracking adverse effects (side effects). Just phone the F.D.A. or the C.D.C. and you will have this bizarre truth confirmed.
Not much about the C.D.C. surprises me--great work is done, and yet with better laws and regulations, it could be so much better!
StatinVictims.com
4
The article fails to state when Brenda Fitzgerald took the job. That is a critical omission when the the appointments made by the Trump administration are being compared with those of the Obama administration.
Some other comments make assumptions.
Is the Times reporting glossing over something?
2
"Dr. Fitzgerald was appointed to the federal agency last July by Tom Price, a fellow Georgian who served as Mr. Trump’s first H.H.S. secretary — until he too was forced to resign under fire, for traveling extensively on private jets and expensing more than $400,000 for those trips to the government."
1
The article says she was appointed by Tom Price, the Trump appointed HHS director.
It specifically said that she was appointed last July by Tom Price.
Having lived in Georgia, I wouldn't be surprised if she held these stocks when she was the Health Director. Her management style is apparently rather eccentric--she sent a long memo to the agency people who deal with her office and, among other things, it said she only answered emails on Wednesday mornings.
7
what if all government employees with the power to move markets were required to place their holdings in blind trusts? some wealthy candidates may disqualify themselves -- for example, fitzgerald may not have been willing to part with legacy investments in pharmaceuticals and healthcare -- but the remaining talent pool may tend to value public service more.
6
The CDC is all about politics anyway. This was a wise decision on Fitzgerald's part. Word is she was more in tune with the politics than the mission of the organization.
3
"The CDC is all about politics anyway", timesrgood10 ?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the leading national public health institute of the United States whose main goal is to protect public health and safety through the control and prevention of disease, injury, and disability in the US and internationally.
Public health is not 'politics'; it's basic to sustaining human life.
There's nothing political about the CDC, except perhaps the long-running Republican defunding of the CDC to study the reasons why 30,000 Americans die every year from guns.
Get a grip.
66
"The CDC is all about politics anyway."
How do ideas like this even get started? Where do they come from? So much nonsense in such a short sentence.
5
The CDC has a history of corruption reaching all the way back to the awful “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male" undertaken by its predecessor, the U.S. Public Health Service. The CDC's takeaway from project was that it was unethical to withhold information and effective treatment for a serious infection that volunteer research subjects were known to carry. Nonetheless, the CDC is repeating similar ethical violations that are leading to millions of sufferers of chronic Lyme Disease -- caused by a spirochete similar to syphilis -- to go undiagnosed or be denied treatment from a crippling and life threatening disease.
That is among the reasons several top CDC scientists formed the CDC "SPIDER Group" last year and released a whistle blower report alleging an ingrained and protracted history of fraudulent, unethical, and criminal behavior surrounding research and policies emanating from the CDC.
2
We're going to need a bigger swamp to accommodate all the Trump creatures.
The most corrupt, venal and immoral Presidential Administration in modern history by far.
184
Interesting incident. I hope people also click on the link to the Politico article and read that too.
How many of us own tobacco stocks without even realizing it? You might be surprised.
Many of the large mutual funds (Fidelity, American Funds Group...) that invest in blue chip stocks have tobacco in their portfolios. So if you have money in those mutual funds, you are invested in tobacco.
If you participate in a retirement pension scheme (TIAA_CREF and many others) it very likely invests either directly in tobacco stocks or indirectly through mutual funds, as mentioned above.
Do you own shares in an S&P500 index mutual fund? Does your retirement pension organization?
If so, you own shares in Altria and Phillip Morris.
The same applies to many other non-tobacco corporations such as Exxon and health insurers profiting from our messed up healthcare system.
10
Except that's not what happened here. She was buying individual stocks that were clearly tobacco and drug stocks while also heading up an agency that can make policy that impacts the value of these stocks.
22
I own broad based market index funds. Those funds are totally acceptable under the conflict of interest policies. She had targeted investments.
12
Vince - I'm not trying to defend Fitzgerald. I'm trying to make a broader point about the challenges of investing in equities and not get caught up supporting businesses that cause harm, the so-called "sin stocks".
That said, I wish both this article and the Politico piece had been more clear about exactly how these investments were made. They are written as if she invested directly, herself, in tobacco stocks. But if you read them closely, they don't actually say that. It appears these investments were made by advisers and could have been within the context of mutual funds, such as I described in my earlier comment. I wish the writers had been more careful and specific in their articles.
As background, I've worked 45 years in health care, and 35 in public health. Dr Fitzgerald's behavior implied that she took the CDC job lightly, as if it was a reward for her prior - real - efforts, rather than the high point of public health service. Heartbreaking to see even the worldwide resource that is the CDC damaged by this juggernaut.
34
It fits the pattern perfectly. Why not appoint a CDC director who traffics in addictive carcinogens? My capacity for shock and outrage is numb - and watching the Republican cult members glory in it last night during the SOTU puppet show makes my blood run cold. Uncharted waters, campers. Uncharted waters.
55
Better yet, why not appoint a CDC director who "invests" in illegal drug trafficking? After all, isn't the aim of the Drumpf so-called presidency "I get to make even more money by fleecing the poorly educated?"
It's as though these people aren't suitable for their positions!
21
After 376 days, one person has been drained from the swamp.
28
This regime will go down as the most corrupt in history.
41
This administration is filled with unethical grifters, people who want to short and trade stocks based on their public position, people who want to drive money towards their businesses and children's businesses (Trump and Carson and DeVos), people who want to jet around on private planes at our expense (Zinke, Conway, Pruitt) and all of them want to sell our land, our resources and our way of life so that they can benefit.
Its disgusting and this is just the latest. No way she didn't know, rather she just didn't care and looking at the rest of the Trump administration its no surprise.
40
This my friends is what happens we become a Government run for and by kleptocrats. Yes physicians can be greedy creeps.
36
Disgusting.
Was Big Pharma also central in her investments, I wonder?
Money not morality: the motto of those presently in power.
23
I agree 100% but I also think that this latest scandal should serve as a much needed wake up for the American electorate.
You cannot afford to keep voting for people who don't have your best interests at heart.
2
The answer is yes, she also bought pharma stocks after her appointment.
2
I was going to note that at least we're finding out just how crooked one of Trump's crooks needs to be before they get canned--and then I remembered Trump's, ah, "business interests," as well as Mnuchin and the rest, and I realized that the real questions are:
1. Does the appontee run anything Trump gives a hoot about?
2. Does the appointee know Trump personally?
3. Does the appointee have connections Trump can get something from?
4. Was the appointee stupid enough to get bigger headlines?
5
Trump is finished
Mark my words.
Electing him to lead your country was a huge mistake
this latest scandal will surely be the much needed light in a very dark room
which will enable to your fellow countrymen and women to look more closely at the next bunch that stand before you all in the run up to November 3rd 2020 asking to be elected to run your country.
You need people that will lead you all to a better place...you don't need cigarettes and selfish greedy people that get involved in politics for selfish greed driven reasons.
When you have such people leading your country this is what happens.
The power is in the hands of the American electorate to bring about a much needed change.
No more divided hearts within your government.
You need people that care about Y'all.
this is an incredibly vague description of what about the financial transactions in question that was so bad that she had to resign. i had to go elsewhere to answer that question.
it's almost like you're willfully trying to obfuscate the truth about trump government officials, NYT!
3
Trump isn't draining the swamp- he is filling it. I have lost count regarding the number of people from his administration who have been flushed into his cesspool. Competence, skills, ethics or morality are not required to join his mutant state- only loyalty or cash.
11
And Azar's life as a PHARMA exec making patients spend their last dime for life-saving drugs is NOT a conflict??????????
That is RICH
14
Reflects the Trump ethos:
"Greed is good"
"Ethics are for suckers"
"Lie big"
"If caught, blame someone else"
38
I know this ob-gyn MD! I’m doing an Americorps volunteer assignment here in Carrollton, GA--a small town in west Georgia home of University of West Georgia. (Newt Gingrich taught history here.)
This is 2010 website for Dr. Fitzgerald’s gynecology practice a year before she became Georgia’s public health commissioner:
“In addition to seeing traditional gynecologic patients, we see both men and women for hormonal, nutritional and other anti-aging concerns.”
Credentials: board certification in “Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine" by the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine. However, the American Board of Medical Specialties, made up of the specialty boards that certify physicians, DOESN’T RECOGNIZE the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine which promotes the use of "intravenous nutritional therapy," "bioidentical hormone replacement therapy" (BHRT) and "pellet therapy," in which tiny pellets that contain hormones are placed under the skin.
The global market for this “snake oil” was worth "$292 billion by 2015.”
Actress Suzanne Somers and her Thighmaster attribute her youthful looks to BHRT that are formulated, by a pharmacist. NOT FDA approved.
The woman is a QUACK! Last 7 yrs in public health!
I am BEYOND angry. Best buddies with Gov Deal who rejected Medicaid expansion! Embarrassed to be an MD here!
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ritarubin/2017/07/09/new-cdc-head-fitzgeral...
118
I have a doctor acquaintance who is into "anti aging" and takes all kinds of hormones, HGH included. He looks really creepy lately.
These Trumpians have the moral compass of Al Capone.
13
I'm beginning to think some of them share his end-stage diagnosis, too.
Her job as top doctor at CDC was to protect citizens from threats to our health. Owning tobacco stock seems like more than just a conflict of interest, it's against the hippocratic oath, it's medical malpractice.
8
Unfortunately tobacco is legal in the United States. It also has a disproportionate negative impact on the underclass. Since this is the constituency of the Democratic Party, I have never understood why the Democrats have not wanted to have prohibition for tobacco.
3
Maybe because it worked so well with alcohol?
8
Controlling tobacco advertising, taxing tobacco and using the proceeds towards educating young people to its dangers, these are far more effective strategies, which have been promoted by Democrats and Republicans alike.
Cigarette smoking rates among high schoolers have fallen by two thirds over the last 20 years.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/26/cigarette-smoking-decline_n_68...
interesting that the poorer states all voted for Trump. Lack of good judgment.
The very picture of hypocrisy.
It's this kind of crony capitalism that generates mistrust of politicians and the government in general. I find POTUS to be personally repugnant because he cannot uphold fundamental ideals that I hold dear. This kind of double-dealing at the public's expense is yet another example that he knows nothing and cares for nothing.
16
Not exactly correct - he clearly cares only for himself.
The Politico article is certainly sanctimonious in tone. It's not at all clear that this is appropriate.
From what's written, it appears Dr. Fitzgerald had financial holdings that were somewhat complex, and that were managed by a financial manager. Most of these predated her appointment to the CDC. The purchase of the tobacco stock was also managed by her financial manager. She has subsequently sold the stock. From the Politico article: "The records confirm that Fitzgerald sold the shares of tobacco on Oct. 26 and all of her stock holdings above $1,000 by Nov. 21, more than four months after she became CDC director."
It's often hard to find capable people to work in high level government jobs. The risks are high, particularly in the fish bowl in which they are required to work. The salary is usually a lot lower than they could earn in the private sector. The ethical requirements are daunting, including the enormous amount of paperwork they must file.
They need to avoid conflicts of interest, but it's not clear they should be required to sell investments so quickly that they take a personal financial hit. Perhaps Dr. Fitzgerald's financial managerr invested in tobacco without her knowledge, and was doing his/her best to unwind those investments.
It's often a lot easier to fire someone than to find a qualified replacement who's willing to take the job. And we are indeed in the middle of a major flu crisis.
It's not at all clear Politico did the country a service.
45
There are many qualified personnel at CDC who can step into this role. And the Influenza Division will continue to do its excellent job even without a director. As a former CDC employee, I am not worried.
6
Having stock in tobacco companies should be an automatic disqualifier for serving in an agencyh devoted to protecting our health.
16
Many people in such powerful positions are required to sell stocks they own because of conflicts all the time. And many such people also have discretionary accounts where all trading is hands off - that is why they ALSO have investment plans/guidelines which stat what they are allowed to buy/hold and what they are not. This is pretty easy stuff, really. And it all should have been vetted beforehand.
Now, if she had sold such holdings before the appointment then that is good and it shouldn't cause her to have to resign. But I am guessing she still holds such holdings or she would have made a case for her staying clear.
7
A Trump appointee with a patent financial and moral conflict of interest? What a surprise.
63
Now I am a simple man, who lives in the Rockies, but it seems odd that the world experienced a blood moon, and the CDC director resigned the same 24 hour period, that this Trump fellow told a lot of whoppers at the state of the union speech.
15
Because the President is a walking conflict of interest, the administration doesn't seriously vet its top employees for conflict of interest. Examples: Scott Pruitt, and the last HEW Secretary, driven out of office. as a serial misuser of his perks.
In what epoch did the Doctor live? Does she treat patients with leeches?
Knowing that taking the CDC helm would expose her tobacco holdings and subject her to the opprobrium of her profession (see other comments in this string) she nonetheless took the job.
I know how addictive smoking is (quit on an operating table) so I suspect Dr. Fitzgerald suffers from a different addiction -- a dependence on easy money which overwhelmed her judgement.
Question: What did HEW Secretary Azar, himself a questionable choice, know about Dr. Fitzgerald and When did He Know It?
20
Perhaps the proximity of this revelation to the State of the Union Address had something to do with the prompt resignation. However, as Trump disassembles the government and attacks the watchdogs, I fear that if this happened a year from now, there would be no resignation and Kellyanne Conway would be making the rounds with some convoluted explanation and defense. As I have anticipated every horrible thing Trump has done, I am not surprised or disappointed. Just exhausted. And with that he wins.
9
We are the start of a harsh flu season. Hospitals are low on IV bags due to Hurricane Maria devastating Puerto Rico. Doctor's offices are running out of rapid response flu tests due to the FDA reclassification. Our now former CDC director is an OBGYN and the Secretary of Health has been in the job a week.
Why isn't this the story?
6
Is is just me, or has this administration ACTUALLY gained a "done the most" in this one? Anyone know if this administration has had the most appointees resigned/fired/recused of any administration?
5
I'm surprised the Republic party's concerned about this. If anything, it should just abolish the C.D.C. or render it useless - just like it has with the EPA.
4
Trump's EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt tried to dismantle the EPA.
Trump's HUD Secretary, Ben Carson, believes that pyramids were built to store grain.
Trump's DOE Secretary Rick Perry couldn't remember the name of the agency he now heads. And he didn't know that nuclear weapons would be the primary component of his responsibilities.
Trump's Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, during her congressional confirmation hearings, appeared to be profoundly uneducated on the system she would eventually head.
Trump's director of the CDC, you know, one of the government's key agencies for protecting the health of US citizens, likes tobacco so much she invested her personal money in the industry.
Way to drain that swamp, Trump.
Swamp animals are smarter and have more integrity than your motley crew.
27
Lots of moralizing here. Does everyone need to divest from drug companies because they flooded the market with opioids?
2
Lots of deflecting here.... MD who BUYS tobacco stocks AFTER agreeing to completely financial discolsure = lack of solid judgement.
9
There's a difference, JAM. Let me see if I can help you out.
All tobacco companies produce tobacco.
But not all drug companies produce opioids, let alone "flood the market" with them.
Glad I could help. Have a blessed day!
Tom Price, Jared Kushner, Secretaries Munchin, Zinke, and of course Trump himself all have private financial interests which create conflicts with their positions in government. At any other time, in any other administration, even a single appointee would be a grave scandal. Under Trump, it is the news of the day. It seems like the only thing that gets anyone fired is optics (too many private plans, doctor invests in cigarettes), not substance or incompetence.
10
Another political appointee of the Trump administration bites the dust, and at a time when the flu bug is at its worst and sound leadership of the agency is critical.
Will Trump resign next?
Fitzgerald's financial conflicts of interest most surely pale compared to his.
5
Another example of Trump's "extreme vetting" of his candidates, just like, he misguidedly proposed should be done with immigrants.
8
The rot and corruption is just ingrained into these people. Let's call it what it is: The Sins of Mammonism.
6
The Trump self-serving gilded SWAMP - tobacco investor in charge CDC, fossil fuel apologist in change of EPA, for-profit school cheerleader in charge of Dept of Education, bankers in charge of'protecting' consumers, the list goes on....disparaging and dismantling the important work of government while bringing in your unqualified friends to funnel taxpayer money to the private sector. Shaming doesn't work, they all need to be indicted.
13
First of all what kind of medical doctor would have large investments in the tobacco industry? You don't have to go through med school to know all about the tobacco related diseases -- lung cancer, heart disease, asthma, stroke, COPD, reproductive effects in women, low birth weight or premature births -- just a few of the associated effects of tobacco use.
Dr. Brenda was an ob/gyn, so it's especially hard to believe she could be advising her patients one thing and then turn around and invest heavily in an industry known to be the single highest health threat to patients. And to accept the Directorship of the Centers for Disease Control??? This just shows what this administration is all about -- appoint people who have no regard for the departments they are responsible for overseeing.
23
she got caught up in the Trump Bump in the stock market I guess?
2
Such foolishness and greed. She could easily have placed everything in a blind trust, leave that to investment advisers, and directed the most prestigious institution of its kind in the world. At least she's doesn't appear to be practicing. I wouldn't want a doctor so clearly devoted to wealth over medicine.
10
Given the time it takes this administration to fill important executive positions, don't expect a suitable replacement anytime soon.
What kind of doctor invests in tobacco stocks, anyway? Someone who has spent her career advancing the use of leeches/blood letting for diseases that look "really bad?"
5
Hey, lay off my leeches!
1
What a mind-numbingly tone-deaf blunder. And for what in the end? She couldn't find more profitable stocks? Good grief.
8
I get it, —to serve in this administration one must be very wealthy financially and totally bankrupt morally.
36
The Trump sock puppets have a serious deficiency in integrity and a moral compass that has been deflected by the lodestone Trump.How many more times are the Trump voters and GOP members of Congress continue to turn a blind eye to obvious power and financial plundering of our government and we taxpayers by continuing to heap financial breaks on the wealthy friends and take down the safeguards, rules and regulations in the health area? "Clean coal? What a joke! No climate change? Look at the chink of Antarctica that is now a floating ice cube. This group of incompetents continue to fail to do what is best for the American people while catering to the 37% Trump base. As viruses and bacteria mutate into drug-resistant forms that can cause a pandemic because we have incompetent at the helm and have cut budgets to put gold toilets in the White House, it is us and our children that will pay the price.
3
How can a comic make a living these days! The news itself iappears to a parody, only it is actually happening. A physician who heads the CDC with tobacco stocks - yikes. Now this old waoman is in sympathy with the memory issues of Jeff Sessions and as I write Scott Pruitt but - wait I am not in charge of Justice and the EPA.
Pruitt cannot remember the disparaging comments he made about trump, he hasn’t even the brains to google it before making a fool of himself with “can’t remember.” It’s out there for all eternity, pal, in your own voice.
Pity the comics although they could just stand before a mike and read the news - hey less wear and tear.
7
We hire only the best!!!
6
Making America Great Again, think about that in the context of the people appointed to lead our Country!
That will go down in history as one the most moronic and hypocritical statements ever made by an American or by someone with ulterior motives to the best interest of America.
3
Does any intelligent person *really* think Donald Trump, or any of his coterie, has one bit of concern about people's health (yes, including opiod-addicted), their safety, or their welfare--*except* as this can be monetized to his benefit, or used to stir up his base (which in the long he believes will also be to his financial benefit)?
Does Betsy DeVos *really* care about education--apart from the narrow religious paroachial education she grew up in and continued to push on the people of Michigan?
Does Rex Tillerson *really* care about attaining and preserving world peace, so long as the violence does not jeopardize his petroleum investments?
10
Does she have any investments in "blood diamonds", also???
1
She had two qualifications: she had a medical degree and was a pal of Tom Price’s. She could not stir herself to testify about the opioid crisis, sending deputies in her stead. I guess she was busy managing her tobacco stocks.
Only the best people, writ large.
6
Another winner for Trump....A doctor who invests in tobacco stocks? For the love of mike....What was her rationale? Tobacco doesn't kill you...smoking does? Good riddance.
5
Another Trump flunky. Cue our shock and dismay.
2
Pruitt's i"nvestments" pay dividends in fat white envelopes slipped under his desk in his sound proof office.
5
If we ever have an ethical administration in the White House, it should turn its attention to cleaning house at the CDC, FDA and IDSA. All are rife with industry and investment corrupted individuals who approve and disapprove medical devices and interventions to suit their personal interests and ignore scientific evidence and related ethical and efficacy standards.
For example, the IDSA panel responsible for Lyme Disease is dominated by people who have a financial interest in denying the existence of chronic Lyme Disease and its persistence at antibiotic treatment. Accordingly, the CDC has refuted overwhelming evidence that chronic Lyme Disease goes dormant and shields itself from antibiotics only to become active again later. Also, the panel continues to insist on diagnostic lab tests that are estimated to return false negative results in about 90% of chronic Lyme cases, much to the delight of insurance companies that use the tests to deny that a condition that is estimated to be twice as prevalent as breast cancer is present in most of its victims.
More immediately, today, the CDC is acting as a giant consumer relations and marketing agency for its flu vaccine partners despite the low efficacy of the shots. Vitamin D supplementation could be just as efficacious, but drug companies are at war with supplement companies, so we don't hear about that research.
Big pharma and insurance companies have turned our medical regulators into the swamp. They should not be trusted.
8
If this was truly about holdings and financial interests, two thirds of the current administration's cabinet would also be resigning. That the sacrificial lamb is a woman is of no surprise to anyone.
17
Huh??
I thought Trump had all the finest people!
9
Would be nice to know how long Dr. Fitzgerald has been heading up the CDC, and how she ended up in that position.
16
Since July. Trump appointment. I wish they would have stated that in the article, but after a quick Google search that information was readily available.
2
Ιndeed, you´d think that would be prominently featured in the article. If we all have to google, then the journalists aren´t doing their job properly.
Just when we get a CDC director most Americans would love, i.e., one who says don't worry about smoking or drinking too much soda, she resigns.
Now we may once again some scold who believes in science and says those things are bad for you.
It's a good thing we still have many others in the Trump administration who are defending us against science.
25
So Dr. Fitzgerald wasn't forced to quit because she invested in the greatest poison killer, tobacco, which as a dark irony would have made her totally unfit for office. No, she had to quit because she may have been perceived to have favored the tobacco companies in the due course of her business running the CDC. To me, that's like taking down a mob boss for tax evasion when the real crimes were murders.
12
Conflict of interest is not only about ACTUAL conflict of interest but also about POTENTIAL conflicts of interest, both in terms of how the public might perceive the way a decision was made and also how human psychology works. As much as people may think they conscientiously police their decisions, actions, and thoughts to avoid conflict, in reality, a lot of prejudice/ discrimination for/ against a decision is largely unconscious. As a physician and medical researcher who occasionally works with CDC, I certainly don't want Dr. Fitzgerald as the head.
Hey! Maybe she was shorting them!? ALSO, many of these companies have a burgeoning Cannabis-legalization thematic... no?
2
Just think about it from a public health perspective . The head of the best known public health agency in the world is investing in tobacco companies . In addition, does Dr. Fitzgerald not aware of the impact that Tobacco has on the health of Americans . Cigarette smoking causes about one of every five deaths in the United States each year. Globally, tobacco use killed 100 million people in the 20th century, much more than all deaths in World Wars I and II combined. Tobacco-related deaths will number around 1 billion in the 21st century if current smoking patterns continue.
How can any Doctor let alone the head of the largest Public Health agency think that investing in tobacco companies is a good idea. Trump promised to hire the best people . Well this is not a good example.
13
Did you check to see whether Dr. Fitzgerald's "complex financial issues..." include dabbling in firearms stocks as well? It's becoming increasingly difficult not to be cynical about people being put in charge of important government institutions who have big ethical and legal conflicts of interest.
29
If you’ve been medically educated and you’ve witnessed tobacco’s destructive health consequences, if you’ve rotated through oncology and you’ve watched COPD end a life, then you could never invest your earnings with tobacco companies.
17
Recusal, and then resignation after a conflict of interest. Doing the right thing. What a novel concept! If only others in this administration were watching...
12
The Republican 'health' appointee not only held tobacco investments, she purchased them AFTER she became director of the CDC. She clearly knew that tobacco use - the cause of 6 million deaths worldwide today - has outstanding upside for growth under Trump!
A less contentious, but still bullish, buy during Trump's reign could have been P&G - due to the expected run on Dawn dishwashing detergent that will be needed to wash/save the lives of oil-slicked waterfowl (with the many expected oil spills from Trump offshore drilling expansion and safety deregulation!)
14
Dawn rocks. We use it diluted in a spray bottle. Works great and lasts longer. Don't tell P&G you heard it from me.
2
Tim Wood - thanks for that tip.
1
Trump's appointees think they're doing a public service by flaunting their conflicts and cutting regulations that protect our health.
14
She is the CDC director resigning over some stock holdings.
In the larger picture, where are Trump's taxes?
Hopefully, Mueller can get his hands on the tax returns and truly see where Trump's obligations and debts are. I am sure they won't include tobacco stocks. That would be the least of it.
Are you listening Russia?
28
This ranks right up there with putting high flying Dr. Tom Price in charge of the Department of Health. Putting someone in charge of CDC whose financial future is linked to the prosperity of tobacco companies is so brazenly conflictive that it ranks right up there with putting PA's Tom Marino, whose political future is linked to the massive contributions he receives from the Pharmaceutical industry, in as Drug Czar to fight the opioid crisis, created in large part by those very same pharmaceutical companies. ALWAYS follow the money trail, especially as our government is being sold off to the highest bidder.
111
Anyone anyone who lined thei made on the death and sadnesss of lung cancer probably was not the best choice to run an agency tasked with protecting the health of Americans.
People with money can invest in socially responsible portfolios. Doing so would imply a high ethical standard. Fitzgerald apparently is not one of these people.
5
In the meantime, do you think we'll ever get a flu vaccine that actually works?
8
Sorry DCBinNYCC, but the flu vaccine is a complex subject that can not be simplified due to the nature of the constantly mutating flu virus. Please read and learn about the efforts of the CDC to produce millions of vaccines to combat the latest mutation, only to have the virus change once again. The fear of researchers is that a strain will develop as deadly as the 1918 pandemic that killed over 50 million. You really believe that the CDC merrily releases a vaccine which turns out not be effective? Even worse are the folks who refuse vaccines who believe that it's a pharmaceutical company hoax aimed at harming people!
3
Once again, it is now difficult to serve in government if one is wealthy.
Too bad, because many wealthy people have become so due to their intelligence, energy, and business acumen.
27
She is not one of them.
11
and apparent lack of decency
14
Wealthy? A healthcare “leader” making money from tobacco?
What a mockery! Go work in an oncology unit where patients with lung cancer are getting treated....or dying. Then write about a “wealthy” savvy woman in charge of the Center for Disease Control!
MIMA
23
If everyone in the Trump administration resigned because of conflicts of interest there would be no one left-which is what we all hope for.
144
As a matter of fact, I just read an article in the Washington Post about HUD Secretary Ben Carson ignoring/rationalizing his adult son and daughter-in-law's participation in HUD activities:
‘Using his position for private gain’: HUD lawyers warned Ben Carson risked running afoul of ethics rules by enlisting son.'
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/using-his-position-for-private-g...
4
trump should follow suit....with all his complex international financial investments, surely he has broad and deep conflicts of interest when it comes to the best US Public Interests, and indeed those of the World at large.
18
When pigs fly.
Despite the poor timing of this resignation (although deserved), the best we can hope for is smooth transition of power into more capable hands, so the CDC can perform at full efficiency
2
I don't think it's healthy to hold one's breath for that long.
1
Trump's obvious conflicts of interest are monumental compared to this lady's financial investments so why does it matter? There's always room in the swamp for one more.
6
In it's most simplistic form you have to wonder about the character of a person seemingly dedicated to health, but at the same time funding tobacco, arguably the worst health hazard in the country.
Hmmm...
15
Well, according to an article in Politico, not only did she not divest her interest in tobacco stocks, she purchased them a month after she became the director! Typical unvetted Trump appointment.
74
Yes, and her financial adviser would have been aware of the ethical conflicts because they had just been given a list of conflicts to divest.
1
Whether its the FBI, the CDC, EPA, etc, should we, as the American public, believe anything that comes from these Trump agencies?
6
My son, a scientist at the CDC, was already reeling from the Trump-imposed budget cuts at the agency. The morale there will now sink a little lower as he and his fellow scientists, all dedicated to the protection of public health, await Trump's appointment of yet another corrupt official.
742
People who live in Atlanta, and especially those who live in the vicinity of the CDC itself, understand that this is an organization that has been in flux for years - if not in crisis. Recall the Ebola catastrophe under Obama's watch?
I hope your son’s home Town is not Pasadena because you may have just exposed who he is and he’ll be subjected to sanctions because you dared to cast the great leader in anything but a glowing light.
1
Please remind your son he isn't working for Trump or his minions - he's serving a nation much in need of the likes of him and his associates. It really is about "duty, honor, country" and our thanks for his own service.
3
So, an MD who swore to uphold the Hippocratic oath clandestinely BOUGHT stocks in a tobacco company AFTER taking the helm of the CDC?? If she doesn't understand how truly WRONG that is on so many levels, she should have license to practice medicine REVOKED! Why should any patient trust her judgement?
8
Oh, the irony. At least she had sufficient integrity to actually do the right thing, a rare trait for an appointee in this administration.
1
There has to be more to this story. Never before has this administration encountered a conflict of interest that it did not embrace. Please continue digging.
11
Where there is smoke, there is tobacco!
3
...and a Saab.
This is infuriating.
Fifty years in healthcare here. When the head of an agency who is responsible for huge healthcare issues created by smoking in our country, makes money from tobacco, something needs to hit the fan.
People get their insurance rates hiked because they smoke. Lung cancer diagnosis is untoward, very poor prognosis. Respiratory illnesses create a great burden to patients, their families, caregivers, and to our national economy. Cancer research funds are being reduced. Those funds should be encouraged and supported by the CDC. And we’ve got someone at the helm making money on smokers and their tragic illnesses?
The appointments by Donald Trump are deplorable. And - there’s a reason why he, Trump, does not even smoke!
476
Think all who work CDC is alcohol free in their personal lives? When Trump has state dinner is alcohol served as it was at Obama dinners?
If conflict of interest is a disqualifier, we are going to be seeing a whole lot more resignations, including POTUS.
12
Fingers crossed.
9
There is one unmentioned advantage to Trump's propensity for hiring people uniquely unsuited to the job; they can be replaced in a pinch.
5
Unlike others, I don't demonize tobacco companies if they play by the rule and operate with ethical decency. After all, if people choose to inhale poison knowingly, it is their business so long as they don't contaminate the environments, physical and otherwise. However, Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald (MD), a CDC director, investing in tobacco companies (not via mutual or index funds) is filled with irony if not utmost bad optics.
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"....operate with ethical decency..." by selling an addictive, cancer-causing product? Do you also support drug dealers who have nice gardens?
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What are the rules on selling highly addictive cancer-causing drug to the public? Pray tell.
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You seem well intended albeit naive. No tobacco company has ever played by the rules. None. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_Master_Settlement_Agreement
where they accepted to pay fines $206 billion with a "b" over the first 25 years of the agreement. For having Mrs Fitzgerald investing in the tobacco industry at all is just plain despicable. People have no decency.
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Another "Price-less" moment! Swamp fever, worse than the flu, infects the C.D.C.P. How completely surprising. Have all the other Trump appointees been properly vaccinated, or is that vetted?
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Golly gee.
Another Trump appointee, has to resign.
Another Trump appointee, is discovered to have a conflict of interest.
Another Trump appointee, is discovered using their position to line their own pockets.
Who could have ever imagined such a thing?
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Brilliant journalism..Thank you Politico and NYTimes. The first amendment shines despite through political chaos
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I wish these same standards about conflict of interest and divestiture applied to the President.
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If there was a company making billions out of the flu, Trump would appoint the CEO to the agency that is meant to prevent the flu! That is how bad it is in Trump world.
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So now its all making more sense.
Trump solicits his higher management personnel with the sweetening memo to them: Join us and feast...
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You know the old say: No smoke without a fire or in that case tobacco.
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Tobacco farmers readily accept (depend upon) Dept of Ag subsidies for growing tobacco, but they don't let their children smoke tobacco.
They know that smoke is poison gas.
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I love it - not only didn't she divest, she actually traded tobacco stocks AFTER taking the post. I wonder how much stock she owns in cancer treatment centers?
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Seems that there should have been some what for her to divest... weren't there some questions about Azar's roles in Pharma clouding his appointment to HHS? and lets not even think about certain hotels and 45..
3
I would be very interested to see Scott Pruitt's investments as head of the EPA.
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Thanks once again FREE PRESS for exposing these people with huge conflicts of who are supposed to regulate industries they are actually in league with.
Who else in our government has a conflict of interest?, maybe somebody who owes a foreign country a lot of money or has other dirty work on his hands and is thus unable to enforce America's laws? .. Hmm mm mm
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Another resignation, another incident of poor vetting.
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I wish this story line were from the Onion or Borowitz or Mad Magazine ... but it is not.
Instead, it reflects a common failing in the Trump administration, a complete failure to recognize that the public good must be paramount and private advancement give way to public duty.
Well, the President ignores these principles and it is no surprise that he chooses people who follow in his footsteps. And, although the Senate is supposed to be our protection against these grasping swamp creatures, the GOP majority is supine and falls into a cowardly betraying line.
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It reflects a common failing in the past several administrations, and throughout the highest levels of government. Many Senators, Republican and Democrat, have similar seemingly compromising investments. At some point we have to decide whether this should be a simple inevitability of capitalist government, or whether we should take steps to reducing the impact of outside financial influence on our legislation, administration, and adjudication.
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Hear Hear.
The trail certainly leads back to the people that run your country.
It must be said that the Trump administration makes Nixon and Bush pale into insignificance when it comes to good judgment and personal integrity.
Sorry to say that but it also speaks volumes about the judgment of the American electorate.
After-all they are the ones who put the Nathan Deal's in place who then go onto to appoint people who really have no place in your society.
Not a "common failing", but a coordinated attack.
1
"Only the best people."
Trump's corrupt appointees can't even spell, let alone understand, 'conflict of interest' and fifth-graders have a better grasp of ethics.
The best way to see this administration is in the rearview mirror. Please hurry, Mr. Mueller.
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Why would ANY physician with a conscience invest in these stocks? I am dumbfounded. As a physician, myself, I refuse to make money from this vile industry, which capitalizes on addicting smokers.
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Kind of like capitalizing on opioid addiction.
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Do YOU own stocks of auto companies that kill people also? How about Own any drug company stocks? The list is endless. Like it or not, cigs are a legal business and choosing what to invest in is also. I may not drink but own Budweiser and companies that may make booze.
The information in this article and so far made public make it unclear what her financial interests were. It would be serious if she were a major shareholder in a tobacco company and bought shares on her own behalf. If the shares are part of a fund portfolio that is run by a financial advisor is totally different thing. Or if the stocks were part of a mutual fund in which case she wouldn't even know what individual shares are held only the shares in the fund. From most of the comments on this page, it is clear that WashPo followers don't understand the difference between active and passive trading or stock and mutual funds, is not surprising for WashPo readers.
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A doctor heavily invested in tobacco? Yes, that sounds exactly like the Trump Administration. Maybe the best way to Drain the Swamp is to not appoint swamp creatures in the first place.
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Good God, a member of the Trump administration actually exhibits shame when caught red handed. What is the world coming to?
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The only surprise here is that she resigned. Either she experienced the shame others appointed by this administration have not demonstrated, or someone even more comprised is in line for the job.
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Big shock, eh? President Swamp Monster continues to appoint the worst people from top to bottom, if only to further the right wing narrative that government can't do anything right. Heaven knows he has no interest in appointing people with a commitment to further an agency's actual mission, favoring instead Secretary Rabbit to head the Department of Lettuce Security.
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Surprise. She was appointed by a president who won’t reveal his tax returns.
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When I hear of the background Trump appointees, I think of 'Team Deplorable.'
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Typical Trump appointment, in the mold of Tom Price. I wonder if Trump actually seeks out the worst candidate he can find, like Scott Pruitt, or Ben Carson, or Jeff Sessions, and then appoint them so he can stir up more controversy? Or is it just incompetent management and a lack of normal procedure, which will lead the country to the same fate as his casinos, bankruptcy and destitution?
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I believe you are giving Trump far too much credit. You are assuming he is thinking.
6
It's mainstream Republican strategy, the road to Point Norquist.
1. Dumb down - put hacks or incompetents in charge
2. Defund.
3. Discredit - a broke organization doesn't function very well
4. Dismantle.
Repeat until what remains of government can be drowned in the bathtub.
3
More winning from the winningest administration in history.
7
Yet another Trump appointee to be dismissed. They really seem to think that no one looks at this stuff. The clowns exiting the car seem endless. Who's next in the parade?
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It was Politico that also uncovered previous HHS secretary Tom Price's profuse use of personal jets to conduct government business, leading to _his_resignation. In the darkness of this era, the standout reporting by The Times, The Washington Post, and Politico has been a beacon.
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Such is the State of the Union.
7
Where there's smoke there's a trump appointee
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Trump only picks "The Best People". Please God, end this nightmare.
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Wow! Stock in tobacco interests. Can it get any more reprehensible than that? Does she also sell loosies on the street?
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Another swamp creature bites the dust. The "deconstruction of the administrative state" continues...
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Draining the swamp, one drop at a time.
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Two weeks from now she'll cry sexual harassment, misogyny, xenophobia, etc. and she'll start a new career as a reality TV star.
2
"I only hire the best people..." DJT
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Wait a minute! Didn't Trump promise to "drain the swamp"?! Or maybe he really said "wade into the swamp"
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My, my--another example of the Trump administration hiring "only the best people"! s/
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A doctor who invests in companies that make products that kill people. Perfect Swamp Creature for the Trump era. The next one will probably be worse.
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Is there no end to the parade of self-dealing appointees in Trumpland? He campaigned on draining the swamp, but he’s turned it into a cesspool.
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This literally turns my stomach.
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disgusting as expected.
2
Another Trump appointee bites the dust!
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War is Peace.
Hate is Love.
Tobacco is Health.
Trump is President.
Newspeak lies.
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You forgot "beautiful clean coal", uttered yesterday at the SOTU. As if.
3
And don’t forget clean coal is beautiful!!
We know that Trump has given far more waivers to appointees with conflicts of interest than prior Presidents. Obama was very transparent with his waivers, making them available to the public and press. Trump has refused to release his waivers. We need to demand to see them so we know how conflicted his appointees are. Unbelievable lack of transparency from this administration.
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Get all you can while you can....Trump motto appears to be contagious.
14
You just couldn't make up a more embarrassing government if you tried.
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Wait. There's still time and room.
2
Is there nothing out of bounds for these folks? And yet the consequences will be negligible. Just one more insult to the American people to add to the pile. Probably 'fake news'. Imagine this happening under the Obama administration. Fox and Rush and Mitch and Paul would be jumping up and down, screaming like per-historic monkeys on the other side of the stream. Imagine if Obama had paid off a porn actress. Imagine if Obama had collaborated with Putin. Imagine...... Never mind.
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Another fox departs Trump's hen house. Only a few hundred more to go.
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No surprises here, it continues the Trumpian pattern of cronyism and idiocy.
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This isn't a comment but a question for the NYT reporter. When was she appointed to that position? Why did she resign just now?
14
From Wikipedia:
Brenda Fitzgerald is an American obstetrician-gynecologist who was the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) between July 2017 and January 2018.[1] Previously, she was the Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health from 2011 to 2017.[2]
I wondered that myself. Somehow it seems even worse that she was an ob doctor...
6
Trump's "best people" are all grifters to the core!
Hard-working, honest immigrants are being harassed and deported by ICE while taking their children to kindergarten, and America's stuck with one disaster after another from the Trump administration and his incompetent appointments.
Kind of sad his assinine immigration policies were not in place when his family immigrated to America, especially since it totally involved his evil, demonic view of "chain migration" -- since it involved so many his relatives!!!
Can we just get a new President?
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This regime of Trump's is rotten to the core. Utter vulgarity and perversion of American values. Totally corrupt. Totally treasonous.
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None of Trump's cabinet posts. judges or other appointees have been properly vetted. He and his staff could care less as to whether or not the people they put up for Senate confirmation are qualified or have conflicts of interest.
Remember the Ethics head resigned because Trump kept steam-rollering over the rules?
As a former business man, I can assure you that no one runs a business this way...yet supposedly Trump is a successful business man (despite his multiple bankrupcies).
What a total fraud and shyster Trump is! And the Republicans in Congress for not rejecting out of hand the incompetent fools they vote upon!
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It never seems to end. Trump has filled critical positions with people that have a vested and financial interest in opposing exactly the things they are supposed to administer. Fitzgerald follows DeVos - Education Secretary who has a huge financial stake in private education, Pruitt - EPA who spent the last decade fighting against climate change, Zinke - Interior who has oil and drilling interests, Tillerson - State who has a financial stake in energy deals with Russia, and the raft of Wall Street bankers in charge of our economy.
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And the newest apointee to head the IRS has spent 30 years fighting them and sees nothing wrong with offshore tax havens. He thinks these people just dont know how to go about paying their taxes.
7
Interesting that she resigned and it's been accepted while some of the other Trump appointees continue to remain in office with similar conflicts. Sessions should have been allowed to resign. Zinke should not be Secretary of the Interior. Betsy DeVos has no business being Education Secretary. Rex Tillerson is clearly not the man for one of the more important jobs in this country: Secretary of State. He has driven out any number of competent, experienced, and excellent officials and left us less able than we were before.
All told this administration is one of the least competent ones in history and that's saying something when you look at the administrations that preceded the Civil War.
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This is an an absurd overstatement and a very accurate response
To an absurd administration lead by a man who is no more equipped to
be President than he has the requisite skills to perform a brain surgery.
The strength in this comment is that it speaks to the simultaneously
executed assaults on education--- the avenue to America's tomorrow,
the environment---the preservation of which is the frame for the sense that we care about our children's future, the emphatic embrace of military hardware over the basic needs of our own people.
Those of us who oppose this man and the people he has put in place
are hungry for an opposition that offers clearly articulated goals and even more importantly how we are going to get there. Good roads and bridges would be great: are we going to redo our transportation system so it is an endless benefit to private corporations or will we make an effort to leave
taxpayers in control. Why is the wealthiest advanced nation so far behind in both primary education and higher education. More money may be a partial answer but subsidizing private schools does not appear to be much of a way to open the gates to learning. Most glaringly, why have we stripped the State Department at exactly the moment in which we need to support the stable non-authoritarian components in governments like those in Pakistan.
We have an election coming. I am hoping we spend our votes wisely---
The culture hangs in the balance.
8
Response to hen3ry: Great list but you missed the photo of Rick Perry hugging the coal executive. There isn't a single appointee of Trump who is not both incompetent and crooked.
7
When she accepted the job, did she have to report her holdings? Do other federal-government directors have similar constraints? Does the FDA chief have to drop investmentholdings in big High-Fructose-Corn-Syrup-Laden Cola or big Pharma? I'm not saying she should probably have revised her holdings upon accepting the job. But are all government directors held to the same standards? Why can't she divest? Wasn't Trump supposed to divest some of his real-estate operations under the emoluments clause? They kind of let HIM slide...
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I believe Trump is being sued for violating the emoluments clause.
6
According to the Politico story, she purchased the tobacco shares *after* she was hired as director of the CDC. She did divest them four months later, after several members of Congress complained because she was unable to participate in meetings due to conflict of interest.
7
Yes, if they represent a real or potential conflict of interest.
1
How very Trumpish. Trump's appointments reflect his own morbid leadership philosophy. So this discovery is hardly surprising. Just take a look at the secretaries of the interior, energy, commerce, etc. They all have deep financial ties to industry they ought to be regulating and monitoring.
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And I guess you think this is unique to the Trump administration?
1
Yes, they have actual industry experience. Not just Kennedy School or some other ivory tower background. Unlike the preceding 16 years. Not a bad thing.
What an echo chamber this complaint room is. Like it or not, what Trump is doing is working in the world of the market economy.
When will the public get an insight into Trump’s conflicts of interest? Releasing his tax returns might help.
14