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Ficano faces state probe of Medicaid spending by county
Schuette checking claims of illegal use of funds for disabled
Detroit —Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette is investigating Wayne County for Medicaid fraud, adding another layer to the probe of Executive Robert Ficano's administration.
Schuette sent an "investigative demand for documents" to the county on Feb. 3, seeking a raft of materials since 2003 about the Detroit-Wayne County Community Mental Health Agency. Schuette is investigating claims, raised in lawsuits by two former directors, that Ficano used money intended for those with developmental disabilities to pay salaries of spokespeople.
The News reported in January that one of the directors, Richard Visingardi, was subpoenaed as a witness by a federal grand jury investigating the county. Visingardi has yet to appear but said Thursday that he's preparing materials to forward to the state.
"This is about who knew what when, and what they did or didn't do about it," said Visingardi, who served as director of the agency from 2005 to 2006 and received $200,000 to settle a lawsuit claiming Ficano misused money intended for the disabled.
News of the request was reported by The News just as Ficano's chief deputy, Jeffrey Collins, was briefing county commissioners on new ethics policies for Ficano's 168 appointees. The new reforms were expected to help diffuse a scandal that started over a $200,000 severance in September and grew into a full-bore FBI investigation of four years of county deals and payouts.
Instead, Ficano faces another criminal investigation on a separate front. The letter from Schuette's office indicates his investigators intend to share their findings with federal authorities.
Pat Dostine, a Ficano spokesman, said his office received Schuette's request but declined to comment because the "investigation is ongoing." Schuette's spokesman didn't return a call for comment Thursday.
Some longtime members of the mental health authority that provides services to 75,000 people said the probe is overdue.
Constance Rowley, who has served on the board since 1998, said Ficano's administration kept putting appointees on the mental health payroll even if they had no experience or provided no services to the agency. When directors complained, they were fired, she said, citing Visingardi and his predecessor, Patricia Kukula Chylinski.
"They see that pot of money (and) they identified ways to utilize it," she said.
Mohamed Okdie, the agency's former chairman, called the investigation "long overdue" and said he had been railing about the use of mental health money to pay for county operations. He said the county wrongly used $17 million in Medicaid money to plug a budget hole.
"No mental health monies, Medicaid or otherwise, should be used to subsidize county functions outside the parameters of the mental health programs that the agency provides," he said.
Ficano spokeswoman Brooke Blackwell has said that numerous audits have shown no evidence of wrongdoing.
Schuette's letter demands details of a 2004 settlement with Kukula Chylinski, audits, numerous contracts, all settlements, bank information, emails, grievances and payroll information.
The settlement to Kukula Chylinski, who was fired in 2003, was sealed but opened after a lawsuit this year by union activist Robert Davis.
The settlement included pension enhancements that could be worth as much as $850,000 over her retirement.
Kukula Chylinski said she has not been contacted regarding the probe, but called the allegations "serious." She said she left the county eight years ago and is "not in a position" to comment.
Schuette also wants any correspondence between Kukula Chylinski and former county chief financial officer Bella Marshall "indicating that mental health funds were used to pay for the county executive's press secretary or other county employees that were not performing mental health functions."
Marshall on Thursday said: "I have no idea what they are talking about."
The investigation is the latest involving mental health. The News reported in December the FBI has subpoenaed the county for information about a $70,000 contract for suicide-prevention programs in 2008. The contract, to an ex-husband of a Ficano fundraiser, called for 12 forums at area schools. Only two occurred.
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