Did Anti-Palin Blogger Get Paid For No-Show Job?
The Jesse Griffin story gets stranger. The job he lost as a kindergarten teaching assistant was apparently part time, with his main job being at a Montessori school, where people say they've never seen him.
That is the question raised by Dan Riehl's newest discoveries about anti-Palin blogger Jesse Griffin, a/k/a "Gryphen," whose false "exclusive" report Aug. 1 began this investigation:
A business enterprise, Clinica Sierra Vista, Inc. (CSV), linked to [Catherine New and Eligio White] recently collected over $4 million of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) dollars as part of an overall effort in support of community-based health care centers being touted by Barack and Michelle Obama. . . .
Former Alaska resident Catherine New is married to the head of CSV, Eligio G. White. New is also linked to the Puffin Heights Montessori School identified as Griffin's employer. . . .
It's a 2,400-word blockbuster, so read the whole thing and remember: Dan is just asking questions, the way Griffin/"Gryphen" has been doing for months.
UPDATE: Several of Dan's commenters seem unable to connect the dots in his very long article. It helps if you will print out the article and go over it with pen in hand, as I did. In Dan's comment field, I posted this summary for the benefit of anyone who didn't get the picture:
1. Jesse Griffin's "employer of record" is Puffin Heights Montessori school.
2. Employees of that school told Dan that they have never seen Griffin at the school.
3. Former Alaska resident Catherine New was once listed as "primary contact" for the Puffin Heights school.
4. The Puffin Heights school was apparently bankrupted by IRS tax judgments and reorganized circa 2002, with "Yolanda Baber" listed as head of the LLC.
5. Joseph Culligan has been unable to verify the existence of a "Yolanda Baber" in Anchorage.
6. Meanwhile, Catherine New and her husband, Eligio White, have prospered in the health-care industry and are "progressive" activists whose business recently received $4.3 million of stimulus money.
We could speculate about what all this means, but if this Puffin Heights Montessori was indeed paying Griffin for a "no-show job," the big question is: Why?
The fact that Catherine New has listed her occupation as "journalist" (!!) raises even more questions. For whom does she work as a journalist?
'GRYPHEN': TIMELINE of the INVESTIGATION
UPDATE II: People who aren't familiar with what Dan Riehl does may need to understand that (a) an amazing amount of data is available as public records; (b) there are research methods that don't involve Google; and (c) most people don't even know how to use Google very effectively.
While not at liberty to discuss Dan's methods, I can now tell you that he told me about this Montessori thing more than a week ago (late Aug. 2 or early Aug. 3) but at that time we had no idea what it meant.
Given the value of Griffin's home (more than $300,000) and his salary from his part-time public-school job at Trailside Elementary in Anchorage, it was obvious that the financial picture didn't add up. The way Puffin Heights Montessori was listed on the public records, it wasn't clear whether Griffin was working there simultaneously with the Trailside job, or if it was a previous employer.
Meanwhile, on his own "Immoral Minority" blog, Griffin was saying different things and it was hard to know what was true or not, as Griffin appears to be a compulsive liar. At one point, Griffin said that the Anchorage public-school gig -- which he resigned Aug. 4 -- was not his main employer.
Means, Motive, Opportunity
Griffin's money situation had intrigued me from the beginning. Why? Because in his big Aug. 1 "exclusive," he'd referenced a National Enquirer story, talked about one of his "best sources," and mentioned vaguely that Alaska newspapers were working on some kind of related Palin scandal story.
Hmmmm. Everybody in journalism knows that the National Enquirer is willing to pay for information. Had Griffin parlayed his status as an anti-Palin blogger into some sort of freelance work for the Enquirer? I mentioned that possibility to Dan Riehl -- just wild speculation on my part -- but Dan was so busy going over the public records that he laughed off that suggestion.
Still -- and hey, we're just asking questions -- who is Jesse's "best source"? Why was Jesse willing to risk a libel suit by passing along that source's gossip? And what is the source's motive for dishing dirt? This is where Dennis Zaki's confirmation by "multiple sources" raises more questions.
Zaki specified that one of his sources was a "former Palin staffer"; days later, Zaki reported that a former Palin staff was trying to sell a tell-all book. (Remember that it was Zaki who stupidly outed Griffin as an Alaska kindergarten teacher; if he has now idiotically put the finger on his "former Palin staffer" source, it just goes to show what a subnormal geek Dennis Zaki is.)
All of this goes to the "motive" part of the classic formula of "means, motive and opportunity" when detectives are trying to solve a crime. Some of my commenters have speculated that Levi Johnston -- the hockey goon/baby daddy who gave an interview to Radar Online today, dishing dirt on the Palins -- may be one of Jesse's sources.
A moron feeding tips to a liar? Hey, if I was threatened with a libel suit and "one of my best sources" was none other than Levi "Ricky Hollywood" Johnston, I'd retract in a New York heartbeat. (And if I was somebody who cared about Levi Johnston, I'd tell him to stay away from Alaksa henceforth.)
Celebrities and Sell-By Dates
If you know anything about what Hollywood is like nowadays, every two-bit D-lister in L.A. will tell you his agent's trying to get him a reality-TV gig. Probably 90% of reality-show "development" deals go nowhere, so Levi Johnston's 15 minutes of fame are likely to end without him ever cashing any big checks. Ditto the ex-Palin staffer who is hustling a tell-all about Sarah.
Meanwhile, here is Jesse Griffin, one of the left-wing Alaska blogospheric myrmidons who've spent the past 11 months trashing Palin online for the amusement of PDS-affected "progressives" worldwide. Now that Palin's resigned as governor and the spotlight has shifted, the blog-o-bucks are harder to get for the Alaskasphere, and everybody -- ex-staffers, "Ricky Hollywood," Griffin, his blog buddies -- is trying to cash in before the sell-by date expires on this dirt-dishing bonanza.
Just a guess, but Griffin's evident belief that the Anchorage Daily News was about to publish its own "Palin scandal" story probably tells us something about who Griffin's sources are. And speaking of "just asking questions," if I was the editor of the Daily News, I'd be asking my reporters if any of them were hustling book deals or talking shop with "friends" outside the newsroom.
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Catherine New was once listed as primary contact for the school according to the Montessori Foundation. Given that Leslie Barrera has also been officially affiliated with the school as one owner during its entire period of operation, it would seem to indicate that New and Barrera should be acquainted.
Based upon their histories, activities and associations, Catherine New and her husband, Eligio G. White, both appear to be progressive political actors. Documents show that the couple resided in Alaska as far back as 1996, near the time the Puffin Heights school was launched. According to a comment posted on a website, New and White maintained a home in Alaska for some time after leaving the state:
"Terrence, I do hope you realize how very much we appreciate your exemplary management of our home. I think you know that we have experience with less effective property managers outside of Alaska. It's satisfying to link up a friend and colleague with a pro like you." - Catherine New
Records indicate they also own homes in Utah and California. Catherine New is listed as a self-employed journalist and Obama personal contributor ($750) here. However, according to Joe Culligan of Web of Deception, at some point her employment was listed as a Director of Brian for Utah, supporting Brian Watkins, a progressive Democrat with a blog presence who has run for Congress in the past. A call to their California home seeking comment from New and White went unanswered; no machine picked up to leave a message. That is the only one of their known addresses for which a phone number was available for this report.
Catherine New's husband, Eligio G. White, has other influential titles beyond CSV. He plays other roles pertinent to the ongoing health care debate and the industry's potential future under substantive reform.
White is also the immediate past Chairman of the Board of Directors for the National Association of Community Health Centers Association (NACHC), a large organization that spends large sums of money (see p 15 of this pdf) on lobbying and grassroots organizing. He's also listed here.
Immediate Past Chair Community Medical Centers, Inc. 7210 Murray Drive Stockton, CA 95210-0779 Phone: 209/373-2827 Fax: 209/373-2873 Email Eligio G. White
More on White hereand see Clinica Sierra Vista, where he has been CEO and Deputy CEO and according to this release from May, 2009, he is CSV's head. Some real estate, including a Salt Lake City home and presumably any wealth are now in a family protection trust. The community health concept is endorsed by Obama here via the NACHC, as well.
From humble beginnings in a storefront warehouse, Clinica Sierra Vista has grown to become one of the largest, private, non-profit, community based and governed agencies in California. We are a leader in the provision of primary health care and preventive health education services. We are also a multi-institutional model for rural health care delivery. Since 1971, Clinica Sierra Vista has grown to twenty-four sites, with over 900 employees. We are a testament to what can be accomplished when there is a sincere desire to serve.
White seems to turn up almost everywhere at the highest level of activism as regards health care reform.
Out of the $850 million Michelle Obama was pushing during a visit to a community health center last month, Clinica Sierra Vista made off with over $4.3 million in taxpayer dollars:
First Lady Michelle Obama paid a visit to a Washington, D.C., health center to underscore the critical role the national network of health centers play in health care. She visited Unity’s Upper Cardozo Health Center to announce the Obama Administration’s support for the renovation and modernization of health centers through the American Recovery and Re-Investment Act (ARRA), with the allocation $850 Million to construct or renovate health centers in urban and rural areas.
The sum received by CSV seems to have significantly exceeded the funds received by most similar firms.
There are now more questions in need of answering. But there's only so much one blogger with a keyboard and a cell phone can achieve. However, in the spirit of Jesse Griffin, why not briefly ask more pointed questions, too?
WHY DID JESSE CHANGE?
With the nomination of Sarah Palin as Republican Vice-Presidential candidate everything seemed to change for Jesse Griffin. Remember, just months earlier he had positive things to say about Sarah Palin, including the birth of son Trig. That's no longer the case.
Records indicate he has shared an address with a much younger man, possibly a step-son, Kyle Sisseck, age approximately 22, who according to public records may have multiple felony arrests between 2007 and 2009 for assault, multiple felony thefts and also shoplifting. There are also traffic tickets for no right-side mirror, proof of insurance and other offenses.
Griffin also seems to have an active mortgage of approximately $300k from 2005 when ex-wife Deann R. Griffin left. She seems to have remarried shortly thereafter. Though having her out of state address and phone number I've opted to not contact her at this time. The above facts and more have been known to me since early in the investigation but were withheld as they provided no additional pertinent context to the earlier postings on anti-Palin blogger Jesse Griffin. Now I believe they do.
What made Jesse Griffin change as regards Sarah Palin? Could it be a failed marriage and troubled family life in the face of a family that seems so contented, successful and genuinely loving and giving as the Palins do? Could it be the weight of a $300,000 mortgage loan taken out in November of 2005 coupled with additional expenses and the need for some cash particularly due to a departed spouse and assistance for some possible legal fees?
It's impossible to say, really. Having now observed Griffin over time, looking into him a bit, I can imagine any number of motivations for him to make a change. Perhaps one day we'll find out. But we're "just asking questions," right? Just like Jesse Griffin does.
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