Distressing indictments

No one who investigated the goings-on at the Community Mental Health Center of East Central Georgia last year is surprised at the 30-count indictment handed down by the federal grand jury in Savannah.

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The Augusta Chronicle investigation, followed by a couple of condemnatory state audits, seemed to substantiate allegations made by an employee of the institution that the center was rife with cronyism and corruption.

Sadly, it's not surprising either that lobbyist and former state Rep. Robin Williams, R-Augusta, is at the heart of the indictment, which charges health care fraud and money-laundering in a scheme to defraud the mental health center out of a couple of million dollars.

More specifically, the indictment charges that Williams, using his position as a legislator, in 1999 got a crony, C. Michael Brockman, hired as business manager at the center for a state-funded salary of $68,000 a year. Williams then allegedly lined up firms to do business with the center on the understanding that part of those fees would be kicked back to him. The indictment claims the ex-lawmaker received more than $800,000.

Other charges include bribery, receiving a bribe and making false statements to federal investigators and the grand jury. Several other lobbyists, including Rick Camp, a former Atlanta Braves pitcher, also have been indicted.

Williams and the others are, of course, not guilty until proven otherwise. But if they are guilty, they deserve to have the book thrown at them.

However the case turns out, it will likely leave Williams badly scarred. At one time he had a promising political career with a can-do reputation, even running for mayor of Augusta two years ago.

But the real victims in the schemes that the indictment cites were the people the mental health center serves. It is the sole provider of mental health services for thousands of patients in our region, especially the indigent who have been turned down elsewhere. The center also cares for about 120 developmentally disabled people in the community.

Whatever scandalous goings-on happened out there, it happened on the backs of our area's most vulnerable residents. Facing a $1 million deficit, the center almost went under last year but was saved just in time by a $900,000 bailout. Fortunately, it's doing better now under new management.

But one of the lessons to be learned is that the state needs to develop better oversight of these community mental health centers. State audits discover the damage after it's been done – which is like shutting the barn door after the horses escape. More active and involved oversight could prevent the damage in the first place.

--From the Friday, May 28, 2004 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle