McGuiness Used States Funds to Pay Firststateupdate.com to Publish a Glowing Press Release?
It sure seems like she did. See the “Source” below. Also note that the “article” makes no mention of the brazen criminality the “auditor” will stand trial for. BTW – I’m just putting the whole thing here because, being a press release that they posted verbatim, it is not the intellectual property of any website.
State Auditor Kathy McGuiness Honored As Delaware’s Pharmacist of the Year
State Auditor Kathy McGuiness was honored as “Delaware’s Pharmacist of the Year” by the Delaware Pharmacist Society (DPS) at their annual conference in Newark. Founded in 1886 as a non-profit, professional association for pharmacists in the State of Delaware, DPS advocates on behalf of its members and promotes public health through the practice of pharmacy.
“It is an honor to be presented with the Pharmacist of the Year Award,” said McGuiness. “This past year has truly highlighted the role pharmacists play as a resource to a community’s health and I am proud to work alongside so many talented, caring individuals.”
McGuiness, a licensed immunizing pharmacist and the highest state-elected pharmacist in the country, has released three special reports so far on the impact that PBMs are having in Delaware. These reports – titled “Lack of Transparency & Accountability in Drug Pricing Could be Costing Taxpayers Millions”, “Millions in Pharmaceutical Savings are Achievable Within Delaware’s Correctional Facilities Without Compromising Service”, and “Predatory Practices: Survey Says Middlemen Destroying Delaware’s Independent Pharmacies” – have garnered national attention and helped to shine a light on how PBMs have overcharged Delaware taxpayers by millions of dollars.
McGuiness, a 1997 Bowl of Hygeia recipient, was honored in October among other award recipients, including: Tom Kolowski (Harry C. Zeisig Award), Megan Wiley (Bowl of Hygeia Award), Wendy Bailey (Friend of Pharmacy Award), Brandy Willey (Young Pharmacist Award), Chai Gadde (Excellence in Innovation Award) and Rachel Philipp (Pharmacy Technician of the Year).
“Pharmacists have the unique ability of being analytical and having a scientific mind while also being compassionate and having empathy,” McGuiness said. “If the last year and a half has proven anything, it is that even when many do not trust their governments, they trust their pharmacists. We are the first line of defense.”
Source: State of Delaware
Also – why would the “State of Delaware” write and send out a press release about an award that has nothing to do with her “job” as “auditor?”
Each state agency can publish its own press releases through the news.delaware.gov website. In this case, the State Auditor’s Office, staffed by McGuinness’s employees, self-published this.
Yes, this. There’s nothing about this indicating that she paid FSU to run it. The news release is posted online at the state’s news site and was presumably sent to local media.
https://news.delaware.gov/2021/11/23/auditor-mcguiness-named-pharmacist-of-the-year/
It’s a long way from when she got a letter of reprimand from the state pharmacy board for failing to supervise her staff when a patient’s prescription was mis-filled.
Also, wondering how much time on the job is required to qualify as Pharmacist of the Year. One might think that auditor is considered a full-time position. (Of course, in her tenure, the office hasn’t gained any recognition for the number of audits it has conducted.)
This story’s weird. My wife’s a pharmacist. She works a lot of hours. When did she receive the award? Before or after she was indicted? Did she even practice as a pharmacist during the past year?
Far more questions than answers in what passes for this story.
The DPS conference referenced in the “article” was in October, so she is the Reigning Pharmacist of the Year
I think I’ve got it figured out. She got the award b/c she devoted state resources to publishing propaganda to challenge drug ‘middlemen’. They were written specifically on behalf of ‘independent pharmacies’, like hers.
It was a misuse of state resources and yet another example of her ethical bankruptcy. She probably didn’t fill a single prescription last year. But she DID use auditor dollars to lobby on behalf of her own pharmacy, far outside the mission of the Auditor’s office.
What a disgrace for the Delaware Pharmacist Society to hand this award to a non-practicing pharmacist who acted as an unpaid lobbyist.
Apologize for the diversion, but it is tangentially related. Just saw an ad about holding insurance companies and middleman accountable andto call Chris Coons. The sponsor of the ad flipped by so quickly I couldn’t catch it. Does anyone know anything about this issue? I call Coons’ office relatively frequently to ask him to hold Republicans accountable and stop focusing on bipartisanship with a party whose sole purpose is to oppose anything Democrats propose. TIA.
Don’t know about that. But Big Pharma runs ads encouraging us to call Carper and Coons to thank them for doing Big Pharma’s bidding.
Of course, they don’t phrase it like that…
Not sure if FirstStateUpdate (who quickly removed all the comments from their facebook article of course) was paid to run it, I saw a truncated version of the release on Delaware Business Now… of course they mentioned the indictment.
Is it possible the DPS just didn’t know about the indictment when she was selected?
The indictment was October 11. The conference was October 21-22. They knew all about it when they gave her the award.
http://www.dpsrx.org/~dpsrxorg/2021-dps-annual-convention/
Well THAT’S disappointing.
If she is convicted of felony theft I think she loses the pharmacy license. Very strange.