Another Link in the Chain of GOP Corruption.

[Mark S.]

April 29, 2006

Ex-Head of F.D.A. Faces Criminal Inquiry

By GARDINER HARRIS

WASHINGTON, April 28 — Dr. Lester M. Crawford, the former commissioner of food and drugs, is under criminal investigation by a federal grand jury over accusations of financial improprieties and false statements to Congress, his lawyer said Friday.

The lawyer, Barbara Van Gelder, would not discuss the accusations further. In a court hearing held by telephone on Thursday, she told a federal magistrate that she would instruct Dr. Crawford to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against compelled self-incrimination if ordered to answer questions this week about his actions as head of the Food and Drug Administration, according to a transcript of the hearing.

Dr. Crawford did not reply to messages seeking comment, and Kathleen Quinn, an F.D.A. spokeswoman, declined to comment.

Dr. Crawford resigned in September, fewer than three months after the Senate confirmed him. He said then that it was time for someone else to lead the agency.

The next month, financial disclosure forms released by the Department of Health and Human Services showed that in 2004 either Dr. Crawford or his wife, Catherine, had sold shares in companies regulated by the agency when he was its deputy commissioner and acting commissioner. He has since joined a Washington lobbying firm, Policy Directions Inc.

The criminal investigation was disclosed at a court hearing in a lawsuit over the F.D.A.'s actions on the emergency contraceptive Plan B, a subject of bitter contention during Dr. Crawford's tenure as acting commissioner and commissioner. After the pill's maker, Barr Laboratories, applied three years ago to sell the pill over the counter, the agency repeatedly delayed making a decision on the application.

While many lawmakers, abortion rights advocates and former F.D.A. officials said the delays had resulted from politics, Dr. Crawford and other agency officials said their concerns were scientific and legal.

An advocacy group, the Center for Reproductive Rights, sued the agency in federal court in New York over the delays. Many such suits are quickly dismissed, but a federal judge allowed the case to proceed, giving the center the right to interview top F.D.A. officials, including Dr. Crawford.

Dr. Crawford was scheduled to be questioned under oath on Thursday, but on Wednesday Ms. Van Gelder, who is his personal lawyer, asked for a delay, saying she would instruct him to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights. Dr. Crawford previously declined to answer questions from the Government Accountability Office about Plan B.

Ms. Van Gelder told Magistrate Judge Viktor V. Pohorelsky of the District Court for the Eastern District of New York on Thursday that Dr. Crawford had been represented by Justice Department lawyers in the reproductive rights center's suit.

According to the transcript, she said that Dr. Crawford was under criminal investigation and that the issue of his financial disclosures "is within the grand jury."

Before Dr. Crawford's confirmation, the secretary of health and human services, Michael O. Leavitt, promised that the F.D.A. would act on the Plan B application by September 2005, a promise that led two Democratic senators, Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Patty Murray of Washington, to relent in their efforts to delay the nomination. But after he was confirmed, Dr. Crawford announced an indefinite delay that has remained in effect.

Simon Heller, a lawyer for the reproductive rights center, noted that the F.D.A. had long insisted that its actions regarding Plan B were not unusual.

"It would be remarkable if the Justice Department was conducting a criminal investigation of Plan B and at the same time asserting in a civil case that everything done was normal," Mr. Heller said.

[brian40]

The problem with you and funnygun is you both try to make it sound like just the other party is ****ed up, when in reality it is 99% of government.

[Mark S.]

Well 100% of the FEDERAL government is controlled by the GOP at the present time....

[brian40]

Originally Posted by Mark S.

Well 100% of the FEDERAL government is controlled by the GOP at the present time....

Wow 100%, had no idea all them dems lost their seats.

Anyway, do you realize how much fun the funnygun and Cpt. Ray are going to have with you if a dem wins the next election. You and bd and others are setting yourself up for some serious pummeling when they start going to jail, lying, screwing interns and such. I'm just hoping a hacker doesn't erase everything so these threads can come back to haunt you.

[brian40]

Also, I have no problems with these threads you guys put on here about corrupt officials, it is just the way you title them about those corrupt republicans and funnygun's corrupt democrats!

Cause I think they are all a bunch of scumbags.

[Mark S.]

With majorities in both houses of Congress and control of the White House, the GOP has 100% control of the federal government. The Dems have essentially no power at present.

[one-eyed-fatman]

Originally Posted by brian40

Also, I have no problems with these threads you guys put on here about corrupt officials, it is just the way you title them about those corrupt republicans and funnygun's corrupt democrats!

Cause I think they are all a bunch of scumbags.

Yeap

[beardman2]

no power? thats crazy talk.

[Captain Ray]

Aging hippie syndrome.. it's sad.. but there it is.

Don't beat up on Mark too much fella's.. it's not like he's married to Gina Davis or anything... just a tired old hippie who has not much to look forward to at the end of the day.

It's sad.. but he is the one who wants to be a liberal... it's none of my doing.

Raymond

[bd1]

Originally Posted by Captain Ray

Aging hippie syndrome.. it's sad.. but there it is.

Don't beat up on Mark too much fella's.. it's not like he's married to Gina Davis or anything... just a tired old hippie who has not much to look forward to at the end of the day.

It's sad.. but he is the one who wants to be a liberal... it's none of my doing.

Raymond

Another fine factual post from Ray.

Just call someone names and think that the battle has been won.

Stupid right wing neoconservatives.....name calling is all they got left...how pathetic that they are what's left to represent what was once referred to as the Grand Old Party.


bd