Anne Fox Has Suits Postponed Idaho State School Chief Suing Charity Over Grant Writing Fees

FOR THE RECORD: Tuesday, April 11, 1995 CORRECTION: The Associated Press erroneously identified the occupation of state Schools Superintnedent Anne Fox’s second husband in a March 26 story about court delays in lawsuits involving her. Fox’s ex-husband is chief engineer at the Kootenai Medical Center.

State Schools Superintendent Anne Fox will not face a Christian charity in a Kootenai County courtroom this week.

Fox’s $114,000 lawsuit against the Society of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic charity, originally scheduled to begin today, has been delayed one year.

One of Fox’s three private attorneys, Michael Johnson, requested the delay early this year. He said Fox’s “hectic work schedule” makes her “unable to set aside adequate time to meet with her attorney and to prepare for the trial …”

Also delayed indefinitely: the lawsuit between Fox and her ex-husband - John Kenneth Fox of Coeur d’Alene.

Anne Fox was granted a divorce from her second husband, a hospital maintenance worker, just days after entering the race for superintendent in 1994.

Fox filed suit against St. Vincent de Paul in February of 1994.

The 52-year-old Fox says the charity promised to pay her $134,000 for writing a 72-page grant request in the spring of 1992. Instead she received just $21,400 for writing the $1.34 million grant.

But the Coeur d’Alene charity says Fox used fraud and misrepresentation to get St. Vincent de Paul’s business, then bungled the grantwriting job. Fox’s contract with the charity called for her to get a 10 percent cut of the federal money if her grant request was successful, the charity said.

The charity says Fox told it a 10 percent contingent fee arrangement was standard in the grant writing industry. In fact, the charity says, such fee arrangements are illegal and a violation of grant-writing ethics.

Fox allegedly told the charity it could use the government grant money to pay for her $134,000 fee.

Fox denies this allegation, saying she “graphically” told them her $134,000 fee would come from profits raised at the charity’s second-hand thrift store.

Another Fox attorney, Howard Manweiler, says the charity’s claims are “outrageous and unsupportable.”