Thorburn ‘behavior’ under fire
The outspoken head of the Spokane Regional Health District is in a familiar situation – in trouble again with one of her bosses.
Spokane County Commissioner Mark Richard contends Dr. Kim Thorburn has shown a “pattern of disrespectful behavior” with some of her comments at public meetings, to the media and via e-mail.
But Thorburn said it’s her job to communicate to the public and to advocate for public health. And Washington law backs that claim.
At the Sept. 22 Board of Health meeting, Richard, a health board member as well as county commissioner, raised concerns about Thorburn’s “pattern of disrespectful behavior.” He said she “exercises poor judgment and borders on insubordination,” according to minutes from that meeting.
Richard didn’t return a call for comment Monday but spoke at length about his complaints at the September meeting:
“ In at least two articles published in The Spokesman-Review in September, Thorburn voiced opinion about air quality and accused the county commissioners of being too business-friendly, he said. “He (Richard) finds that Dr. Thorburn is finding it very convenient to use The Spokesman-Review to communicate a message,” the minutes state.
“ Thorburn, in an e-mail exchange, expressed “dissatisfaction with this (health) board as a whole and its approach or lack of support towards public health,” Richard said. He then listed ways in which county commissioners and the health board have supported public health, such as the county’s dedication of $7 million to mental health programs for children over the next eight years.
“ Richard apparently believed Thorburn snubbed him at an American Red Cross meeting last summer, shortly after county commissioners rejected her bid to form a mosquito control district. Thorburn told Richard the seats at her table were taken and then displayed angry body language, he said.
Thorburn said Monday she was taken aback by Richard’s comments. She isn’t trying to be disrespectful, she said, but trying to do her job.
“My job is to advocate in the best way I can to protect the health of the community,” Thorburn said.
She said she doesn’t take her complaints to the media, but does answer reporters’ questions when she’s called upon – something she considers a duty of public employees.
One of The Spokesman-Review articles in question was about the governing style of new county commissioners. In that Sept. 11 story, several sources pointed to business-friendly decisions by that body.
Thorburn was quoted as saying, “There’s a tendency to look at health protection, which very often is done through regulation, as just another hurdle to businesses and development. Right now we have a board of commissioners where they come from that kind of thinking about government.”
She continued, “… When it’s who complains the loudest that gets special treatment, is that fair to all business owners?”
Thorburn and the health board battled over enforcing rules for espresso stands in 2004. Thorburn sent a sarcastic, half-written e-mail to then-Commissioner Kate McCaslin, who was a health board member and was among those cautioning the health district not be too “heavy-handed” with its enforcement of espresso stand rules.
In their e-mail exchanges, Thorburn accused McCaslin of an “abuse of power,” and McCaslin accused Thorburn of “insubordination.”
In response, the board gave Thorburn a vote of no confidence in December. The current health board hasn’t reversed the no-confidence vote.
Thorburn’s comments on clean air were made at a public meeting in September and were reported by the newspaper. She joined about 50 other citizens who turned out to support the work of the Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority and its embattled director, Eric Skelton.
SCAPCA “is an important public health partner,” Thorburn said Monday. “Clean air is extremely important to the public health of the community.”
State law requires Thorburn and other health district officers to speak out on health issues.
The e-mail exchange Richard raised began with a Seattle Times editorial Thorburn forwarded to the board members on July 22. The piece encouraged more awareness of the role of public health and noted the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s investment in it.
“At least the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation understands that public health is a good investment,” Thorburn wrote in the e-mail.
Richard responded by asking, “Are you saying that we do not?”
Thorburn replied that during her eight years as health officer, “our revenue has not grown and more recently, it has shrunk, mostly due to general funding cuts. We have gone from 270 employees to 230 employees and valuable and effective programs have been cut. Quite frankly, I don’t feel there’s a lot of support for public health.”
Thorburn said Richard replied to that e-mail, but the district’s information officer couldn’t obtain the e-mail Monday and Thorburn was out of town, away from her computer.
As for her behavior at the Red Cross meeting, Thorburn said she was told the seats near her were taken so she relayed that to Richard when he asked to sit down. She said she didn’t realize she was giving off negative body language.
Richard wasn’t on the board in 2004. But board Chairman Dick Denenny said the recent problems are a carryover from last year’s conflict. The board is partly to blame for not clearly defining its expectations of Thorburn but is writing a new process for evaluating her, he said.
At the Sept. 22 meeting, the board agreed to handle the situation as a personnel matter. Then, last week at its monthly meeting, the board held a private, executive session and didn’t take any public action on the situation.