A former nurse practitioner at New Hampshire Hospital accuses Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan of putting politics before patient safety in a new attack ad launched by Republicans.
Victoria Cronin criticizes Hassan in the 30-second spot as “corrupt” or “inept” in her management of a $36.5 million contract that puts Dartmouth-Hitchcock in charge of psychiatric care at the state hospital. The medical provider won the state contract earlier this month, two days before it announced plans to layoff between 270 to 460 employees by year’s end.
Chief Executive Officer James Weinstein has said the cuts won’t affect New Hampshire Hospital, the Concord facility that treats adults and children with severe mental illness. But the news sparked concern among executive councilors who weren’t aware of the planned layoffs before they approved the three-year contract.
Cronin was among nearly a dozen medical employees who left the hospital in July amid a labor dispute with Dartmouth-Hitchcock.
In ad funded by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Cronin said she and others tried to warn Hassan, who is now running for U.S. Senate against Republican incumbent Kelly Ayotte.
“Maggie Hassan’s priority is not the safety and welfare of the patients at New Hampshire Hospital,” Cronin says in the ad. “As to the layoffs of up to 460 people, if Maggie Hassan knew about it, she’s corrupt. If she didn’t know about it, she’s inept.”
When reached by phone Friday, Cronin referred all questions to Concord attorney Sean List, who represented a group of hospital psychiatric staff as they tried to negotiate employment terms with Dartmouth-Hitchcock last spring. List did not immediately return a call for comment. Cronin authored a “My Turn” column in the Monitor this week criticizing Hassan and calling on Health and Human Services Commissioner Jeffrey Meyers to resign over his handling of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock contract.
Hassan’s campaign called the NRSC attacks “baseless” and tied the ad to Ayotte.
“Ayotte’s discredited Washington special interest backers will do anything to try to protect their reliable vote in the Senate, including launching false attacks politicizing the heroin and opioid crisis that have been called ‘disgusting,’ ‘trash,’ and ‘exactly what is wrong with politics,’ ” said Hassan Communications Director Aaron Jacobs in a statement.
The NRSC has released multiple ads in recent weeks panning Hassan’s handling of the state’s opioid crisis, including one ad that features well-known recovery advocate Melissa Crews. Crews accused Hassan of mishandling the state’s heoin crisis and resigned from the board of Hope for New Hampshire Recovery after facing push back for appearing in the ad.
The Executive Council opted this week to keep staffing contract with Dartmouth-Hitchcock, despite Republican councilor Chris Sununu’s call to rebid the deal.
Dartmouth-Hitchcock was the only bidder to take over the contract from Dartmouth College, which has managed psychiatric care at the hospital since the 1980s.
Meyers said the department’s top priority is ensuring patient care.
“Dartmouth-Hitchcock has provided its commitment to ensuring that any potential layoffs will have no impact on the services and numbers of professionals required under the terms of the new contract with the Department,” he said in a statement. “The Governor, Executive Council and the Department will hold Dartmouth-Hitchcock accountable for meeting these terms.”
The New Hampshire Republican party has filed right-to-know requests seeking communications between the state and Dartmouth-Hitchcock.
(Allie Morris can be reached at 369-3307 or amorris@cmonitor.com)