According to PennLive, former Dauphin County Commissioner Jeffrey Haste, who was already the target of contentious contracts, received close to a quarter of a million dollars from PrimeCare Medical, the county jail’s medical provider, during his tenure in office.
While Haste was being paid by the corporation, the amount the county paid PrimeCare climbed dramatically, but Haste chose not to vote on the increases. When questioned if he had any say in such choices, county officials remained silent.
Haste was also expected to supervise the company’s performance at the jail while he was being paid by it.
While Haste was being paid by PrimeCare, 13 inmates—including Ty Rique Riley, 21, and Jimmy King, 50—died at Dauphin County Prison. Commissioners at the time remained mainly silent on the issues, despite the fact that both of those fatalities raised concerns about the quality of the medical care they received.
King’s family reached an undisclosed settlement with PrimeCare for their wrongful death and negligence allegations, while Riley’s death lawsuit is currently pending.
According to PrimeCare CEO Tom Weber, Haste started receiving $60,000 annually as a consultant for the prison healthcare company in March 2017.
According to Weber, Haste received a letter of opinion from the county solicitor stating that working for PrimeCare would not be unethical as long as he abstained from voting on any company-related issues, which he did.
According to Weber, Haste and Carl Hoffman, the creator and previous owner of PrimeCare, had developed a relationship based on respect and trust.
According to Weber, the creator thought Mr. Haste might assist open doors outside of Pennsylvania because of his national standing as a county leader.
Haste had been a county commissioner for around 15 years at that point, and she had voted in favor of PrimeCare contracts worth millions of dollars. When he began receiving compensation from the corporation, he was also the chair of the county prison board, which is in charge of the jail. By 2018, Haste gave Commissioner Michael Pries the chair.
A draft budget that will keep county property taxes in check was approved by the Dauphin County Commissioners, from left, George Hartwick III, Chairman Jeff Haste, and Mike Pries.
Haste mentioned receiving compensation from PrimeCare during this period on his yearly financial disclosure forms, although he did not specify the amount. The minutes of the 2017 commissioners’ meetings indicate that he did not vote on PrimeCare, although they do not specify why.
PennLive reached out to Haste for comment, but she did not reply.
According to Weber, Haste’s duties mostly involved assisting in the expansion of the company outside of Pennsylvania.
Haste was expected to support PrimeCare’s growth in New Hampshire, Maryland, and New York in this capacity.
After Hoffman sold the business to Weber and a number of other PrimeCare workers, Haste was still paid by the company until the end of August 2020. According to Weber, Haste received over $210,000 in total compensation for his consultancy work.
Weber attested to Haste attended at least two trade exhibitions, conducted market research, and traveled on at least one circuit to meet with counties on behalf of PrimeCare.
However, Weber claims that his efforts did not immediately lead to any new contracts with PrimeCare, thus they split up.
Mr. Haste quit his job because the current ownership decided that PCM’s reputation and the confidence we had established with the facility management in NY, MD, and NH were the main sources of our success in those states, Weber stated in an email.
According to Weber, he could not locate another example of PrimeCare placing an individual who was actively employed by the county government as a consultant or employee on their payroll. However, he stated that because of their experience, it is typical for the custodial industry to hire former government officials.
Dauphin County commissioners accepted an update to Haste’s contract for health services at the jail, which delivered an additional almost $200,000 to PrimeCare, during the first year of Haste’s consulting work with PrimeCare. Additionally, commissioners authorized a new contract with the business at the end of 2018, increasing the county’s spending on jail healthcare services by $1 million over 2017.
Chalon Young, a professor of practice at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, told PennLive that while it’s conceivable Haste didn’t break the Pennsylvania Ethics Act, a more thorough investigation is necessary because of the numerous coincidences and overlaps among the parties.
According to Young, Haste’s financial connection to PrimeCare raises concerns about his capacity to supervise the services the company was offering the county, which was his duty as a jail board member and commissioner.
“The very organization that he is supposed to examine to make sure that prisoners are treated fairly and receive the medical care they require is paying him,” she added. How is he supposed to be fair? How can impartiality and transparency of judgment be guaranteed if the treatment provided to the prisoners is the subject of an investigation? He has a financial interest in the organization he is meant to manage.
Commissioner George Hartwick and Pries, who worked with Haste from 2017 to 2020 and are still in office, were questioned by PennLive about any interactions Haste may have had with them or other county workers that would have been interpreted as an attempt to sway their votes on PrimeCare issues.
Pries and Hartwick did not answer.
On September 18, Hartwick and Pries received the queries regarding that and other jail-related issues. In a written answer dated September 25, Dauphin County Prison attorney Frank Lavery sent inquiries regarding Haste to PrimeCare.
On September 26, PennLive once more requested a direct answer from Pries and Hartwick, and on September 27, they acknowledged receipt of the request.
Once more, Hartwick and Pries remained silent.
The only commissioner to reply to PennLive’s request is Commissioner Justin Douglas, who was appointed earlier this year.
In an email, Douglas stated that it is extremely unethical for a county commissioner to profit financially from a county vendor. A blatant conflict of interest like this erodes public confidence and goes against the duty to serve with honesty and integrity. Unfortunately, Dauphin County has allowed this deplorable behavior to continue for far too long, and it is time for it to stop.
Since 1988, PrimeCare has offered medical services in Dauphin County Prison. The county is only now undertaking its first independent audit of the business, and in that nearly 40-year period, it has never called for bids from other companies.
Haste started getting $60,000 annually from the Dauphin County Economic Development Corporations to act as a liaison between the county and the NRA a year after his employment with PrimeCare came to an end. A now-false notion that the NRA was considering moving its yearly outdoor event out of Dauphin County served as the basis for the role. Haste is still compensated even after PennLive’s research revealed the story was untrue.
Recently, Haste has also come under fire for his role in the county Industrial Development Authority’s payment of forland to Dauphin County Coroner Graham Hetrick and Hetrick’s family in exchange for a solar farm. Haste was living on the property at the time of the sale as Hetrick s tenant. The county is in discussions to sell the solar farm after it was finally determined to be unprofitable.
Additionally, he has faced criticism for his vote to donate funds to Visit Hershey Harrisburg, the county’s tourism bureau, while his wife, Maria Haste, was employed there as a contractor.
Stories by
Joshua Vaughn