The Cincinnati Beacon

Last month your papers endorsed Dr. Victoria Wulsin to be the Democratic Party candidate in this year’s Ohio 2nd Congressional race.

One accusation concerns Wulsin’s one-time work reviewing malarial therapy for AIDS experiments for the Heimlich Institute. (Steve) Black said the work was unethical. It was controversial, but Wulsin claims she was not directly involved in the experiments, and that when she wrote a negative review of the work, she was fired...In our view, Black’s attacks are based more on innuendo than fact. Voters in the district deserve better from serious candidates.

Dr. Wulsin had a remarkable resume of medical work, both
here and abroad. She had devoted years to humanitarian causes...Mr. Black is running a negative campaign against Dr. Wulsin, saying she’s been investigated on a medical ethics issue...The attacks don’t wash...Dr. Wulsin would bring unusual experiences, sensibilities and ability to Washington...(She) is the right choice.

I’m requesting your help in order to verify a fact which pertains to your endorsements.

For the past few years, The Beacon has been reporting about Dr. Wulsin’s connections to the Heimlich Institute’s “malariotherapy” experiments. Well before the March 4th Election Day, I sent the following request to Enquirer reporter Margaret McGurk:

Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2008 10:20:42 -0500
From: “The Dean of Cincinnati”
To:
Subject: media inquiry

Margaret McGurk
Cincinnati Enquirer

Dear Ms. McGurk,

From your 2/17/08 article, The Debunko Squad - Wulsin’s work criticized.

(Dr.) Wulsin worked for the (Heimlich) institute in 2004...

Please provide me with the source of information on which you based this claim.

Thanks and looking forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

[The Dean of Cincinnati]
The Cincinnati Beacon

I wrote to Ms. McGurk because Dr. Wulsin failed to respond to multiple requests in which I asked if she was employed by the Heimlich Institute, by Dr. Henry Heimlich, or by another entity. I wrote to Ms. McGurk because lately Dr. Wulsin has been dodging the Beacon and I figured she was less likely to avoid an Enquirer reporter. I also assumed that if she were a good reporter, Ms. McGurk would want to back up her own work and as well as provide Enquirer readers with accurate information. A few days later, the Enquirer’s February 24 editorial endorsement included a re-statement of the same claim, that Dr. Wulsin worked for the Heimlich Institute, so I sent Ms. McGurk a February 26 follow-up request, copied to her editor Carl Weiser and to you, Mr. Wells. I never received a reply.

Why is the identity of Dr. Wulsin’s employer of interest and why am I contacting you?

First, if as has been alleged, Dr. Wulsin participated in violative, possibly illegal medical experiments, the role of her employer may be consequential. The Heimlich Institute is a wholly-owned corporate subsidiary of The Deaconess Associations Inc. If Dr. Wulsin was employed by the Heimlich Institute, she would have been be paid by Deaconess which presumably would also maintain her employment records.

Second, Dr. Wulsin has repeatedly claimed to have worked for the Heimlich Institute and to have interacted with the Deaconess board. If she has been telling the truth, why won’t she provide some verification?

Third, her employment dates don’t scan. A January 21, 2005 Cincinnati Business Courier article states that Dr. Wulsin worked for the Heimlich Institute from February-May 2004. But, per the Enquirer endorsement, Dr. Wulsin claims she was fired after she turned in a critical report. That’s the rub: her report is dated December 2004, six months after she was allegedly fired in May.

Dr. Wulsin is running for national office. Your newspapers endorsed her and cast aspersions on the allegations of misconduct raised by her opponent. The Enquirer’s endorsement even stated “Black’s attacks are based more on innuendo than fact.” I’ve done my best to obtain the information from Dr. Wulsin, Ms. McGurk, and from Deaconess. I haven’t received a reply from any of them. You’re responsible for your paper’s editorial pages. All I’m asking it that you back up your endorsements with one simple bit of fact-checking.

Would you please contact Deaconess Associations and Dr. Wulsin, ask them to provide documentation verifying Dr. Wulsin’s dates of employment and job title, and let me know how they respond?

This column has been printed from The Cincinnati Beacon: Where Divergent Views Collide!

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