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Who Is Dr Pablo Stewart and Why Is He Willing To Sacrifice Lives For Newsom Money?
I just heard a debate on KQED between Dr Pablo Stewart and Chris Daly about Cash Not Care. While little new came up it was apparent that Dr Stewart had an agenda beyond reducing homeless deaths. I was struck by his references to SF as a magnate for the homeless and his unwillingness to condemn smear campaigns that by demonizing the homeless add to mental health issues. Is Stuart merely a hypocrite who wants to move homeless people out of SF rather than help them or is something else going on?
Here is a link to audio from the KQED debate online:
http://www.kqed.org/programs/program-landing-local.jsp?progID=RD19
The double talk from the city official interviewed is understandable but a such talk from the "director of psychiatry at the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic" seems very strange. I had heard Stewarts statements about deaths following GA payments before, but this time he makes his broader views clear when he starts making statements about the homeless problem as more of a problem for the city rather than a problem for the homeless themselves.
Perhaps Stewart does have the beliefs he claims to have about ODs and GA checks but why is he always being interviewed as a “health worker” when ALL the call-ins on the program from nurses and doctors (who deal with the homeless) contradicted him? His tone of voice and unwillingness to condemn the anti-homeless billboard campaign has the tone of a party hack rather than a health worker. Which leads one to an obvious question that deserves study? Does Stewart receive any money from Newsom? Does Stewart stand to gain from a Newsom win for mayor (by being promoted to a city position that pays more than his current job)?
Investigative work needs to be done since the use of a supposedly "unbiased homeless advocate" to promote Newsom's far right agenda sets a dangerous precedent. Gavin Newsom’s core base of support is farther to the right than any former mayoral candidate, yet he has enough money to disguise his real agenda with a multi-million dollar PR campaign (including fake call-ins to radio shows, fake letters to the editors, the placement of agent-provocateurs in anti-Newsom protests…). The Haight Ashbury Free Clinic does good work and its name should not be dragged through the mud to promote a far right agenda.
http://www.kqed.org/programs/program-landing-local.jsp?progID=RD19
The double talk from the city official interviewed is understandable but a such talk from the "director of psychiatry at the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic" seems very strange. I had heard Stewarts statements about deaths following GA payments before, but this time he makes his broader views clear when he starts making statements about the homeless problem as more of a problem for the city rather than a problem for the homeless themselves.
Perhaps Stewart does have the beliefs he claims to have about ODs and GA checks but why is he always being interviewed as a “health worker” when ALL the call-ins on the program from nurses and doctors (who deal with the homeless) contradicted him? His tone of voice and unwillingness to condemn the anti-homeless billboard campaign has the tone of a party hack rather than a health worker. Which leads one to an obvious question that deserves study? Does Stewart receive any money from Newsom? Does Stewart stand to gain from a Newsom win for mayor (by being promoted to a city position that pays more than his current job)?
Investigative work needs to be done since the use of a supposedly "unbiased homeless advocate" to promote Newsom's far right agenda sets a dangerous precedent. Gavin Newsom’s core base of support is farther to the right than any former mayoral candidate, yet he has enough money to disguise his real agenda with a multi-million dollar PR campaign (including fake call-ins to radio shows, fake letters to the editors, the placement of agent-provocateurs in anti-Newsom protests…). The Haight Ashbury Free Clinic does good work and its name should not be dragged through the mud to promote a far right agenda.
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He's probably not receiving money from Newsom. Pablo Stewart is just very conservative, that's all. Why he works at the Free Clinic is beyond me.
Last year when Dr. Stewart and Supv Newsom were crowing that the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic (HAFCl) supported Prop N, Dr. DarryI Inaba, the head of HAFCl published the following letter. It was printed, as I recall, in the Ex and SFBG. This is taken from the SFBG from 7/31/02.
*****************
HAFCI takes no position on Care Not Cash
It has come to our attention that the Haight Ashbury Free Clinics Inc. has been linked with both proponents and opponents of the Care Not Cash Initiative scheduled to be on this November's city ballot. As the official spokesperson for HAFCI I want to make it perfectly clear that our organization takes no official position on this ballot measure.
Several of our employees have recently come out in public as either in favor of or against this initiative. They are certainly within their rights as citizens to take individual positions on public policy. However, the views expressed by our employees in no way reflect the official position of our organization. Our employees should not use their employment affiliation with HAFCI in any public statements about or endorsements or criticisms of ballot measures. I am the only person authorized to represent the organization on matters of public policy.
Darryl Inaba
Chief executive officer
Haight Ashbury Free Clinics Inc.
*****************
HAFCI takes no position on Care Not Cash
It has come to our attention that the Haight Ashbury Free Clinics Inc. has been linked with both proponents and opponents of the Care Not Cash Initiative scheduled to be on this November's city ballot. As the official spokesperson for HAFCI I want to make it perfectly clear that our organization takes no official position on this ballot measure.
Several of our employees have recently come out in public as either in favor of or against this initiative. They are certainly within their rights as citizens to take individual positions on public policy. However, the views expressed by our employees in no way reflect the official position of our organization. Our employees should not use their employment affiliation with HAFCI in any public statements about or endorsements or criticisms of ballot measures. I am the only person authorized to represent the organization on matters of public policy.
Darryl Inaba
Chief executive officer
Haight Ashbury Free Clinics Inc.
Google says Pablo has been with the SF VA Medical Center, and otherwise seems to have done decent work.
But he doesn't seem to understand the economics behind the thing, and appears to just see his own dreams of forced drug rehab onto people as being finally utilized. It looks like he's going around with blinders because of his own interest in the subject.
5 Investigates: Does SF Need 'Care Not Cash'?
Hank Plante
San Francisco voters will decide next week whether to cut off most cash welfare grants to the homeless.
"Dr. Pablo Stewart is head of psychiatry at the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic, and he's worked with addicts for 20 years.
"It is just a match made in hell -- money and people with drug and alcohol problems," Stewart said. "It's the means by which people can buy drugs and alcohol to fuel their illness."
Just how many homeless people are addicts? Stewart puts the number at 70% in San Francisco, a figure that's in line with Alameda County and Los Angeles, where studies found that 2/3rds of all homeless are addicts.
Stewart feels so strongly about the government giving money to drug addicts that he's become a political advocate for the first time. He's backing a measure that would take most of the GA money out of the hands of the homeless in San Francisco. It's called "Care Not Cash," or Proposition N. Instead of the more than $300 in cash, homeless GA recipients would get a place to stay and services such as drug treatment, plus a $59 a month stipend. Supervisor Gavin Newsom authored the measure.
"If you can convert the cash -- and convert it in a way that people cannot access their demons, but can access things that would turn their lives around as the dollars were intended to do -- then I would imagine at the end of the day, not only their lives are better, but all of our lives are better," Newsom said.
Most would agree that helping someone end up sleeping drunk or stoned on the street is inhumane. Still, Supervisor Chris Daly, who considers himself a homeless advocate, dismisses Care Not Cash as purely political.
"It's Gavin Newsom's golden path to Room 200 at City Hall," Daly said.
While Daly believes that Newsome is trying to parlay Care Not Cash into a triumphant bid for mayor, he thinks he has the answer to getting the homeless off the streets.
"I used to work with a number of folks that had been injecting heroin for decades," he said. "What I found that worked is that people who are health workers or social workers or outreach workers ... build some trust up over time. Then, when they feel like someone actually cares about them, they're in position to make that decision to help themselves ... and to kick heroin. It ain't easy."
What Daly is describing is the status quo, which by the looks of things clearly is not working. An estimated 6000 people live on the streets of San Francisco. Some 500 homeless people have died of drug and alcohol overdoses in the past 10 years. The longer they stay on the outside and out of treatment, the higher the body count will get."
http://beta.kpix.com/news/local/2002/10/28/5_Investigates:_Does_SF_Need_'Care_Not_Cash'%3F.html
"Has the clinic ever come out in support of Care Not Cash?" I asked.
"No," Inaba answered. "We haven't decided whether we are for or against it. To be honest, we've never taken any vote. Several doctors, Dr. Joseph Elson, medical clinic director, and a psychiatrist here, Dr. Adam Nelson, are strongly opposed. He [Ken Garcia] is quoting a doctor, and saying it represents the Haight Ashbury Clinic. The doctor is not authorized to speak on behalf of the Haight Ashbury Clinic."
He continued, "Dr. Stewart supports that initiative. He has worked here many years as a real advocate for homeless rights and care. He is frustrated over the lack of resources for [them]. He has probably been misled that this [Care Not Cash] is going to give them more care. I have heard him tell people in the newspaper that this is his own personal opinion, but Gavin and everybody else keeps quoting him as the Haight Ashbury Clinic.""
http://www.sfcall.com/issues%202002/8.16.02/harvey_8_16_02.htm
Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel
Third National Seminar on Mental Health and the Criminal Law
Atlanta, Georgia
10/31/02-11/03/02
Pablo seems to give a *very* broad lecture on substance abuse to people that know little about the issue and probably won't retain much at the end of this. He has one section using his own name as the model name, which is a red flag. It's interesting that Pablo is doing federal work - always a concern. Guess they wouldn't just want a private doc behind prop N. You wonder at what stage Pablo was co-opted by Newsom.
http://www.capdefnet.org/fdprc/contents/past_seminar_presentations/fdprc_presentations2.htm
http://www.capdefnet.org/fdprc/contents/past_seminar_presentations/presentations.htm#7
But he doesn't seem to understand the economics behind the thing, and appears to just see his own dreams of forced drug rehab onto people as being finally utilized. It looks like he's going around with blinders because of his own interest in the subject.
5 Investigates: Does SF Need 'Care Not Cash'?
Hank Plante
San Francisco voters will decide next week whether to cut off most cash welfare grants to the homeless.
"Dr. Pablo Stewart is head of psychiatry at the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic, and he's worked with addicts for 20 years.
"It is just a match made in hell -- money and people with drug and alcohol problems," Stewart said. "It's the means by which people can buy drugs and alcohol to fuel their illness."
Just how many homeless people are addicts? Stewart puts the number at 70% in San Francisco, a figure that's in line with Alameda County and Los Angeles, where studies found that 2/3rds of all homeless are addicts.
Stewart feels so strongly about the government giving money to drug addicts that he's become a political advocate for the first time. He's backing a measure that would take most of the GA money out of the hands of the homeless in San Francisco. It's called "Care Not Cash," or Proposition N. Instead of the more than $300 in cash, homeless GA recipients would get a place to stay and services such as drug treatment, plus a $59 a month stipend. Supervisor Gavin Newsom authored the measure.
"If you can convert the cash -- and convert it in a way that people cannot access their demons, but can access things that would turn their lives around as the dollars were intended to do -- then I would imagine at the end of the day, not only their lives are better, but all of our lives are better," Newsom said.
Most would agree that helping someone end up sleeping drunk or stoned on the street is inhumane. Still, Supervisor Chris Daly, who considers himself a homeless advocate, dismisses Care Not Cash as purely political.
"It's Gavin Newsom's golden path to Room 200 at City Hall," Daly said.
While Daly believes that Newsome is trying to parlay Care Not Cash into a triumphant bid for mayor, he thinks he has the answer to getting the homeless off the streets.
"I used to work with a number of folks that had been injecting heroin for decades," he said. "What I found that worked is that people who are health workers or social workers or outreach workers ... build some trust up over time. Then, when they feel like someone actually cares about them, they're in position to make that decision to help themselves ... and to kick heroin. It ain't easy."
What Daly is describing is the status quo, which by the looks of things clearly is not working. An estimated 6000 people live on the streets of San Francisco. Some 500 homeless people have died of drug and alcohol overdoses in the past 10 years. The longer they stay on the outside and out of treatment, the higher the body count will get."
http://beta.kpix.com/news/local/2002/10/28/5_Investigates:_Does_SF_Need_'Care_Not_Cash'%3F.html
"Has the clinic ever come out in support of Care Not Cash?" I asked.
"No," Inaba answered. "We haven't decided whether we are for or against it. To be honest, we've never taken any vote. Several doctors, Dr. Joseph Elson, medical clinic director, and a psychiatrist here, Dr. Adam Nelson, are strongly opposed. He [Ken Garcia] is quoting a doctor, and saying it represents the Haight Ashbury Clinic. The doctor is not authorized to speak on behalf of the Haight Ashbury Clinic."
He continued, "Dr. Stewart supports that initiative. He has worked here many years as a real advocate for homeless rights and care. He is frustrated over the lack of resources for [them]. He has probably been misled that this [Care Not Cash] is going to give them more care. I have heard him tell people in the newspaper that this is his own personal opinion, but Gavin and everybody else keeps quoting him as the Haight Ashbury Clinic.""
http://www.sfcall.com/issues%202002/8.16.02/harvey_8_16_02.htm
Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel
Third National Seminar on Mental Health and the Criminal Law
Atlanta, Georgia
10/31/02-11/03/02
Pablo seems to give a *very* broad lecture on substance abuse to people that know little about the issue and probably won't retain much at the end of this. He has one section using his own name as the model name, which is a red flag. It's interesting that Pablo is doing federal work - always a concern. Guess they wouldn't just want a private doc behind prop N. You wonder at what stage Pablo was co-opted by Newsom.
http://www.capdefnet.org/fdprc/contents/past_seminar_presentations/fdprc_presentations2.htm
http://www.capdefnet.org/fdprc/contents/past_seminar_presentations/presentations.htm#7
Tomorrow unless we turn out some numbers to the board meeting the media will focus on Newsome's groupies. The lies and distortions by Newsome's propaganda machine will be ignored and they will report widespread support for prop n. If we turn out to "public comment" we can quote the info in the sunday chron which shows how he manipulated the citizenry. This will help dispel some of the power of the campaign Daly countered.
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