A bill permitting state regulation of
boarding schools for troubled teens was quietly smothered in the Utah
Capitol this year after the founder of a chain of controversial
schools, who is a major Republican donor, lobbied key lawmakers.
Powerful legislators, including House
Speaker Marty Stephens, held back the measure until the Legislature's
clock ran out at midnight on March 3 - the final day of the session.
Six days later, the bill's biggest
opponent, World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools
founder Robert Lichfield, presented a $30,000 check to Stephens'
campaign for governor.
Since then, one of the handful of Utah
boarding schools, which would have been regulated under the bill,
Majestic Ranch, near Randolph, Utah, has been investigated three
separate times for alleged abuse, according to state Human Service
officials. Only one ended in a criminal charge and conviction when a
staffer - no longer employed there - pleaded guilty to misdemeanor
assault.
Majestic Ranch is owned by Lichfield's
brother-in-law, Dan Peart, who donated $500 to Stephens. The ranch is
among seven troubled-teen schools affiliated with World Wide in four
states and two foreign countries.
Several others have been shut down amid
allegations of abuse or squalid living conditions, including the Casa
by the Sea facility near Ensenada, Mexico, closed last weekend by
government officials. More than 500 students were returned to the
United States from the program.
Ken Stettler, director of the Utah
Office of Licensing, remains convinced he had the votes to pass Senate
Bill 140, giving his office regulatory authority over Majestic Ranch,
if only Stephens and others had allowed it to come up for a vote.
"It still goes back to the old deal
that, you know, if you are giving political contributions, then when
the time comes and you need to call in your chips, you're going to
have a listening ear, which is more than a lot of the citizenry has,"
says Stettler.
If cash is the secret to opening
political doors, Lichfield and his profitable network of schools are
well on their way to securing the master key.
The La Verkin entrepreneur, his family
members and business associates have poured more than million into
political campaigns during the 2002 election and so far this year. The
contributions - all to Republican candidates, and many to Utah
politicians - have come like a desert downpour: fierce and sudden.
The family donated no more than a
couple of thousand dollars prior to Jan. 1, 2001.
Lichfield told The Tribune there was
nothing nefarious about his sudden plunge into the political arena.
"We've been abundantly blessed, and
when you're blessed, we feel you have a responsibility to bless
others," he said, confirming that World Wide member schools gross more
than $70 million annually.
The family's charitable contributions
dwarf political donations, Lichfield added, putting the former
donations at $3 million last year.
Utah politicians who were among the
biggest benefactors of the Lichfield election-year largesse insisted
they never had discussed issues with their patron.
U.S. House candidate John Swallow has
received 18,000 from Lichfield and his associates, more than any other
candidate.
Swallow's campaign manager, Tim Garon,
said Swallow had not met Lichfield until 2002, when the Lichfield
family handed over 30 checks on a single day totaling $30,000 to
Swallow's campaign.
"John and I are close friends," said
Lichfield. "We just connected as families."
After his 2002 election loss, Swallow
did legal work for a Lichfield company in Nevada. As a state
representative, Swallow had twice sponsored legislation that would
have allowed parents to get a tax break for enrolling their children
in a private school.
Lichfield said he has "mixed emotions"
about tuition-tax credits, although "you obviously see I have an
incentive to be for them." Although such tax breaks would benefit
private schools, including World Wide members, he said he has
reservations about hurting public schools by draining resources.
As with Swallow, Sen. Bob Bennett met
Lichfield just a few years ago, but has become a friend. They don't
discuss policy, said Bennett's spokeswoman, Mary Jane Collipriest.
Last year, Lichfield sent Bennett a
form letter supporting a Medicare reform bill, according to
Collipriest. The bill expanded Health Savings Accounts, which allow
parents to make tax-free contributions to an account that can be used
for medical costs, including the type of residential treatment
provided by schools affiliated with World Wide.
Lichfield said he doesn't remember the
letter or the issue.
He said he hasn't pressed his issues on
Bennett nor any of the Utah gubernatorial candidates who have received
40,000 so far this year from the Lichfield family and business
associates.
"I don't think I've ever sat down and
given them a litmus test," Lichfield said. "There were so many good
candidates."
Republican gubernatorial nominee Jon
Huntsman Jr. concurs.
"We have not talked about any of his
issues. I do not know a whole lot about his business," said Huntsman,
who accepted $60,000 from Lichfield and $5,000 from Majestic Ranch.
"What business is he in?"
Former U.S. Rep. Jim Hansen took more
than $45,000 from Lichfield for his unsuccessful campaign for governor
this year.
"Bob Lichfield is a great American,"
said Hansen. "I don't know a thing about" the string of schools for
troubled youth.
Stephens, the outgoing House speaker
whose bid for governor ended unsuccessfully in the May 8 Republican
State Convention, did not return eight messages for comment over a
period of more than two weeks.
"Believe me, the check had nothing to
do with SB140," said Lichfield. "Marty Stephens was going to get a
donation from me no matter what happened to SB140. Marty Stephens is a
quality guy."
Lichfield shrugs off any suggestion he
has, in just two years, become a political power broker.
"I'd like to use my means and resources
to bless peoples' lives. Does that also imply influencing
policy-makers to make good policies that support good family values,
quality education and the things I believe in? Definitely. I'd like to
have some influence in that," he said.
Reps. Steve Urquhart and Dave Clark,
both St. George Republicans, helped stall SB140 in the Legislature's
House Rules Committee after consulting with Lichfield family members
and their business associates. Each received $2,500 in donations in
2002 from Lichfield.
Urquhart, who said he was representing
a constituent and his philosophy of limited government, acknowledged
consulting with Stephens.
Stettler identified Stephens as a key
player in the demise of SB140 - a claim confirmed by bill-sponsoring
Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan.
"He was determined it wasn't going to
pass," said Buttars.
Buttars, who shepherded the bill
through the Senate, came under attack himself because he is the head
of Utah Boys Ranch, which also treats troubled youth.
"Mine is a full, licensed residential
program and I think that makes me a better facility," he said. "I'm
prejudiced and I admit that. I think every kid deserves to have his
food, safety and shelter guaranteed by oversight."
Buttars declined to comment on
Lichfield or his affiliated companies directly.
"There are some huge forces that I took
on there. . . . I really don't want to talk much about that," he said.
"This is a mean, ugly game with money going in lots of directions."
Ken Kay, World Wide's president,
questioned Buttars' sponsorship of a bill that would affect his
competitors.
"Personally, I found that dazzling that
here's a guy that has something to do with this Utah Boys Ranch in
there trying to do this," said Kay.
He dismisses as "baloney" the claim by
Stettler and Buttars that the bill simply would have allowed state
licensing officials to inspect Majestic Ranch twice a year - including
once in an unannounced visit.
Kay said the legislation would have
required professional diagnoses of the 65 youngsters at Majestic Ranch
and allowed regulators to pore through "private financial records" and
dictate "how you conduct [operations] and train staff and who they
are."
Kay said there is simply no need for
the state to have such a strong hand in the boarding schools'
operations.
"We see certain bureaucrats that want
more control. I think it has a lot to do with power," said Kay. "I
think we are every bit as sensitive, if not more sensitive, to
children's rights and safety. We have a total anti-abuse stand - 100
percent."
But the Association-affiliated schools
have a checkered record. Government agencies in the Czech Republic,
Costa Rica and, most recently, Mexico have shut down schools.
In South Carolina, inspectors put
Carolina Springs Academy's license on probation after administrators
failed to report child abuse. They also found students sleeping on
stained, torn mattresses in unfit dormitories and problems with how
students were restrained.
Regulators also banned Lichfield's
brother, Narvin, from the facility based on his operation of the Costa
Rican school.
Congressman George Miller, D-Calif.,
has twice asked the Justice Department to investigate the schools, and
more recently Rep. Jack Quinn, R-N.Y., made a similar request. The
Bush administration has said it lacks the authority to initiate such a
probe.
The Justice Department said it has
forwarded the complaints to the U.S. Attorney for Utah and the FBI
field office, but a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney said nothing has
come of the referral.
Meantime, Attorney General Mark
Shurtleff, whose office two years ago unsuccessfully prosecuted the
director of Majestic Ranch on abuse charges, as recently as last week
toured one of the affiliated schools in St. George with Urquhart.
Shurtleff's campaign has received no
Lichfield contributions, a spokeswoman said.
Lichfield said in his two or three
meetings with Shurtleff, he has never attempted to get Shurtleff to
rein in investigators or prosecutors. He said he doesn't have that
kind of influence and wouldn't use it if he did.
Scott Simpson, a former executive
director of the Utah Republican Party, spoke with Lichfield often
during the 2002 campaign.
"From my perspective, it seemed based
on ideology," said Simpson. "There are a few ways you can get involved
in politics. You can run for office, you can be the grass-roots guy
pounding in the lawn signs or you can be the guy who writes the
check."
