The Sidebar

Carol J. Spizziri is on the right end wearing a gold necklace (source) According to Where Did the Save-A-Life Money Go? by San Diego Reader reporter Don Bauder, as of 2010 Spizzirri lived in a San Marcos mobile home park.

Click here for media reports about the Save-A-Life Foundation (SALF) scandal.

Click here for media reports about former SALF employee Annabel Melongo's efforts to expose the mess including her ongoing, wide-ranging federal civil rights lawsuit against SALF founder/president Carol J. Spizzirri (formerly of Grayslake, IL) and a number of Illinois law enforcement officials.

Carol J. Spizzirri and Rita Mullins, former mayor of Palatine, IL, and second-in-command at the tainted Save-A-Life Foundation

Via Judge John Z. Lee's March 19, 2019 Memorandum Opinion & Order in response to defendants' motions for summary judgment, Melongo's lawsuit is apparently heading to trial. Click here to download a copy.





Here's Spizzirri's May 11, 2018 deposition (entered as a plaintiff's exhibit) in which my name turns up a number of times. (Click here to download a copy.) Followers of the scandal may recall that in 2007, SALF filed a specious, failed lawsuit against me and two other defendants which I discussed in The Downfall of a Non-Profit: The Ongoing Saga of the Save A Life Foundation, a thorough 2015 article by Patch reporter/editor Tim Moran. 

Via veteran reporter Ben Kaufman's media column in the June 8, 2016 Cincinnati CityBeat, the Queen City's longtime newsweekly:
This is the second part of a series about my corrections requests regarding the lie my father told reporters. Those reports triggered the N.Y. State resolution -- and the original version included his lie  -- hence this item.

* Reporters at McKnight's and Slate have questioned the veracity of the Deupree House story. So have I.

source

Honorific resolutions introduced by elected officials on behalf of prominent individuals or organizations can boomerang.

For example, state legislatures in Pennsylvania (2002) and Illinois (2003) introduced resolutions praising the Save-A-Life Foundation (SALF) and its founder/president, Carol Spizzirri, one of my father's gal pals. (As Sidebar readers know, SALF is now under investigation by the IL Attorney General and Spizzirri's sordid history has been the subject of numerous media reports.)

Then there's the resolution introduced to Cincinnati city council in year 2000 by my brother Phil Heimlich that declared the Queen City to be an official "City of Character." (What Phil failed to inform other members of council was that the Character program was a front for now-disgraced evangelist Bill Gothard.)

I do my best to prevent well-intentioned people from stepping in it, so when I happened across this June 16, 2016 New York State resolution with some factual errors and a problematic claim (my yellow-highlighting), I contacted the office of the official who introduced it, Buffalo-area Democratic Assemblyman Robin Schimminger.



A member of the assemblyman's staff promptly welcomed my outreach, informed me that the final version had not yet been filed, and cordially invited me to suggest any corrections.

I accepted the offer and the final version of the resolution, filed on July 1, 2016, incorporated my suggestions which I've blue-highlighted in the copy below.

Re: the first highlighted paragraph, to my knowledge, leading first aid organizations in most countries recommend first performing back blows when responding to a choking emergency; if that fails to remove the obstruction, rescuers should proceed with "the Heimlich" (abdominal thrusts).

Re: the second highlighted paragraph, click here for supporting documents.

In what I consider to be a sensible move, the revised version deleted the problematic claim that my father allegedly rescued a choking victim in 2001 at a Cincinnati's restaurant. (More about that mess via the Cincinnati Enquirer and the New York Times.)



I've done my share of copy editing, but this was a first for me, so I'm grateful to Assemblyman Schimminger and his staff for inviting me to participate.

If any other officials are considering issuing tributes to my father, please feel free to get in touch.

Once a self-described guardian of our nation, now governing a San Marcos, CA, mobile home park and a key defendant in the Melongo case, Carol J. Spizzirri was the subject of a blistering 2010 San Diego Reader expose by veteran reporter Don Bauder

In Part I, I reported that, in response to motions to dismiss filed by defendants (including IL Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Cook County Sheriff, and a Schiller Park cop), federal judge John Z. Lee issued a June 9 order allowing Annabel Melongo's wide-ranging civil rights case to move forward.

source

Here's what Ms. Melongo's attorney, Jennifer Bonjean (who practices in Illinois and New York), wrote me in a June 10 e-mail response to my request for a reaction comment:

We are very pleased with the court's order. The take away is that none of the defendants, including the prosecutors, have been released at this juncture. This means that all the named defendants have to participate in discovery which will allow us to determine how this travesty of justice happened and who is fundamentally responsible. Carol Spizzirri has been served and I will be filing a motion for default judgement against her.

Via Cornell University Law School's Legal Information Institute:

In civil actions in federal court, either party may make a pre-trial motion for summary judgment. To succeed in a motion for summary judgment, a movant must show 1) that there are no disputed material issues of fact, and 2) that the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

When considering motions for summary judgment, judges view all evidence in the light most favorable to the movant's opponent. As used here, "material issues of fact" refers to any facts that could allow a fact-finder to decide against the movant. If the motion is granted, there will be no trial. The judge will immediately enter judgment for the movant.

Click here for my compilation of media reports about the Melongo case. See my previous item for Judge Lee's concise telling of what Bonjean called "this travesty of justice."

Click here for my compilation of media reports about Spizzirri and her tainted, now-defunct Save-A-Life Foundation (SALF) first aid training nonprofit, reportedly the target of an ongoing investigation for the "possible $9 million misappropriation" of federal and state funds being conducted by -- wait for it -- the office of Spizzirri's co-defendant in the lawsuit, IL Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

FYI, for about a decade my father was SALF's "medical adviser" and he had an affectionate relationship with Spizzirri until her group reportedly canned him in 2007.

ONE LAST THRILL: Spizzirri and my then 84-year-old pa perhaps doing a demonstration of mouth-to-mouth CPR at the 2005 U.S. Conference of Mayors annual conference, Washington, D.C. (video here)

From an e-mail I just received from Annabel Melongo's attorney, Jennifer Bonjean (slightly edited for clarity):

Today Cook County Judge Joseph Joyce entered a directed finding in favor of Annabel. After 8 years, the State's case came down to a single allegation that Annabel accessed Carol Spizzirri's email and forwarded an email to herself. And they couldn't even prove that. It Is a text book example of the State failing to exercise its discretion and adhere to its duty to seek truth. We are all indebted to Annabel Melongo for having the courage to hold the State to its burden. She took enormous risk and we are all better off for it. 

Still of Annabel Melongo via the November 7-8, 2012 investigative report, Jailed For Recording Law Enforcement Parts I & 2 by Patrick Fazio, NBC2 Terre Haute, IN

11/25/13 UPDATE ARTICLE BASED ON NEWLY-AVAILABLE DOCUMENTS: Why did actor David Hasselhoff lie to me about his role with a shady nonprofit now under investigation for "possible $9m misappropriation"? Based on this information, I've retracted my corrections request to The Tribune.

Margaret Holt (source)

Via How news organizations are preparing to handle corrections today by Andrew Beaujon, Poynter Institute, November 6, 2012:

In an email, (the Chicago) Tribune standards editor Margaret Holt says, “our commitment to accuracy transcends publishing platform. Practically speaking, we believe it is important to fix an error promptly, whether it’s in print or online...In our guidelines, we say: If the error is straightforward, we want to fix it fast....

But last week when I brought to her attention that three articles on the Tribune's website include claims about actor David Hasselhoff that he says are lies, she refused to publish a correction.

Per my item last month, for almost a decade, the Save-A-Life Foundation (SALF) claimed that the Baywatch star endorsed their organization and served on their board as "Honorary Chairman."


As Sidebar readers know, SALF was a high-profile Chicago nonprofit now reportedly under investigation by the Illinois Attorney General. Via the June 26, 2013 Dubuque Telegraph Herald:

Since its establishment in 1993, the foundation pledged to teach school children first aid and emergency response practices. Despite receiving nearly $9 million to fund the program, however, very few records of students being taught have been found.

Since 2006, SALF and its founder/president, Carol J. Spizzirri -- reportedly a twice-convicted shoplifter who claimed nonexistent nursing credentials and awarded herself a college degree -- have been the subject of dozens of media exposes. 

Spizzirri's organization claimed the Hasselhoff affiliation in media reports, in fundraising materials, and in applications for a $200,000 state grant.

As I reported, the genesis of the claims appears to be when Spizzirri's teenage daughter Ciprina appeared as an extra on an episode of Baywatch in the early 1990s.


Mama Spizzirri's outfit apparently inflated that flimsy connection into fabrications about The Hoff that were used to gin up press coverage and soak taxpayers.

The Tribune, which for years published error-ridden, rah-rah articles about Spizzirri and her politically-connected nonprofit, served as a major spreader for SALF's misrepresentations about Hasselhoff.

For example:

Surf's Up For Cpr Crusade As `Baywatch' Star Signs On by Christi Parsons, Chicago Tribune, December 30, 1993


Mother On A Mission -- First Aid Might Have Saved Her Daughter, Now, Carol Spizzirri Is A Relentless Crusader by Julie Dearforff, Chicago Tribune, January 16, 1995


Save-A-Life Foundation in limbo -- Charity dogged by critics, economy is 'in hibernation' by Lisa Black, Chicago Tribune, October 11, 2009


When I recently submitted a corrections request re: the above, a Tribune staffer responded with this Orwellian gem:

It appears the information was correct at the time the article [sic] was written.

I don't know what that means, but as I informed the Tribune, here's what David Hasselhoff's press agent wrote me last month. (Click here for the complete e-mail, including her contact info.)

I was able to reach Mr. Hasselhoff  over the weekend...He was never SALF's Honorary Chairman.  He never had any financial relationship with SALF.  He never had any personal contact with SALF. 

When I moved my request upstream to managing editor Jane Hirt, here's what came back:

Subject: RE: Tribune articles
From: mcholt@tribune.com
Date: 8/15/2013 1:43 PM
To: peter.heimlich@gmail.com
CC: jhirt@tribune.com

Mr. Heimlich:

On behalf of Jane Hirt, I’m following up on your email on which she was copied. We have reviewed the email and do not plan a correction on the original article(s).

Sincerely,

Margaret Holt
Standards Editor

In other words, "Suck on it, Hasselhoff. Despite your denial, we say you helped promote an organization that may have ripped-off millions of tax dollars."

Per the correspondence below, I also repeatedly asked Ms. Holt for a copy of the Tribune's vaunted - - at least according to what she told Poynter -- corrections policy.

I haven't received a reply.

Two and a half years ago, the office of Health and Human Services Inspector General Dan Levinson instructed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to investigate what happened to millions of tax dollars the agency awarded to a tainted Chicago nonprofit and the role of a career CDC employee who moonlighted as the group's Corporate Treasurer.

As Sidebar readers know, the nonprofit was the Save-A-Life Foundation (SALF), a politically-connected, high-profile, now-defunct FEMA member organization that since November 2006 has been the subject of dozens of exposes and reportedly is under investigation by the Illinois Attorney General for the possible misappropriation of $9 million in federal and state funds.

And the Dubuque Telegraph Herald recently reported that in June 2007, SALF was anticipating $10 million in funding sponsored by a former U.S. Senator named Barack Obama. 

So what kind of investigation did the CDC conduct?

The agency ignored my questions, but thanks to my congressman Rob Woodall, the public may get an answer to that question.

Per an October 11, 2010 article in The Hill, Levinson was asked to investigate $3.3 million the CDC handed SALF -- click here for the breakdown -- and "the relationship between the nonprofit and CDC Deputy Director Douglas Browne, who served as the nonprofit's corporate treasurer from 2004 to 2009."

Via the minutes of the January 26, 2007 meeting of SALF's corporate board -- note that the meeting took place after ABC7 Chicago had aired three scorching I-Team exposes of SALF:

 

"Mullins" is Rita Mullins, former mayor of Palatine, IL and SALF's second-in-command. "Spizzirri" is SALF founder/president Carol J. Spizzirri, reportedly now living in a trailer park near Carlsbad, CA. (Click here for a bunch of photos of the two SALF gals hanging out with prominent public officials.)

In a November 8, 2010 letter, Levinson's office punted the SALF mess "to CDC for further review, and appropriate administrative action as this matter appears to be more appropriately addressed through CDC's administrative review process."

A couple of years later, I tried to find out what kind of "administrative review" the CDC had conducted.

Sherri A. Berger MPHS (via her CDC bio)

In a June 5, 2012 one-paragraph letter, here's what CDC Chief Operating Officer Sherri A. Berger wrote me:

At this time, the agency has completed its review of this matter and intends no further action.

I wrote back and asked for specifics, but never received a reply.


In recent years, my congressman Rob Woodall (GA-7th District) has helped me to obtain related information from CDC director Thomas Frieden MD, who, like Ms. Berger, has expressed zero interest in what happened to the millions of tax dollars his agency awarded to SALF and Browne's role as the group's treasurer -- click here and here.

So last month I asked legislative aide Chase Murray in Rep. Woodall's office if the congressman would ask Ms. Berger to provide details about the alleged investigation.

Here's the result, including copies of the correspondence discussed above -- click here to download a pdf.

So will the CDC give straight answers to a member of Congress? To find out, keep reading The Sidebar.

11/25/13 UPDATE ARTICLE BASED ON NEWLY-AVAILABLE DOCUMENTS: Why did actor David Hasselhoff lie to me about his role with a shady nonprofit now under investigation for "possible $9m misappropriation"?
 


For almost a decade, the nonprofit Save-A-Life Foundation (SALF) claimed actor David Hasselhoff served as the organization's "Honorary Chairman."

Reportedly now under investigation by the Illinois Attorney General for the "possible misappropriation of $9 million" of federal and Illinois funds -- money which was supposed to provide first aid training classes in public schools -- SALF touted Hasselhoff's affiliation in the media, on their website, in fundraising materials, and in grant applications for which SALF received hundreds of thousands of dollars.

But the Baywatch star says it's all a lie.

Per an e-mail I received last week from his press agent, Judy Katz (copy posted below):

He was never SALF's Honorary Chairman. He never had any financial relationship with SALF. He never had any personal contact with SALF.

So who originated SALF's claims about The Hoff?

Via Surf's Up For Cpr Crusade As `Baywatch' Star Signs On by Christi Parsons, Chicago Tribune, December 30, 1993:


This part's on the level:



And here's a letter I obtained from my father's archives at the University of Cincinnati:



But when I asked her about the PSA and the letter, after conferring with Hasselhoff, here's what Judy Katz wrote me:

(SALF) had requested, through the production office at Baywatch, for David to do a psa about saving lives back in the 1990's while he was starring on Baywatch. The letter you sent me was prepared and written by someone in the Baywatch production office around the same time.

Here's a screenshot from grant applications SALF submitted to the IL Department of Commerce and Community Affairs (DCCA) in 2002, resulting in SALF receiving $200,000 to buy an office building in Springfield, the state capitol: 


It's unclear why grant co-sponsors State Senator Raymond Poe and former senator Walter Dudycz thought taxpayers should buy a building for a Chicago nonprofit.

But, per You Paid For It: Where's the money?, a hard-hitting March 14, 2013 story by investigative reporter Steve Staeger at Springfield's CBS-TV affiliate, the sale of the property helped trigger the Attorney General's investigation of SALF. (I added the link to the documents.)

As (SALF) was looking to move its operation statewide in 2003, it got $200,000 in state grants to buy a building on Capitol Avenue in Springfield. When the foundation dissolved in 2009, it sold the Springfield building for $109,750, according to tax records.

But the group did not list the sale in its final filing with the Attorney General's Charitable Trust Bureau. WCIA-3 News obtained documents revealing correspondence between Save-A-Life officials and the Illinois Attorney General.

In the months following the dissolution, the AG repeatedly asks for documentation on the money obtained thought the sale. Spizzirri never provides any accounting of the money. The correspondence ends in August of 2010.

Don't miss the video which documents other bogus claims made by SALF:



The $200,000 for the building wasn't the only grant SALF obtained using Hasselhoff's name and claimed affiliation.

I'll be reporting about that in the near future.

Vincent Davis and my father, Dr. Henry J. Heimlich

A story by reporter Erin Murphy in last week's Dubuque (IA) Telegraph Herald, Email links Obama to embattled nonprofit, broke some interesting new ground in the ongoing Save-A-Life Foundation (SALF) scandal about the once high-flying, politically-connected organization now under investigation by the Illinois Attorney General.

Before getting to that, check out this clip from The Maneuver Part I, the November 2006 ABC7 Chicago expose by investigative reporter Chuck Goudie that first pried the lid off the SALF can of worms:



The big fella who leads SALF founder/president out of the room and tells the ABC7 crew to "show yourselves out" was Vincent Davis, SALF's "Director of Operations and Military Affairs."

Here's an e-mail Davis received from Eric Brandmeyer, who for years was involved with SALF. The date is about a week after Goudie's fourth and (so far) last ABC Chicago report about SALF aired on May 30, 2007. ("Carrie" is undoubtedly Carrie Viehweg of Staunton, IL, who ran SALF's Springfield office.)

And Davis's response: 

Imagine my surprise to find myself and Chuck Goudie being trashed by Davis as he assures Brandmeyer that Mr. Obama, then a United States Senator, will be shoring up SALF's finances!

As for Davis's June 2007 prediction that Goudie "will likely be out of a job soon," six years later, according to his LinkedIn:


Meanwhile, six months later, via Davis's LinkedIn:



Interestingly, Davis's "Obama e-mail" came to light courtesy of a June 19, 2013 subpoena filed by the defense in the Cook County Criminal Court case, Illinois v. Annabel Melongo, the former SALF employee who in October 2006 was charged with tampering with SALF's computer files after she left the company.

As it happens, the subpoena was issued to ABC7 Chicago (WLS-TV).

This past Wednesday: SOURCE Fundraiser held the previous day for San Diego D.A. Bonnie Dumanis by investment manager/media commentator Brent Wilsey: SOURCE Click here for a compilation of broadcast and print reports about Spizzirri and the Save-A-Life Foundation.

As I've reported in a string of items, since last year Illinois State Senator Tim Bivins (R-Dixon) has been asking tough questions about what happened to millions of tax dollars awarded to the Save-A-Life Foundation.

SALF was the scandal-ridden Chicago nonprofit that's reportedly under investigation by the Illinois Attorney General.

According to the author of an anonymous poison pen letter to the senator and copied to the AG, it's all a misunderstanding.

And it's all my fault.

As Sidebar readers know, SALF was a high-flying Chicago nonprofit that used to be the darling of Illinois media with connections up and down the Prairie State's political food chain -- Dick Durbin, Jan Schakowsky, Arne Duncan, John Shimkus, Emil Jones Jr., Paul Vallas, Gery Chico, and other worthies.

Here's Rita Mullins, former mayor of Palatine, IL, and Carol J. Spizzirri -- the gal pals who helmed the organization -- and my father at a Washington, DC conference that was supposed to move their organization into the big leagues:


Instead, a year later the SALF hit the fan when ABC7 aired the first of four scorching exposes. Since then, there have been dozens more print and broadcast reports, including a March interview I did with an Illinois paper.

Per a San Diego newsweekly article about her sordid history, Spizzirri hightailed it to a mobile home park near Carlsbad a couple years ago.

Sen. Bivins tagged Spizzirri and Mullins in this acerbic letter he sent to the IL Attorney General:



Turns out the senator's letter really got under somebody's skin.

Check out this anonymous screed he received that portrays me as slightly worse than Charlie Manson. (I've redacted a paragraph consisting of crapulous allegations about a third party.)



For fun, I'll try and fact-check the claims in the letter. It shouldn't require much effort.

For example:

To enlighten you, the students of Dixon schools were taught/saved lives with SALF's life saving curriculum instructed by off-duty Dixon City Fire Department EMS professionals, which operated through a Branch at St. John's Hospital, Springfield.

Sen. Bivins -- misspelled "Bevins" by the cluck who wrote the letter -- lives in Dixon and was Lee County Sheriff for 20 years. Here's what he wrote me:

I did talk to one of the longest serving fireman in my town and he doesn't recall any such program (SALF) ever being offered here.

As for my motives, I'll leave it to others to decide whether this page of media reports that resulted from my whistleblowing efforts constitutes a "hit list" -- and what may have compelled me to take a closer look at Spizzirri's organization.

Carol Spizzirri and my father (then 85 years old) at SALF's US Conference of Mayors presentation, January 19, 2005

One last question.

Why is the skank who wrote the anonymous letter to Sen. Bivins giving me grief about my father? Per this ABC7 report, it was Spizzirri and her organization that kicked him to the curb:

Is the Illinois Attorney General pretending to investigate the Save-A-Life Foundation (SALF)?

That's the question posed in a December blog item by "Hugo Floriani, Investigative Reporter" on a mystery site called called Illinois Pay to Play. It's a mystery to me anyway. (Hey, Hugo, if you're reading this, could you send me a copy of your driver's license? Okay, I'll settle for a library card.)

Regardless of Hugo's bona fides, Illinois State Sen. Tim Bivins (R-Dixon), who spent three decades working in law enforcement, has raised more or less the same question in an acerbic letter he recently sent to IL Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

IL Sen.Tim Bivins (R-Dixon)

First, some quick catch-up.

Via Possible Charity Scam by Sophia Beausoleil, WCIA-TV News, Champaign-Urbana, IL, October 20, 2010:

Save a Life Foundation was a Chicago based non-profit that would teach children all over the state and country emergency rescue techniques...A representative for the Attorney General's office said they are looking into the organization's charitable contributions and assets.

Click here for the correspondence between SALF founder/president Carol J. Spizzirri and the Attorney General's Office that triggered the investigation.

Don't miss Spizzirri's unusual June 11, 2010 letter to Assistant Attorney General Barry Goldberg accompanied by a weird attached "Cyber Sabotage Activities" report in which I and others are named as "co-conspirators."

Apparently that's what you're called if you ask questions about what happened to the reported $8.6 million federal and state tax dollars awarded to Spizzirri's organization. 

If that's so, according to this recent article, the latest "co-conspirators" are Sen. Bivins and Gery Chico, chairman of the Illinois State Board of Education:

Save-A-Life Foundation is one of a couple organizations Bivins is looking at...The former Lee County sheriff wants investigations and audits of these groups, he said.

Chico agreed.

"I think if there's probable cause for wrongdoing, especially if it involves public money, there ought to be an investigation, sure," Chico said.

I think Hugo would also agree.

Gery Chico receives SALF award from Carol Spizzirri (photo from SALF's 2003 Annual Corporate report)

I don't know if Chico has taken any action, but here's the letter Sen. Bivins sent. For a copy of the original, click here or page down.

Note: I've added links to the names of the four Save-A-Life Foundation principals that lead to more information about them. Quick FYI, Douglas R. Browne is an executive at the US Centers for Disease Control here in Atlanta; John Donleavy is the former president of VELCO, one of Vermont's largest energy companies.

Carol Spizzirri

1930 W. San Marcos Blvd #285

San Marcos, CA 92078

Rita Mullins, Secretary

858 N. Virginia Lake Ct.

Palatine, IL 60074

Douglas R. Browne, Treasurer

2851 Evans Woods Dr.

Doraville, GA 30340

John Donleavy, Director

325 3rd Street South

Naples FL 34102