After previously declining to comment publicly, the departing director of the state's program for problem gamblers lowered the boom Tuesday on the Lottery Commission.
The Associated Press' Tom Breen reports that Mia Moran-Cooper told legislative leaders "of a years-long pattern (by the commission) of interfering with the network's efforts to treat compulsive gamblers."
"Lottery tried to water down the network's advertising campaign, discouraged employees from talking to the media and asked for the names of Lottery employees who had sought treatment for gambling problems," Moran-Cooper alleges.
"Moran-Cooper said she can document between 20 and 30 such instances, ranging from attempts to manipulate data to efforts to discourage the network from advertising on billboards," the AP article said.
But the commission's defenders include her soon-to-be-former employer, First Choice. Its president said in a statement that many of Moran-Cooper's statements were "unsubstantiated, misleading or false," Breen reports.
Lottery Commissioner John Musgrave, meanwhile, said he planned to ask legislative auditors to review the situation "so that all concerns raised during the meeting can be fully resolved."
AP helped break the news last month on the Lottery Commission's plans to expand its oversight of the problem gambling hotline program. So did Public Broadcasting, which also follows up today (link should have audio).
MetroNews also has a story (with audio) on Tuesday's legislative interim meeting, as does The Register-Herald of Beckley. The Charleston Gazette offers its take as well.
06 June 2007
Parting Shot Hits Lottery Over Helpline
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When I read this story I can really tell that no one reporting has any idea what has really been going on with the Problem Gambler's Help Network of WV over the last 7 years. Let me bring you up to speed being a former counselor myself.
* Mrs. Cooper told me the first month she was given the network that she felt she was being given a failing venture so she decided to make her primary objective promoting herself rather than the program.
· Mrs. Cooper has a history of skewing the facts to suit her own agenda such as counting multiple calls from the same person a separate referrals to make it look like there are more gambling addicts in WV than there actually are. She also forced her clinical staff to exaggerate the number of times addicts report they gamble. Their data entry system was set for set options for determining frequency of gambling such as daily, weekly, monthly or less than monthly. If the gambler reported gambling once or twice per week she would make them enter daily stating “they always underestimate how much they gamble anyway”.
· Mrs. Cooper is real publicity hound and makes every attempt to keep her name in the headlines as evidenced by continually contacting the newspapers every single opportunity she gets. She typically feigns an objection to bad press but always embraces it nonetheless. I have heard her refer to this as “free advertising”. She actually had her babies face on a billboard advertising fertility treatment. That level of attention seeking is just kind of sick and creepy.
· When she was first appointed the director she didn’t have any experience in gambling addictions and it was obvious that the appointment was because she had and expertise in PR and they thought they needed someone to market the program as they already had clinical staff in place. She wasn’t even credentialed, merely having a BA in social work, no clinical experience and no actual license. She has worked had to learn the talk and pretends to be an expert. I once confronted her with the fact than none of us had enough training or experience to be classified an expert and she responded that she felt comfortable calling herself an expert because no one in her local area possessed actual credentials in the beginning.
· She makes it her business to actually target important people and develop relationships she feels will better herself professionally. Most of us call that networking. However when it gets to the point that she’s casing bagel joints because she knows an important person has breakfast each morning and persistently wanting to talk to him to the point that he feels compelled to change his eating preferences that’s just creepy.
· In addition to all this she is the most flaming personality disorder I have ever met. No one can work with her and she has had a 200 or 300% staff turnover during the last 7 years. The really hilarious part of all this is that she loves to present her staffing issues as related to her very high standards and in reality it is more related to her lack of professionalism. Oh, except the clinical staff who actually built the program she claims credit for. Those poor soles she kicked to the curb simply because she felt she could get along without them. I have never known her to reward any friendship with anything other than pain and misery.
I really could just go on and on about all her outstanding qualities but why bother. If she finds out I have spoke my mind she will try to sue me for slander. Not because what I am saying is a lie or because she is actually offended but just to keep her name in the headlines. Some people really love the drama. I know in my heart of hearts that she will parley this whole sick situation into just another opportunity for herself.
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