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Two Cases of Bile (Andy Stephenson, FR and DU)
Seattle Weekly ^ | July 6-12, 2005 | George Howland Jr.

Posted on 06/30/2005 10:26:34 PM PDT by Dont Mention the War

July 6 - 12, 2005

Two Cases of Bile

Voter activist Andy Stephenson's pancreatic cancer has generated both love and hate on the Internet.

by George Howland Jr.



Andy Stephenson in happier, healthier days, March 2004
(Karen Steichen)


The Internet saved Andy Stephenson's life. In May 2005, the voting-rights advocate's online community came together and raised $50,000 in 11 days to pay for surgery to treat Stephenson's pancreatic cancer. Now, the World Wide Web has spawned a bizarre campaign that accuses the nationally renowned activist of faking his illness.

Stephenson, 43, who could pass for talk-show host Conan O'Brien's brother, became active on voting-rights issues in 2004 when he learned about the security problems with electronic voting. A resident of North Seattle, Stephenson frequented the left-wing Web site Democratic Underground (www.democraticunderground.com). This virtual community led him to Bev Harris of Black Box Voting (www.blackboxvoting.org), a Renton-based, muckraking activist dedicated to exposing the flaws in our nation's voting infrastructure (see "Black Box Backlash," March 10, 2004).

Stephenson brought an in-your-face activism to what had been a sleepy topic—imagine a combination of ACT-UP and the League of Women Voters. He loved to go into elections officials' offices with his camcorder blazing, demanding information on obscure aspects of voting systems and software. In 2004, he ran for Washington Secretary of State as a Democrat against Republican incumbent Sam Reed, promising to clean up the election system, only to drop out before the filing deadline. That same year, he also began working with Harris on her national campaign to make voting more secure. In the process, he established his own national reputation as a voting-rights activist. Stephenson says eventually he and Harris had a falling out, and they are no longer on good terms.

None of these setbacks discouraged Stephenson from pursuing his goal of improving the nation's voting system. In January 2005, he went to Washington, D.C., as part of a grassroots lobbying effort on behalf of the Voting Integrity and Verification Act, sponsored by Republican Sen. John Ensign of Nevada. While in D.C., Stephenson became ill with what he assumed was food poisoning. He flew back to Seattle and noticed his skin had turned yellow. He went to the Country Doctor Community Health Clinic on Capitol Hill and received treatment from Karen Johnson, a nurse practitioner, who became his primary care provider.

Months of illness and diagnoses followed. In April, Johnson says the cause of his illness was determined. "He has pancreatic cancer," says Johnson. After researching the best options for his care, Stephenson chose to have his surgery performed at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Md. "It's the best of the best," says Johnson. "Andy does his research right."

There was one little problem: Stephenson didn't have health insurance or much money. He says the operation cost $50,000, and Hopkins demanded payment in full before the operation for an out-of-state, uninsured patient. (A Hopkins spokesperson would not elaborate on the bill, citing concern for patient confidentiality.)

Enter San Francisco's Elisabeth Ferrari. She has never met Stephenson in person, but had gotten to know him through postings on Democratic Underground. When she became aware of his need, she decided to raise as much money as she could through an Internet appeal. On Friday, April 28, she put out a fund-raising request on Democratic Underground. Other progressive outlets and activists including blogger/author William Rivers Pitt, Sirius Satellite radio's Thom Hartmann, Air America's Mike Malloy, and numerous Web sites picked up the fund-raising message. By Monday, May 9, she had raised all $50,000—most in small donations of $25 or less. "Democratic Underground has 60,000 subscribers," says Ferrari. "Andy has many, many friends there. He is a people magnet."

It was a remarkable achievement and a real testament to the power of Stephenson's activism. Country Doctor's Johnson confirms that Stephenson had a Whipple procedure—sometimes called the "Olympics" of surgery because of its duration and difficulty—at Johns Hopkins Hospital at the end of May. The surgeon removed a "golf-ball-sized tumor" from his pancreas, according to Johnson. Stephenson came back to Seattle to recover and prepare for his oncology treatment. Says Johnson, "He needs chemo and radiation probably."

Then came the backlash. The origins of the rumors are murky, but the basic theme was Stephenson was a scam artist who didn't have cancer. The rumor spread like a computer virus across the Internet and soon vitriolic postings were popping up all over the place.

The backlash falls into a couple of general categories. One group appears ideological in nature: Conservatives are attacking Stephenson because he's a progressive activist. "The right wing just went crazy," says Air America's Malloy. "This is one of the sickest things I've ever seen."

Another group appears to be people who are rightfully concerned about Internet scams.

Fred Grady, an accountant from Stanton, Neb., straddles both groups. He pays for a site called Scamdy.com that alleges Stephenson defrauded people. He learned of the controversy through a conservative Web site, Free Republic (www.freerepublic.com), that has an ongoing flame war with Democratic Underground. He is also very concerned that Stephenson's fund-raising was not done properly.

The fund-raising effort for Stephenson was the work of amateur activists, not professional charities. Spontaneous mutual aid has both good and bad characteristics. Stephenson's friends did not provide the kind of checks and balances that are associated with mainstream philanthropy. For instance, the money went directly to Stephenson—there was no board of trustees controlling a third-party account and carefully documenting expenditures and donations.

Meanwhile, Stephenson was readmitted to the hospital because of postsurgical complications on Wednesday, June 22, and remained there at press time on Thursday, June 30. Stephenson says Medicaid is now covering him, so his medical bills are not a cause of concern.

I visited Stephenson in his hospital room at Virginia Mason Medical Center and listened to surgeons, a resident, and nurses discuss his cancer with him.

His spirits rise and fall on an hourly basis with the news of his condition. Through it all, he pushes his political issues, railing to me about decisions at the King County Elections Division.

His current diagnosis and treatment are unclear as the doctors struggle to figure out how best to help him. It is very clearly, however, a matter of life and death. "I am prepared for whatever the outcome is," Stephenson says. "I want to live—I don't want to die—but if not I've left a legacy."

ghowland@seattleweekly.com


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Free Republic; Front Page News; US: Washington
KEYWORDS: andyscam; andystephenson; bevharris; du; dufu; fr; freerepublic; internet; liberaltalkradio; rumors; scamdy; williamriverspitt
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I ran across this by dumb luck, and thought I'd post it.
1 posted on 06/30/2005 10:26:36 PM PDT by Dont Mention the War
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To: PJ-Comix; franksolich

Pinga linga ding dong!


2 posted on 06/30/2005 10:27:40 PM PDT by Dont Mention the War (John Bolton for White House Press Secretary!)
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To: Dont Mention the War
Well, this does seem to confirm he does have cancer and is in the hospital.

Damned If I Know

3 posted on 06/30/2005 10:38:46 PM PDT by sharktrager (My life is like a box of chocolates, but someone took all the good ones.)
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To: Dont Mention the War
"Stephenson, 43, who could pass for talk-show host Conan O'Brien's brother..."

Here, let me fix it:

"Stephenson, 43, who could pass for talk-show host Conan O'Brien's urinal-cake test taster...."

There, that's better!
4 posted on 06/30/2005 10:39:20 PM PDT by rockrr (Gregorovych Nyet!)
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To: Dont Mention the War

If he is in a Virginia hospital, and getting medicaid, does that mean my taxes here are paying for his treatment?

Why didn't medicaid require that he go to a hospital in his home state?

Better question: Why didn't medicaid cover his surgery?

And, not to ask too many questions, but why would a hospital not operate on a patient that can't pay? That doesn't sound like John's Hopkins to me....

Or better question: If you are destitute, do you deserve to go to the best hospital in the world for your procedure just because you are famous? If JHU is really not operating on people unless they pay cash in advance, aren't there any poor unknown people (people who are poor for reasons other than having quit their job to become famous) who would be better recipients of a free medical procedure at the best hospital in the world?

Last question: If he couldn't pay for a medical procedure, how could he pay for all these flights all over the country that he was taking before his surgery?

I hope that he ends up healthy, but the story has a lot of holes.


5 posted on 06/30/2005 10:46:21 PM PDT by CharlesWayneCT
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Comment #6 Removed by Moderator

To: Dont Mention the War
Stephenson says Medicaid is now covering him, so his medical bills are not a cause of concern.

Hmm. At what point in the fund-raising process did THIS little revelation occur?

7 posted on 06/30/2005 10:48:52 PM PDT by JennysCool (Be good, and you will be lonesome. - Mark Twain)
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To: rockrr

ahhh urinal cake. I once used that name when I played quake ctf.


8 posted on 06/30/2005 10:50:25 PM PDT by isom35
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To: Dont Mention the War

9 posted on 06/30/2005 10:50:26 PM PDT by Echo Talon (http://echotalon.blogspot.com)
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To: JennysCool

I saw something about this guy a while back on DU ..I havent kept up but saw this posted on another thread ...I have spent a hour trying to make sense of all this ....Is there anything definitive? Is this a scam? Is this a big deal?


10 posted on 06/30/2005 10:53:33 PM PDT by woofie (When in Bagdad do as the Bagdaddies do....)
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To: woofie; franksolich

Ping franksolich. He's the resident expert on this saga, which held so many of us enthralled for weeks.


11 posted on 06/30/2005 10:57:34 PM PDT by JennysCool (Be good, and you will be lonesome. - Mark Twain)
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To: woofie

Don't know, first time I have ever heard about him or anything about the issue.


12 posted on 06/30/2005 10:58:01 PM PDT by Echo Talon (http://echotalon.blogspot.com)
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To: JennysCool; franksolich

Saw the pics of this guy in a hospital ..If its not true he sure went through a lot to scam people


13 posted on 06/30/2005 11:00:26 PM PDT by woofie (When in Bagdad do as the Bagdaddies do....)
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To: rockrr

And see, I was thinking not of Conan O'Brien, but of Ralph-the Mouth from Happy Days.

I am by no means a DU-lib-tree-hugging-pacifistic, but to sink to their level and say to that we hope he dies because he is a lib is asinine. It reminds me of a comment by someone I know that at the news that Rush Limbaugh was loosing his hearing and would go deaf they said, "Good, he deserves it." I was just as appalled at that comment as the comment above with the pitchforks.He is a human being and no one should have to go through that. My father-in-law died with cancer and it is a horrible thing to witness, let alone go through.

We are not DU. They spew bile, hate, and profanities. I should hope that we do become like those we oppose.

We are better than that, people.

RaccaFracca


14 posted on 06/30/2005 11:05:40 PM PDT by RaccaFracca (Guns don't kill people, abortion does)
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To: PJ-Comix

Ping


15 posted on 06/30/2005 11:09:39 PM PDT by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle ("As a conservative site, Free Republic is pro-G-d, PRO-LIFE..." -- FR founder Jim Robinson)
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To: RaccaFracca

Oh I don't hope he dies. I hope he lives a long long life so he can pay back every damn dime Medicaid spent on him.


16 posted on 06/30/2005 11:28:52 PM PDT by Kozak (Anti Shahada: " There is no God named Allah, and Muhammed is his False Prophet")
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To: sharktrager

I'm sure this guy from the Seattle Weekly is at least as trustworthy as Dan Rather.


17 posted on 06/30/2005 11:43:56 PM PDT by kenth
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To: Dont Mention the War

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1853168#1854118

In this thread on DU Andy says he has $250,000 in equity in his home. This guy qualifies for medicade?


18 posted on 07/01/2005 12:01:38 AM PDT by bad company (Then they say 'I came to the wrong jihad.'")
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To: RaccaFracca
We are better than that, people.

Well, okay.

But can I get away with just saying that I don't give a rat's ass if he lives or dies...since I have no emotional attachment or anything?

19 posted on 07/01/2005 4:43:29 AM PDT by OldSmaj (Hey Islam...I flushed a koran today and I let my dog pp on it first. Come get me, moon bats!)
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To: woofie
Free Republic (www.freerepublic.com), that has an ongoing flame war with Democratic Underground.

All right, fess up... who gave those yahoos fire?

20 posted on 07/01/2005 4:46:57 AM PDT by Tijeras_Slim (Now that taglines are cool, I refuse to have one.)
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