To Dr. Guy Riekeman: I am appalled at the fact that Palmer College actually lobbied AGAINST the establishment of a state supported chiropractic college at Florida State University. What a tremendous step forward for the whole chiropractic profession this would have been (and eventually will be), to get chiropractic into the state university system and to Continued on Page 48 ...from Piifte 20 have tax dollars subsidizing chiropractic education at a nationally respected. Class One Research Institution. And Dr. Riekeman. 1 am appalled and outraged at the fact that, due to the lobby-ing efforts of Palmer College AGAINST the FSU Chiropractic College, the Governor of Florida unfortunately decided to veto this tremendous project. Dr. Riekeman. don't you feel that chiropractic is deserving of being in the state university system? Don't you feel that our chiropractic students deserve the same in-state, low cost, quality education that the other health professions already have? Don't you feel that chiropractic deserves the mil lions and millions of federal research dollars that a state supported, public chiropractic college would attract? j And don't you feel that the chiroprac- | tic profession is deserving of the pres- i tige and widespread acceptance that | getting in to the state university system | would bring? j Dr. Riekeman. I must conclude that j you do not. And this is why Palmer I College hired two professional lobby- j ists. at a cost of over SI()(),()()(). lor the I sole purpose of defeating the legisla- | tion for the chiropractic college at | Florida State University. In fact, after j the Governor's veto of the chiropractic i college was made public. Palmer's Executive Director for Governmental Relations, was quoted in the Daytona Beach News Journal as saying that Palmer is "very, very happy". Dr. Riekeman. I fail to see what there is to be happy about, over chiropractic losing this tremendous opportunity. The Florida Chiropractic Association had worked on this project for the past 5 years. Our efforts had received broad support from the chiropractic profession, as many chiropractic college presidents wrote letters to the Governor in support of the FSU Chiropractic College. We went through all the steps and got it through the Florida legislature. We brought it right up to the finish line. And all it would have taken for the FSU Chiropractic College to become a realitv was for the Gover- nor to not veto it. But sadly, due to Palmer's shameful lobbying efforts. Governor Bush did decide to veto it. And now it is dead for this year. \ Keeping in mind that FCA had been ■ working on the FSU Chiropractic College for the past 5 years. I have recently heard that Palmer says that they had planned on coming to Florida years ago. I would like to make some first hand comments on that. In February, 2000,1 attended a meeting at Sweetwaters Restaurant in Port Orange. Florida. Attending the meeting were Palmer Chancellor. Michael Crawford, and Palmer Director of Development, Dr. Darrell Slaybaugh. In fact. I sat at the same table, and directly across from Dr. Slaybaugh. Also attending were the mayor and several officials from the City of Port Orange, and approximately 10-12 other local chiropractors. At the meeting. Mr. Crawford said that Palmer was looking to expand to another location, and. at that time, was looking at 5 possible cities: Bangor. Charleston. Phoenix. Port Orange, and one other city whose name I cannot recall. Mr. Crawford said that Palmer was a long way from making a final decision regarding which city they would choose. He estimated the decision coming in about 2-3 years. That was in February. 2000. Three months later, in May. 2000. after 4 years of effort by FCA. the Florida legislature approved the SI.000.000 funding for the Implementation Plan for the Chiropractic College at FSU. Ironically, the weekend immediately after the funding for the Implementation Plan had passed, the Palmer Board of Trustees met in Orlando Florida, and announced that out of the 5 cities they were looking at. they had made their decision and had decided to come to Port Orange. Florida. And they also announced that they were going right ahead with plans for a lull 4 year chiropractic college. Dr. Riekeman. it sounds to me. like the FSU Chiropractic College project was already WELL ALONG, before Palmer College decided in May 2000 to jump on the bandwagon and come to Florida. Over the next 10 months, intense effort was made by Palmer to convince FSU and the consulting firm that was writing the FSU Chiropractic College Implementation Plan, to recommend some sort of partnership between Palmer and FSU. FSU did not want any partnership. And the Implementation Plan, when completed last January, recommended that FSU form it's own chiropractic college, and not partner with any other chiropractic college. Despite this, the Palmer lobbyists still tried to get this partnership through the Florida legislature. When their efforts were unsuccessful, and it became obvious that the state would have no partnership, the Palmer lobbyists then began lobbying AGAINST the FSU Chiropractic College. And ultimately. Palmer's efforts were successful, and the Governor did decide to veto. Dr. Riekeman, Palmer College's actions in this matter are something that you should be neither happy about nor proud of. This is a tremendous loss for the whole chiropractic profession. I would imagine, if D.D. Palmer were alive today, he would be thrilled and excited to see that chiropractic, the profession he founded over 100 years ago, was finally about to reach that final level of academic acceptance, and be included in the slate university educational system. This achievement would greatly help to increase public acceptance and utilization of chiropractic. But. unfortunately. I am sure that D.D. Palmer would be thoroughly and deeply disappointed to know that it was Palmer College, the school he founded over 100 years ago, that was the ONLY group to actually lobby AGAINST this great step forward and, in fact. PREVENT it from happening!! Shame on you. Dr. Riekeman, and shame on Palmer College. Your selfish and narrow-minded actions are holding back the whole chiropractic profession. Yours Truly. Ken Dougherty. D.C. ' FCA, Immediate Past President
