Background Checks

Background Checks

By

Leonard Zwelling

As many of you know, I am a self-published author of two books, the last of which is a novel called Conflict of Interest: Money Drives Medicine and People Die. It is loosely based on my years of experience as a vice president at MD Anderson and relates, in fictionally altered form, many of the misdeeds I encountered during my years overseeing the research infrastructure of this large cancer center. It also caricatures the many talented and not so talented people I encountered in my years on the job. It’s available on Amazon. Enjoy!

Recently, after several good reviews on Amazon, my book has become the focus of a group of people best characterized as vultures who wish to pick the bones of self-published authors with promises of mainstream publishing contracts and film deals. All you have to do is pay them thousands of dollars and they will republish your book and market it on social media.

To my co-author and me, this all seemed like a dream come true. It also seemed too good to be true. How could we decide which of the many offers we had we should take and once we decided on one, how could we vet the company before spending the money?

First, we had to decide what we wanted out of any new partnership. We wanted a chance at a book deal with a major publisher and then we wanted access to Hollywood to turn our book into a film or streaming series. We had already paid for script treatments of our book. The book was professionally self-published. We were ready to go.

But, not so fast.

With each of the companies that approached us, we requested the names and contact information of authors who had used the services of the company and had succeeded in getting a real book or film deal.

Grudgingly, the companies gave us the names and numbers. No one to whom we spoke had a real movie made or book published by a mainstream publishing house. Despite these authors spending thousands of dollars on the services of these companies, half of which were probably not based in the United States, no one really had anything to show for the money spent.

We passed on all of these offers. We did our due diligence, our vetting, and we are moving on in pursuit of a true literary agent.

This is an interesting juxtaposition to what is going on in Washington regarding the appointments of President-elect Trump to the many federal agencies. Will they all be vetted by the FBI? Will they all have confirmation hearings before the Senate? Or, will Trump try to skip the vetting process and put many in place with recess appointments?

As was the case with those pursuing the money of my co-author and I, many of these appointments are highly suspect. Matt Gaetz has already backed away from what would have been a terribly embarrassing confirmation process given the likely findings of a House investigation into his trafficking in young girls and his use of illicit drugs. It must be juicy. The House committee won’t release it.

Pete Hegseth has become the focus a great deal of press activity as to his alcohol problem, possible assaults of women, and his expulsion from veterans’ organizations. He definitely needs an FBI background check.

Let’s face it. They all do. The country cannot afford having people in positions of great responsibility whose judgment is impaired or loyalties and ethics questioned.

Now, let’s turn our attention to MD Anderson as I am always wont to do.

Both of the last two presidents have alleged histories of unpopularity in the positions they had before coming to MD Anderson. Did anyone in Austin do the vetting of these people before they were hired? And what about the people Dr. Pisters appointed to high-ranking jobs at Anderson in research, clinical care, and academics? Have they been vetted by him? Many seem unqualified. Many of them have performed poorly and that could have easily been gleaned as likely with a little vetting by Pisters himself.

I personally spent hours on the telephone and wrote countless emails just to vet the companies wanting me to give them $5000 to market my book. This is a pittance compared to the dollars in the hands of the various Trump appointees in DC or the Pisters appointees on Holcombe.

Today, with the advent of artificial intelligence capable of creating an image of a real person saying unreal things on a zoom screen, one cannot be too careful when in the decision-making mode about business arrangements or new hires.

Ronald Reagan is still right. Trust but verify. Everyone gets vetted.