On Friday, I told you about an Investigating Grand Jury Report detailing serious resident safety concerns and poor leadership at Gracedale. Earlier today, I told you about NorCo Executive Tara Zrinski's defensive and evasive reaction. But that's nothing compared to former Executive Lamont McClure's histrionics. They are attached to the report itself (linked above). McClure endorsed and contributed $10,000 to Zrinski's campaign to succeed him. He is currently employed by NorCo as an assistant Solicitor.
McClure calls the Grand Jury Report a "politically motivated hit job launched on [him] at a time when the current District Attorney believed he could damage [McClure's] Congressional campaign." He fails to explain how this report, published months after he came in third in a four-way primary, was somehow able to torpedo his Congressional ambitions.
McClure also contends that Baratta "seeks to minimize his own incompetence and petty corruption as District Attorney."
He calls the 14 deficiencies found in 2025, while he was Executive, "isolated incidents." 14 deficiencies in one year are "isolated incidents"? No, that's a pattern, and it's one that resulted in the home's license getting reduced from Regular to Provisional I status. When the home continued to decline, it was reduced again to Provisional II status.
After attempting to minimize 14 deficiencies as "isolated incidents," McClure insists that "there is no demonstrated causal connection" that they were caused by the use of agency nurses or poor staffing levels.
Excuse me? The exorcist nurse that prompted the grand jury investigation was herself an agency nurse. And at least one of the elopements was the result of Gracedale's failure to provide 1 on 1 care for an at-risk individual.
Perhaps the most disappointing feature of McClure's response to the Grand Jury report was his attempt to savage and scapegoat Jennifer Stewart, the person he himself appointed Administrator. This is precisely what he did to County Administrator Charles Dertinger, after a botched election. She testified that she was increasing census pursuant to his directions and that current Administrator Michelle Morton actually reversed some of her denials. In paragraph after paragraph, McClure attacks the honesty and integrity of a loyal county employee who started as a CNA and worked her way up. He attacked a person known to have herself spent long evenings herself at Gracedale when the home was short-handed and who was willing to do the dirty work, including the changing of bed pans. He blames her for wanting to increase census but told County Council he made her his Admissions Director "because there hasn't been a county contribution [to the nursing home] from the general fund for many years. ... One of the things that we think is necessary in order to continue to be viable as a county-owned and operated institution is to continue not to have county contributions coming from the general fund..... Jennifer Stewart is an expert at getting the census up."
What he failed to tell County Council at that time was that there was a simmering crisis in which monies that had been set aside for retention bonuses were spent instead on other Gracedale expenditures. What he also failed to tell Council was that Gracedale actually did get a county contribution of $9.9 million in 2024, a point highlighted by the annual independent audit.
So when McClure told County Council that there had been no county contribution in many years, was he lying?
It appears that Jennifer Stewart, an unusual and special kind of person who actually care about the residents, was scapegoated and sent to Admissions.
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