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Emails that The Associated Press obtained through the Freedom of Information Act reinforce that there were tensions within HHS about where Carmona should go and what groups he should address. One email noted that Carmona made 19 trips in the first six months after taking office, 12 of them with stops in Arizona, San Diego or both. "I think we have a real problem here," HHS employee Hal Thompson wrote. A review of newspaper clippings from Tucson and San Diego show that then-HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson accompanied Carmona on a trip to Tucson just weeks after his Aug. 5, 2002, swearing-in. The trip was designed to promote the largest bioterror drill in the U.S., which was to occur some three months later. Carmona returned about one month later to give a speech at a trauma conference. Carmona returned in October to announce $1.1 million in drug prevention grants for Arizona, in November for the bioterror drill itself and in December as the keynote speaker at a commencement ceremony at the University of Arizona. In January 2003 Carmona spoke in San Diego about health concerns of the nation's growing Latino population. In July 2003, a consultant to Thompson wrote an email saying he was "not trying to give Rich a rough time" about travel and acknowledged that the trips were a legal use of taxpayer dollars. "To my mind, the questions are much simpler. How does it fit with the Pres. and Sec's agenda. What value does the ADMINISTRATION gain? What result is bettered?" said the consultant, Bill Turenne. Turenne also complained in 2004 when Carmona accepted invitations to speak at two events in Arizona, one to receive an award for exemplary "service before self." "How many self-congratulation celebrations," Turenne wrote. "No sign of the President's agenda." Dr. Kenneth Moritsugu, a deputy surgeon general, said Carmona's trips to the West were closely scrutinized by a committee tasked with vetting them. "I do not believe he was cheating taxpayers. If anything, I worked with Dr. Carmona for four years as his deputy and my impression of him was that he was ethical," Moritsugu said. Robert Williams, who served as Carmona's chief of staff, said the surgeon general did not make any travel without approval from Beato or a higher-ranking authority. He said the tensions between Beato and Carmona arose because his position as surgeon general was akin to being a "rock star" in health circles. "I think there was some professional jealousy there on her part," Williams said. Beato told The Associated Press that she stands by her statements to congressional investigators. She was nominated by Bush in the summer of 2003 to serve as assistant secretary for health. The Senate declined to take up her nomination after Democrats questioned her resume.
[Associated
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