How we did this story

The News Tribune relied on a combination of public records and interviews to tell the story of “The Last Crusade.”

The bulk of the information appears in roughly 700 pages of documents obtained through a public records request. The documents include e-mails, contracts and handwritten notes written by staff members of the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department. Additional information came from the state auditor and The News Tribune archives.

Accounts of conversations and meetings between individuals are derived from notes taken by the participants. Quotes based on those notes appear exactly as the writers rendered them at the time.

Additional information came from interviews with current and former Health Department staff members, including retired Director Federico Cruz-Uribe, deputy director Vic Harris, department planner Bruce Pennell and Board of Health Chairman Rick Talbert.

The News Tribune also sought comment from these individuals:

• Susan Ferguson, former attorney for the Health Department. Ferguson did not respond to multiple requests for comment, which were sent via phone and e-mail.

• Vivienne Kamphaus, former human resources director for the Health Department. Kamphaus did not respond to multiple requests for comment, which were sent via phone and e-mail.

• Sridhar Kodali, software engineer and resident of India, who conducted research on Indian drug policy at the request of Cruz-Uribe. Kodali did not respond to requests for comment via e-mail.

• David Vance, senior public health manager. Vance referred questions to Harris.

Some records were withheld or do not exist. Health Department records show that Health Board members discussed Cruz-Uribe’s illegal scheme to import bird flu drugs during an executive session April 5, 2006. There are no minutes of the meeting. References to it come from memos written by Ferguson, who described the discussion in memos written April 17 and 20, 2006.

Whether the board’s private discussion violated Washington’s open public meetings law is a matter of conjecture. Health Department agendas and minutes show the stated purpose of the April 5 executive session was “potential litigation.”

Tim Ford, the state attorney general’s designated authority on issues of public meetings and records, saw no basis in law for discussing the drug purchase in a closed meeting.

“I don’t see anything in there authorizing executive sessions for illegal drug purchases and I don’t know how you could construe any of these narrow exceptions to cover drug purchases,” he said.

The News Tribune also sought records of an internal investigation into the failed drug importation scheme. The Board of Health launched the investigation in early 2007, and halted it after Cruz-Uribe announced his resignation.

The Health Board, through its attorneys, denied The News Tribune’s request, saying no final record had been created. Notes of the interviews that were conducted remain in the hands of attorneys, who define them as “work product,” exempt from public disclosure.