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State Department Nepotism? John Kerry’s Daughter Won Millions In Peace Corps Funds For Her Non-Profit Without Competition

By Zachary Volkert
Published on: 09:08 PST, Sep 13, 2016

John Kerry’s daughter was at the center of a look at the State Department’s finances published by The Daily Caller on Monday which details how more than $9 million in Peace Corps funds were granted to the politician’s daughter’s non-profit program without hearing any other options.

Using State Department and Peace Corps documents, the news site revealed how Dr. Vanessa Kerry’s organization, Seed Global Health, had been awarded the money over a seven-year period.

The first contract was granted to her by the Peace Corps in 2012 when John was serving as Senate Committee on Foreign Relations chairman. It totaled $2 million. This initial grant for Kerry’s group was later expanded which, including other money the group secured from elsewhere in the State Department, totaled an additional $1 million.

Three years later, John’s daughter had Seed’s contract extended for five years, bringing in another $6.4 million from the Peace Corps. By this time, Kerry had already taken his position as the head of the State Department.

Also notable, in 2014, John’s daughter managed to earn $140,000 for her 30 hours a week of work at the non-profit.

Memos from meetings between John’s daughter and Peace Corps officials show that the process was “fast tracked and non-competed through a specific grant mechanism.” Daily Caller claims the Global Health Service Partnership (GHSP) was then “buried,” citing a memo from one of the meetings that referred to it as “a smaller line item in a multi-page document with multi-million dollar programs.”

None of the contracts for Peace Corps funds were met with competing proposals. Daily Caller emphasized that this last contract handing out more State Department money, approved in September 2015, was unprecedented as such arrangements are not typically carried out for more than five years without hearing alternatives.

Though the documents did not reveal a specific reason for why this rule was overlooked, others suggest that money already poured into the program to train upcoming placements would go to waste if Seed funding was axed. Furthermore, the Peace Corps was unaware of another organization that “satisfied the needs of the (GHSP) program.”

Kerry’s daughter’s program brings medical professionals and young doctors and nurses in training to Sub-Saharan Africa to confront public health crises in the countries of Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda. It also offers debt forgiveness of up to $30,000 to successful applicants who may be prevented from fulfilling their slot in the program because of financial need. Peace Corps funds account for 27 percent of the non-profit’s $6.3 million annual budget.

Representatives from the State Department, Seed Global Health, and the Peace Corps were all able to comment to The Daily Caller about the possible conflict of interest for John before the publication of the article. Mark Marino, a spokesperson from Dr. Kerry’s non-profit, underlined the unique role that Seed plays in global health.

“Seed is the only organization that provides debt repayment for US doctors, nurses, and midwives to serve internationally, something Seed does entirely through private philanthropy. Seed specifically works in the areas of medical, nursing and midwifery education focused on human resource capacity building, making it different than many other non-government organizations.”

At the State Department, spokesman John Kirby denied any influence from secretary Kerry in the allotting of funds. Specifically, he pointed out that while serving on the congressional committee, such money was actually funneled to PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief started under George W. Bush. From there, seven implementing agencies “directed funds through an interagency process.”

Kirby also emphasized the purpose for which the State Departments funds were passed from the Peace Corps to GHSP. John’s daughter’s organization was approved partially because it would help fill 140,000 health care worker quota established by the initiative.

“The Peace Corps recommended the GHSP for funding support, and approval of that support went through the standard interagency budgeting and review process. The GHSP was one element supporting PEPFAR’s Human Resources for Health Strategy, which was developed in part to meet the goal set by the U.S. Congress of 140,000 new health care workers trained by PEPFAR under its fiscal year 2009-2013 reauthorization.”

Do you think the Peace Corps funding for his daughter’s non-profit shows nepotism at the State Department under John Kerry?

[Image via Chris Hondros/Getty Images]

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