The public health department should end its relationship with NAMI

In the agenda at https://www.co.door.wi.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08062024-1714, one of the items under new business is “NAMI update & discussion”.

Further down, there is a discussion how a new chapter is in the process of being formed. This is in a copy of older minutes. It is unclear what the current status is for the new chapter.

NAMI is a political organization. To give an example why this is so, consider the following link from National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” radio show. It describes an incident where NAMI was part of a public pressure campaign: https://www.npr.org/2018/07/18/630246488/how-drug-companies-are-controlling-how-their-drugs-are-covered-by-medicaid

NAMI is part of the effort to push life-altering “treatments” on minors. Nationally, most adults think it should be illegal to harm children under the guise of “treatment”: https://www.wisconsinrightnow.com/voters-oppose-transgender-surgeries/

But a television station in California states, https://www.ksby.com/campaign-launched-to-address-lgbtq-mental-health-needs:

Additionally, NAMI said it opposes statewide bans on gender-affirming care as a number of states ban those under age 18 from accessing such treatment.

In Wisconsin, the Help Not Harm Act would have protected children from these “treatments”: https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2023/proposals/ab465

In the hearing materials, a NAMI website was cited in opposition. Although the bill passed the legislature, it was vetoed by Gov. Evers.

The title for this post mentions the health department. The reason for it is because of a Facebook post made by the Door County Public Health Department this past spring:

We are in the process of getting Door County re-established as a NAMI Affiliate to expand education and peer support groups for our community. If you or someone you know would like to join the team making that happen, please contact us…

It is inappropriate for a political organization to be promoted by a county department. The ending of the post, omitted in the quote, includes an email address ending in “@co.door.wi.us” as the contact.

What sort of politics is NAMI involved with? A 1999 press release on its website describes cooperation with assisted suicide as an “outrageous, morally indefensible act”: https://www.nami.org/press-releases/nami-warns-state-against-being-accessory-to-suicide/

That is spot on, and accurately describes the moral character of one of the topics included in the 2022 platform of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, https://wisdems.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/DPW-2022-Platform-Adopted-by-Convention-on-June-26-2022.pdf#page=2, which backs legalizing “physician‐assisted end‐of‐life”.

If in recent years NAMI used its political apparatus to rail against the use of lethal drugs to get rid of people with mental illness, I would feel differently about it. But today, it is in opposition to the Republicans. The 2024 Republican Party platform states:
https://prod-static.gop.com/media/RNC2024-Platform.pdf

We will keep men out of women’s sports, ban Taxpayer funding for sex change surgeries, and stop Taxpayer-funded Schools from promoting gender transition, reverse Biden’s radical rewrite of Title IX Education Regulations, and restore protections for women and girls.

NAMI bills itself as a non-partisan grassroots advocacy group. Yet it has accepted tens of millions of dollars from pharmaceutical corporations, for which it was investigated by a U.S. Senate committee: https://www.grassley.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/NAMI.pdf

Several older articles discussing the Senate investigation:
https://mindfreedom.org/kb/nami-drug-companies/

https://www.cchrint.org/issues/psycho-pharmaceutical-front-groups/nami/

Even if a local chapter is not itself funded by corporations, the national organization is funded that way, and it should be expected to influence the local chapters.

The creation of imitation grassroots organizations and the subversion of existing ones is part of the political game played by lobbying interests. This is a pervasive problem with patient advocacy groups, https://bigthink.com/the-present/pharma-lobbying/:

An estimated two-thirds of patient advocacy groups in America accept funds from the pharmaceutical industry. Pharma companies gave at least $116 million to such groups in 2015 alone.

Because of the ubiquity of the problem, it is inadvisable to take these organizations’ claims about themselves at face value. They need to be evaluated to see if they act in a political manner or not.

The handbook for county employees describes the amount of distance required for involvement with political organizations: https://www.co.door.wi.gov/DocumentCenter/View/6411/Employee-Handbook-updated-2014?bidId=#page=19

1. Employees may not engage in political activity on Employer's time or with Employer's resources.

2. No person may solicit or receive from any employee any contribution or service for any political purpose during established hours of employment or while the employee is engaged in her or his official duties.

3. Hatch Act prohibitions, as to employees taking an active part in partisan politic campaigns or management, are in effect if and as applicable.

The “any political purpose” clause is broad enough to include not just candidates and political parties, but also special interest groups like NAMI.

The Door County Health Department should delete the Facebook post, because county employees should not be using paid time or their positions to help organize the new NAMI chapter. The official agenda conducted by county committees should likewise not be used for promoting the group’s activity, and tax money, such as for bringing in speakers, should not be spent on it.

Posts relating to public health:
https://doorcounty.substack.com/t/public-health