This is a series of articles. If this is your first time learning about Kooth, please read the first published article, “Does Your Child Have Access to this Experimental Mental Health App?”.
Why are Republican legislators so keen on Kooth? So keen that several Pennsylvania legislators traveled to Arizona to promote a 4 -month-old pilot program. Are there ethical violations or conflicts of interest among these politicians? Well, that’s a loaded question that we are beginning to unpack and better understand.
Let’s start with the mayor of Forty Fort, PA in Luzerne County, Brian Thomas (D). Mr. Thomas was appointed mayor in January of 2022. He was not elected because his predecessor, Andy Tuzinski, resigned just a couple of hours before his 3rd term was to begin, saying that a new opportunity at his full-time job presented itself. The very next month, eight months before PA DHS signed the 3-million-dollar grant for Kooth, the newly appointed mayor also became a consultant for Kooth. Does anyone want to take a guess where Kooth’s U.S. headquarters is located? Yes, it is in Forty Fort, PA. Kooth opened its doors in Forty Fort in November of 2022, approximately a month after the grant was awarded.
Who represents Luzerne County at the PA state Capitol? Senator Lisa Baker (R), Senator Marty Flynn (D), Senator Argall (R), Senator Schlegel Culver (R), Rep. Dane Watro (D), Rep Eddie Day Pashinski (D), & Rep Jim Haddock (D), Rep. Mike Cabell (R), Rep. Alec Ryncavage (R) and Rep. Aaron Kaufer (R). The names that are bolded are all promoting Kooth at town halls and in press releases. [Source 1] [Source 2] You may recognize two names, Rep. Alec Ryncavage and Rep. Aaron Kaufer, if you have been keeping up with PA politics, they also voted ‘YAY’ on HB300 which would amend the Human Relations Act to add “sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression” to the list of prohibited types of discrimination.
Senator Argall can be found denying knowing anything about Kooth’s existence, despite representing part of Luzerne County and being in office since 1997. I find it hard to believe that someone who has spent over 25 years in Harrisburg, is chair of the Senate Education Committee and vice chair of the Senate State Government Committee and is a member of five other Senate Committees has no idea what is going on in his own backyard.
While Senator Argall has claimed ignorance, he has nothing on NEPA Senator Lisa Baker who seems to be leading the charge on Kooth in the Senate. Recently, we found out that Senator Baker’s son, Carson Baker, is working for Kooth’s lobbying firm, DT Firm. He is listed on PA’s DOS lobbying expenses and approved to be lobbying for Kooth. I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried, folks. Am I the only one that sees a conflict of interest? Does anyone else see an ethical problem?
For those who don’t know, Representative Aaron Kauffer who has been leading the charge on the House side and has been advocating for Kooth is not seeking re-election in the 2024 election and has stated, “At this point of my life, I need to step away to focus on what’s most important in my life: my family, However, public service is my calling, so I’m not saying this is it for me forever, but this is all for now.” One must wonder, is he Kooth’s next employee? What deals have already been made?
Don’t be fooled though! It’s not just NEPA legislators promoting Kooth, it is legislators across the state, and on both sides of the aisle. Even former Speaker of the House, Bryan Cutler (R), now Minority Leader of the House, was quoted in Senator Baker’s press release dated November 1, 2022 regarding Kooth and fully supported the program.
The legislators who are touting this program are also claiming that this program had bipartisan support because of the passage of the FY 2022-2023 budget which funded the three-million-dollar grant allowed by the PA Department of Human Services. Yes, the budget passed and allowed for increasing mental health services in schools (HB1642 pages 45-49), but most legislators (I think) were left in the dark that Kooth was the intended program. The state could have easily used the money to bring in more guidance counselors to school, but instead, they chose a cost-savings program that has little to no data to back up its effectiveness or safety.
Pennsylvania legislators traveled all the way to Arizona to promote this 4-month-old program back in February 2023. I have questions. Who paid for their trip to Arizona? PA taxpayers? AZ taxpayers? Kooth? And why are PA legislators promoting a new program that is still being piloted? We haven’t even piloted this program for a full year, we have zero data on how it has worked in our school, and it is being hailed as a success.
It turns out that Kooth was directly responsible and paid for Pennsylvania lawmakers to travel to Arizona. Kooth spent $30,854 from January-March 2023 on lobbying expenses. $12,603 was reimbursed between 6 PA legislators who traveled to Arizona. From April 2022 to December 2023, Kooth has spent a grand total of $81,306 on lobbying expenses just in Pennsylvania.
Document 1: Page 1 shows Carson Baker, Senator Baker’s son, as a lobbyist for Kooth. Page 2 shows the money legislators received for their travel expenses to Arizona to promote Kooth.
Document 2: Page 2 shows the total cost each period Kooth has spent in Pennsylvania, totaling $81,306.
Rep. Ryan Bizzaro (D) from Erie County posted on social media on February 12, 2023:
“Increasing access to mental health services for Pennsylvania students isn’t a partisan issue. In fact, Pennsylvania is the only state that was able to put partisan politics aside and work on modernizing mental health services by creating a space for digital mental health care – all while increasing access for everyone. Our pilot program, in partnership with Kooth, has saved lives, money and will increase access to mental health care for 150,000 students in Pennsylvania.
And now, we’re helping the Arizona state legislature do the same! I’m happy to be part of this bipartisan / bicameral group of Pennsylvania legislators working to change the future of mental health care not only in our commonwealth but across the U.S”
Really?! Representative Bizzaro, please show us the data that Kooth has saved lives in Pennsylvania. Is there a Pennsylvania case study that was completed as shown in the social media post linked above that pictures Rep. Ryan Bizzaro, Rep. Aaron Kauffer (R), Rep. Mike Cabell, Senator Chris Gebhard (R), Senator Marty Flynn (D) and Senator Jimmy Dillon (D), as well as Mayor of Forty-Fort Brian Thomas and Kooth executives?
Let’s take a step back; I get it. The hope of mending the mental health crisis IS enticing. But when you really dig into Kooth, and start asking questions (questions that every parent should be asking), you have to wonder if Kooth really is for mental health and if so, how does anyone know if using Kooth will improve children’s mental health outcomes? I get why Republican legislators are supporting this program –on the outside it has been wrapped up so nicely, as nice as a Christmas present given by Santa himself on Christmas day. But, when you open it, you are left with disappointment, because it contains nothing you asked for. Yes, the mental health crisis is alarming, and every parent should be concerned about their child’s mental wellbeing, but we don’t have to settle. We don’t have to agree to whatever might work. We have a national clinical psychologist shortage and Kooth offers a cheaper ‘solution’. But will politicians be there for our kids when the program doesn’t do what it has promised to do? Will they be there if it makes the problem worse?
And why are Republican legislators advocating to bring a mental health program into our schools? Why aren’t they advocating that we get back to reading, writing, mathematics, science, social studies? I’m tired of schools taking time away in these subject matters – it just leaves more room for agendas, to potentially indoctrinate children and take away important roles that are for parents. Schools are not there to raise our children. Schools are there to educate! Looking at academic achievement statistics, only about half of students are proficient at reading on grade level. Schools need to get in their lane and worry about education.
It’s time to question the conventional “wisdom” offered by these legislators. It’s time to question the date, the effectiveness, and the safety of a social program before we realize that the experts got it wrong. (Hmm…this sounds oddly familiar.) I don’t need my children to be exposed to another social contagion at school. I don’t want my children seeking online support from people I don’t know and didn’t get to select – people that I don’t know if they have my child’s best interest at heart or if they share the same values as our family. And I surely don’t want my children conversing with peers that could be seven years older than them. Eleven-year-olds are on the same platform as eighteen-year-olds and can interact with each other. Our children deserve the very best…and this isn’t it.
At this point, doing nothing IS better than doing something, if that something is Kooth. Parent/guardian involvement is absolutely crucial to the mental well-being of our youth. It is my belief that they are coming for our child’s mind, body, and soul and they have every intention of breaking up the family. Kooth – it is time to pack your bags and go back across the pond. I have news for you, OUR CHILDREN ARE NOT FOR SALE!!