State paid addiction nonprofit despite claims of harassment, self-dealing

A legislative chair and top Oregon Health Authority official learned of the allegations in 2022, but kept the money flowing

Oregon State Representative Rob Nosse received emails in 2022 alleging a major state grant recipient sexually harassed a subordinate and funneled public funds to himself. Nosse continued to support the grantee as chair of the Behavioral Health Committee

State Representative Rob Nosse (D-Portland) received a series of emails between February 23 and April 20, 2022, alleging Eric Martin, the high-profile leader of two regular recipients of millions of dollars of State of Oregon addiction grants and contracts “groomed” and “exploited” Michael Razavi, a subordinate employee, and diverted public funds for his and allies’ personal benefit.

Nosse was then vice-chair of the House Behavioral Health Committee, which has jurisdiction over much of the state’s addiction and mental health bureaucracy, and the ever-growing number of grants and contracts the bureaucracy doles out to well-connected private service providers. Today, Nosse chairs that committee.

Eric Martin helms two big recipients of state addiction largesse: The Mental Health and Addiction Certification Board of Oregon (MHACBO) and the MetroPlus Association of Addiction Peer Professionals (MAAPPS).

Nosse responded to Razavi that he had met with a “lawyer at the legislature” who “did not think that there was actually much I could do to help you in your effort to expose what happened to you while working for MHACBO,” and cautioned that further disclosure could violate the complainant’s non-disclosure agreement with MHACBO and MAAPPS.

Nosse told me via email that he also discussed the matter with Steve Allen, who was then Oregon Health Authority’s Behavioral Health Director.

I was advised that this was a private employment matter and as such I was advised not to take any formal action.  Having worked in the private sector as a union nurse advocate I thought this was sound advice and I followed it accordingly and I think I communicated that to Mr. Razavi’s friends as well.

OHA continued to pay MHACBO pursuant to grants and contracts. A year later, Nosse introduced a bill that would have further enriched Martin by allowing MHACBO certifications, for which MHACBO is paid a fee, to qualify addiction peer support specialists to work in Oregon.

MHACBO and MAAPPS

The Mental Health and Addiction Certification Board of Oregon (MHACBO) is a private nonprofit corporation empowered by the State of Oregon to register a wide array of alcohol, drug and gambling counselors and mental health associates, and to charge and receive registration fees ranging from $25 to $275. MHACBO therefore is at the center of certifying the educational, experience, and ethical qualifications of people who want to work in the mental health and addiction fields.

The State of Oregon’s public contract database reveals MHACBO has received, and is currently slated to continue to receive, millions of state dollars to perform a range of functions, from certifying gambling addiction counselors to certifying addiction peer support specialists, recovering addicts who help other addicts get clean and sober.

One OHA Statewide Opioid Response grant to MHACBO, originally issued in 2020 and renewed each year since, including in the fall of 2022 and 2023, after the allegations against Martin were received by Nosse and Allen, pays MHACBO from $195,00 to nearly $400,000 per year to certify peer support specialists. Among the deliverables: “Launch sexual boundary ‘Do No Harm’ Campaign promoting MHACBO’s 1.5-hour online training.”

The grant provides that MHACBO will subcontract with MAAPPS to perform the grant. MAAPPS is registered as an assumed business name for Martin and current MHACBO executive director Van Burnham, suggesting it is a for-profit partnership between the men.

Razavi told me the common practice during his approximately 14-year employment with MHACBO and MAAPPS was for MHACBO to funnel funds to MAAPPS, which in turn paid Martin, Burnham, Razavi and MHACBO board members to put on trainings. According to Razavi, Martin was in the middle of those transactions, ensuring that he and others involved with MHACBO personally benefitted from the grants.

An example of how Razavi says public funds found their way into the pockets of Martin and others arises from a strategic plan provided by MAAPPS to Multnomah County for a $635,000 Substance Abuse Disorder Regional Facilities Center Grant in 2017. That grant originated with OHA, but was administered by the county.

The strategic plan describes how MAAPPS planned to pay Martin $13,796.01 and Burnham $10,820.40 to hold monthly association meetings for two years. Thousands more were to be paid to Debra Buffalo Boy, who now goes by Debra Buffalo Boy Bigelow and is president of MHACBO’s board of directors.

According to Razavi, Martin ensured that funds from public contracts flowed from MHACBO to MAAPPS to MHACBO board members and staff to protect Martin’s access to that revenue stream, and to curb any complaints about Martin’s employment practices.

Razavi’s complaints against Martin

Nosse was not the only recipient of Razavi’s complaints against Martin. In a complaint filed with NAADAC, “the Association for Addiction,” based in northern Virginia, Razavi provided screen shots of lewd messages he says Martin sent to him while Razavi was working for MHACBO.

The messages, all of which indicate they were sent by Eric Martin to Michael Razavi between 2014 and 2019, when Razavi was working with Martin at MHACBO and MAAPPS, contain photos of male genitalia, refer to Razavi as a “c*nt” and a “b*tch,” provide links to gay prostitution websites, and suggest Razavi engage in sex acts with the men featured.

In response to my follow-up question whether the messages were from him, Martin responded, “Mr. Razavi was a close friend for 17 years and my supervisor for 6 years.” Mr. Razavi contends that Martin in fact has always been in charge of MHACBO, and installed certain subordinates, including Razavi for a time and now Burnham, as executive director in name only. Martin hired Razavi originally, and boasts a longer tenure at MHACBO.

The messages are filthy and, obviously, not appropriate for children. I went back and forth about providing a link to them. Ultimately, I decided it is important that as much of this story as possible be laid out to Oregonians whose tax dollars support MHACBO, MAAPPS and Martin. So, with that warning, here it is.

In response to Razavi’s ethics complaint, NAADAC first permanently rescinded its certification of Martin, and later offered to reinstate Martin if he demonstrates he has taken ethics courses “that specifically include boundaries and dual relationships,” according to NAADAC documents I have reviewed. A NAADAC spokeswoman says the organization cannot comment on ethics complaints.

Martin tells me he has an “active defamation lawsuit against NAADAC” pending in Virginia.

In early 2022, Razavi filed a discrimination complaint against MHACBO with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, alleging that he was terminated unlawfully by MHACBO on March 16, 2021 for o reporting sexual harassment by Martin to MHACBO board members, including Debra Buffalo Boy Bigelow, who is on the payroll of Martin-directed MAAPPS. MHACBO contended no such reports were made.

A year later, BOLI dismissed the complaint, finding that the illicit messages were sent by Martin, but that there was insufficient evidence Razavi had reported the same to Bigelow, then MHACBO board president Mark Davis and Tony Vezina, another MHACBO board member.

The BOLI case examiner offered, regarding the messages from Martin to Razavi,

(MHACBO) asserts this was a mutually welcome exchange between gay men. Given the length of time that these exchanges occurred, an inference arises that the conduct was not unwanted.

Ultimately, BOLI found that Razavi was terminated by MHACBO for refusing to take a urinalysis test. Razavi acknowledges he has suffered from an addiction to meth, was in long-term recovery, and relapsed. He says he is now once again drug-free.

The Oregon State Bar says the following about workplace sexual harassment in Oregon:

Sexual harassment is a form of discrimination prohibited in the workplace under both Oregon law and federal law. Sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature is always inappropriate workplace conduct and should be reported to your employer immediately.

In November 2022, while BOLI was still processing Razavi’s complaint, the agency announced a grant partnership with MHACBO to test and certify new Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselors who had completed a BOLI-sponsored apprenticeship program. The BOLI program ensured that MHACBO would receive public funds for testing and certifying the new crop of counselors.

OHA continues to throw more money at MHACBO and MAAPPS

I asked Representative Nosse why he sponsored HB 2445, the bill that would have given more clout to MAAPPS peer support specialist certifications, after he and OHA’s Steve Allen became aware of Razavi’s allegations against Martin, MHACBO and MAAPPS. In an email, Nosse wrote that he thought “the idea and the policy behind it was sound,” and the bill would have sped the certification process. He also pointed out HB 2445 did not become law. A

True. However, in a May 15, 2023, memo, the OHA “clarified” that “individuals certified by the Mental Health and Addictions Certification Board of Oregon (MHACBO)” can apply to become an enrolled Oregon Medicaid provider. This administrative clarification by the agency overseen by Nosse effectively implemented HB 2445. The bill, no longer necessary, was still in committee when the 2023 legislative session ended. Allen left OHA in the fall of 2022.

After his termination from MHACBO and MAAPPS, Razavi went on to work at OHA. He was terminated from that job, too, in 2023. Razavi blames Martin’s standing in the clubby addiction community for his termination, and his ongoing inability to find work in the field.

Nosse continues to chair the House Behavioral Health Committee.