After the New Hampshire Executive Council voted in June not to award a $1.8 million contract to Planned Parenthood of Northern New England for family planning services,  PPNNE appealed to the Obama administration for help.

PPNNE CEO Steve Trombley and President Barack Obama were political allies when Obama was an Illinois state senator and Trombley was the CEO of Planned Parenthood of Chicago.

So I was not surprised to learn earlier this month the US Department of Health & Human Services had done an end-run around the state to fund PPNNE directly with a no-bid contract. According to Reuters:

Nicholas Toumpas, New Hampshire’s health and human services commissioner, said the federal government took the decision after he alerted Washington that the state was violating federal rules requiring family planning services be provided statewide.

About 4,000 New Hampshire women have had health care services disrupted by the executive council’s decision to veto Planned Parenthood’s contract, financed by a federal grant.

Added The Telegraph:

No other providers of family planning services in New Hampshire told state officials they were interested in taking over Planned Parenthood’s territory, Toumpas said.

Were they asked?

A formal protest filed by three NH Executive Council members on September 28 aims to find out.

While Toumpas told HHS there were no family planning providers in the NH areas of Claremont, Derry, Exeter, Keene, Manchester, and West Lebanon, in fact there are family planning providers at Valley Regional Hospital in Claremont, Parkland Medical Center in Derry, Exeter Hospital, Cheshire Medical Center in Keene, Manchester Community Health Clinic, and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, as the protest letter outlined.

The letter charges that Toumpas, after advising Executive Council members HHS would dole the $1.8 million through a competitive bid process, did a 180 and gave a $1.1 no bid contract to PPNNE “without any formal announcement or effort to secure competitive offers for family planning services in any parts of New Hampshire,” according to the complaint.

It should be noted that Trombley (pictured left) makes $250,000 annually – 1/4 of the amount of HHS’s no bid contract – one of the reasons the NH Executive Board decided to defund PPNNE.

Furthermore, the complaint letter notes PPNNE’s parent company, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, recorded huge surpluses of $21.8 million in 2009 and $5.6 million in 2010. The letter adds it has documented that PPNNE has forwarded “substantial monies” to PPFA, in part to fund political advocacy. See Shaheen info below. This is a glaring example how pro-abort politicians and PP reciprocate one another.

The protest letter also accuses HHS of “superced[ing] a proper and legal decision of the sovereign State of New Hampshire.”

Executive Council members further charge that HHS has been stonewalling their request for “documentation relating to the Grant and its award.”

Their formal protest opens the door to discovery – getting internal documents, emails, and letters through the court system if HHS won’t cooperate.

Also of interest will be any internal documents from Democrat pro-abortion New Hampshire U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (pictured right), who encouraged the federal government to override her own state government in order to fund PP.

Shaheen has been the recipient of significant campaign donations and help from such pro-abort forces as NARAL, EMILY’s List, and yes, Planned Parenthood. It should now be clear to Granite State voters where Shaheen’s loyalties lie, and why.

It should also be noted that Trombley was behind the scam in Aurora, IL, when Planned Parenthood of Chicago created a front company to hide the fact it was building an abortion mill there. Multiple lawsuits were filed that are still working their way through the courts, including Scheidler vs. Trombley, a libel case filed after Trombley placed this full page ad in local papers.

The Executive Board copied Congressman Cliff Stearns, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, on its letter.

I hope Chairman Stearns wraps this abuse of power into his investigation of Planned Parenthood.