34 Affidavits Stating Hoffman and Sidley Distorted, Omitted, Or
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EXHIBIT C EXHIBIT C-1 EXHIBIT C-1 SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLfil'IBIA Civil Dlvisfon STEPHEN BEHNKE, et. al., Plaintiffs, Case 2017 CA 005989 B vs. Judge Hiram E. Puig-Lugo DAVID HOFFMAN, et. al., Defendants AFFIDAVIT OF BARRY ANTON IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS' MEMORANDUM JN OPPOSITTON TO DEFENDANTS' SPECIAL MOTION TO DISMISS UNDER D.C. ANTI-SLAPP ACT State of Washington ) ) ss: Cowity of Pierre ) L l, Barry Anton, having b-..<>en first duly cautioned and sworn, state the following based upon personal knowledg.e: 2. T was President-elect of the American Psychological Association (APA) when the Board of Directors hired Mr. David Hoffman and Sidley Austin LLP to conduct the Independent Review, and I was President during the maJority of time the review was being conducted. The original purpose of the review was to carefully consider the allegations in James Risen's book, "Pay Any Price: Greed. Power and Endless War.," which alleges that APA colluded with the Bush administration, the CIA and the U.S. military to support torture during the war on terror and to ascertain the Lruth and factual accuracy of those allegations. There was no pending Litigation threatened or other legislative threats of action related to these allegations. 3. Plaintiffs have neither asked me to disclose any infonnation l obtained which could be considered privileged or confidential. I was recused from mt1cb of the deliberations surrounding the Report of the lndependenl Review (hereinafter "Repon") and all information contained in this affidavit is appropriately shared with tbe Court. Trotated off the Board of Directors at the end of2016. 4. Upon reading the Report, I was surprised to find that the scope of the review had expanded beyond the Board;s originally stated purpose aao into such. areas as questioning the appropriateness and thoroughness of APA ethics case adjudicalioa and investigating the conduct of individuals involved in years of APA anti-torture policy development No one, including the A.PA General Counsel, outside counsel for APA, Mr. l:loffman or the Special Committee appointed by the Board to oversee the review, informed me that the scope of the review had been broadened beyond the Board's November 2014 charge, even whenI was interviewed as a witness during the review. 5. During the appointment of Board members lo the Special CommHtee, assisted by AP A's outside counsel, to my knowledge Board members were never asked to disclose any involvement in past events related to the subject of the independent review, such as participation in governance activities related to adoption of the Psychological Ethics in National Sect1rity (PENS) guidelines or post-PENS APA policy development. Neither I nor other Board members, to my knowledge, were infom1ed that Dr. Nadine Kaslow, chosen to chair the Special Committee, had been involved in a Marci12014 mediation to settle a patient's claims related to a sexual-boundary violation and l1ad drafted a letter resigning as AYA President to use in the event that this matter became public. 6. As soon as the Report was made public, I began to hear from people who believed there were inaccuracies in the Report. This included individuals who were named in the Report who brought to APA's attention relevant interr-ogation policies in place at the time of the PENS Task Force that contradicted the conclusions of the Report bm were not included or analyzed in the Report. APA's outside counsel, Mr. David Ogden, acknowledged this contradiction and, upon his advice the Board, set aside $200,000 to re hire Mr. Hoffman to review the Report in light of these additional policies and prepare a supplemental report by June 8, 2016. As of the end of my term as President, December 31, 20 l6, no supplemental report had yet been produced. 7. While l was still in my term <IS President, the Board of Directors was jnformed that a group of individuals named in the Report (now the plaintiffs in this lawsuit) had retained couru;el and began discussions with APA's legal counsel i.n an effort to resolve issues an.d correct the record without Titigation. I was neither informed about nor consulted regarding the substance of these discussions and was never provided with any material to evaluate related to these discussions. 8_ On August 18, 2016, r attended a meeting between former APA Presidents and a m:nnber of Board of Director members to discuss issues related to tho Independent Review and the resulting Report. At the meeting, some members of the Board acknowledged lhat, among other lh.ings, the Report oontained many inaccuracies and there were missteps by APA in follow-up actions once the Report was received. Attached hereto as Exhibit A is a true and correct copy of the notes of the meeting from a fonuer AP A President participant in this meeting. l have reviewed these. notes and they are consistent with my recollection of the meeting. 9. With regard to the Report's findings in relation to me, there are several inaccuracies. The Report inaccurately indicates that I acted to defeat the 2008 APA petition resolution to ban psycf1ologists • involvement in interrogations by the inclusion of pro-con statements (pp. 429-449). In actuality, I supported the petition resolution and would have infonned Mr. Hoffinan of this had he asked me about my participation in this activity. In my July 2015 statement to the AJ!A Counsel of Representatives included as part of AP A's online posting of"Responses from. those Mentioned in the Independent Report", I fully refuted Mr. Hoffman's characterization of my role. A true and correct copy of my statement can be found published by the APA onUne at hllp.l/www.wa.org/inde@ndtml rcvicw/rcsponses.aspx. The Report was never corrected with regard to this inaccurate information, not even when a revised version was republished on September 4, 2015. 10. The Report indicates that l was on the selection committee for the PENS Task Force, serving as a non-voting Board liaison. 1n actuality, it is the President who selected the members of the task force, while the selection committee only recommended possible members. I WdS the most junior member of the selection committee and, as the Report states, 1 was invo.lved substantially less than the others. fn fact, with over I 000 nominees, I had little say in the selection of t.he iask force members and was acquainted wjth very few oftftem. 11. At lhe lime of my interview with Mr. Hoffman, 1 questioned the accuracy of Dr. Arrigo's notes as she was not supposed to take extemporaneous notes. There was an agreement made by PENS task force members, at the time of the PENS task force, to not take notes e"'1emporaneously. As I was sitting right next to Dr. Arrigo during the entire PENS task force, I believe her notes were more likely constructed after the fact due to this prohibition. Mr. Hoffman simply shrugged off my statement in direct contrast to his findings and statements regarding the credibility ofDr . Arrigo and reliance on her claims. 12. Finally, I was shocked most recently to learn that the Report was now being characterized as an opinion. 1t was never purported or represented to me to be anything other than a clear and definitive factual investigation of the events in question. Lt was not intended to promote further debate but instead to settle a long-standing and private feud within the APA, which became public only th.rough the false allegations in the Risen book.. As has been stated publicly, Mr. Risen never even gave APA or those mentio.ned in the book an opportunity to deny the allegations he was making. What was a private internal APA matter became public solely through the repeated attacks of a few APA members and their work with Mr. Risen. J declare under penalty of perjury tbatihe foregoing js true and correct. ~ s . /:l~ BanyA:5 Sworn and subscribed to before a notary public in the State of Washington, lhis J!±. day of November 2018. ---- -- -- - JODI L VEITENHANS ....Jtx4, £ UaZP 111.fat1VJ-1<J Notary Public State of Wastilngton Notary Public My Appointment El<pires Jul JO, 2022 Exhibit A Subject:[DIV42BD] Meeting with Former President and the Board of Directors Date:Thu, 18 Aug io16 23:25:49 +Oddo From:Resnick, Robert <[email protected]> Reply-To:Division 42 (Independent Practice) Board of Directors <[email protected]> To:[email protected] The following it accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief: On Saturday, 13 August 2016, at 9AM at the request of some former APA Presidents, a meeting was convened with several former presidents and a subset of the Board of Directors( BOD) along with some staffers. To the best of my recollection, the former presidents included Pat Deleon, James Bray, Norm Ables, Dorothy Cantor, Gerry Koocher, Ron Levant, Nadine Kaslow, myself, and perhaps, others. From the Board of Directors was Susan McDaniels, Barry Anton, Jennifer Kelly, Bonnie Markham, and perhaps, others. Several staffers were present but did not speak and, some appeared to be taking notes and, as far as I know, the meeting was not recorded. Ors. Deleon, Bray and Resnick and others voiced concern ;:ind were critical of the way the BOD handled the Hoffman Report and their "rush to judgement" that left some APA members, "executive" staff and former presidents hanging in the wind with no recourse while APA proffered apologies: From the Former Presidents: • Before releasing the report the Board permitted Riesner and Soldz (not an APA member at the time) private access to the Hoffman Report even though it was known that both had collaborated with Risen of the NYT in his attacks on APA and some of its members, • Reisner and Soldz continued to make inappropriate demands concerning former presidents including expulsion, governance bans, redacting awards- none of which are permitted by APA by-laws.