By MIA NAKAJI MONNIER and NAO NAKANISHI, Rafu Staff Writers
This past Monday, Jonathan Kaji, a representative of the Ad Hoc Committee to Save Keiro, delivered a petition to the Los Angeles office of the California state attorney general.
The petition asks Attorney General Kamala Harris to consider postponing Keiro Senior HealthCare’s sale of its facilities until a public hearing can be held.
“We contend that Keiro did not inform the stakeholders of the non-profit corporation, namely the residents, family members, and financial donors of Keiro,” wrote Kaji in an email to Wendi Horowitz on Monday morning before submitting the petition. Horowitz is the L.A.-based deputy attorney general who took comments from the public during the open-comment periods for both of Keiro’s proposed sales, first to Ensign Group, then to Pacifica Companies.
“Further,” wrote Kaji, “Keiro requested and obtained a waiver of a public hearing, did not fully disclose the deal terms of the transaction (in both English and Japanese) and, thereby, significantly reducing direct stakeholder input during the public comment period.”
As of Monday, the petition included signatures from 2,715 people. The Ad Hoc Committee has also been circulating a separate petition directed towards Keiro leadership, asking them to explain their finances. The committee plans to submit that petition soon. They will continue to collect signatures for both petitions and hope to reach 10,000 signatures for both by the end of October.
There is an online petition that Jonathan Kaji has started. You can sign it at: https://www.change.org/p/california-attorney-general-kamala-harris-keiro-board-of-directors-save-keiro-retirement-home
You can also send the link to concerned friends and family.