Valerie Huber,
director of the Ohio health department's abstinence
education program, is being investigated for ethics
violations after she allegedly tried to secure a state
contract for a for-profit company she's
involved with, Gay People's Chronicle reports.
The investigation was ordered by health department director
Nick Baird after he was tipped off that a firm Huber
had registered with the state in December was seeking
a $100,000 two-year grant to provide abstinence-only
education to students in grades 7-12. Because Huber
had registered the organization, Cox Creative of
Highlands Ranch, Colo., she legally became its
statutory agent in Ohio.
The ethics probe
is examining whether she broke state law or ethics
guidelines by serving as the statutory agent for a group
seeking funds from a state office she runs. Huber also
was reportedly seeking to oversee the Cox Creative
campaign, according to a health department spokesman.
Melissa Cox, one
of the owners of Cox Creative, also is an advocate
of therapy that claims to cure gays of homosexuality. She
previously served as the director of public relations
and marketing for the Medical Institute for Sexual
Health, which promotes "reparative therapy" to
help change the sexual orientation of gays. The
institute also lobbies against condom use.
Cox also is a
former editor for Physician magazine, published
by the antigay organization Focus on the Family.
Negotiations
between Huber's office and Cox Creative for the
two-year grant were halted in January due to potential
conflict of interest, says a health department
spokesman. There was no target date announced for the
conclusion of the health department's investigation
into Huber's activities. (Advocate.com)