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Bosworth Drafts Response to Raffle Scam Story: Mostly Smoke and Mirrors

—Why did the U.S.S. Bosworth sink?
—Because of all the leaks.

Various commentators have wondered why Annette Bosworth has not issued a formal response, not to mention refunds, for her land and motorcycle raffles that never were.

Annette Bosworth did write a response. A reliable source provides this draft of Annette's typical self-aggrandizing, issue-avoiding text meant to distract us all from the basic, important questions of why none of the ticketholders in her second round of raffles got either the promised prizes or refunds:

text attributed to Annette Bosworth, November 2013
text attributed to Annette Bosworth, November 2013

Check out the disconnect between the questions at hand and Bosworth's draft response:

  1. "Our first land raffle was an overwhelming success"—no one questions that the original Aurora County land auction sold 500 tickets and fairly awarded the prize to a lucky winner.
  2. ECHO kids, literacy, Haiti—no press yet has questioned the value of those programs conducted by Bosworth under her non-profit Preventive Health Strategies... although I was under the impression that folks who went on the PHS Haiti trips had to pay their own way... for remarkably expensive tickets.
  3. "When my personal life was crumbling the second raffle didn't get my attention to carry it through as successfully as the first one"—I didn't see any mention in the raffle rules or the application to the Secretary of State that a crumbling personal life would render the raffle void and tickets non-refundable.
  4. "The story that's written has serious inaccuracies"—which story? Nate Fluit's? Ryan Kappenman's? KDLT's? And what inaccuracies? Did PHS not sell Fluit, Kappenman, and others raffle tickets for approximately 75 acres in Moody County? Did PHS not fail to hold a drawing for that prize by the July 15, 2013, deadline? Did PHS not fail to issue refunds of ticketholders money, per its own rules? I challenge Annette Bosworth and her husband and PHS president Chad Haber to tell me which of those statements is inaccurate.
An eager reader contributes this visual commentary on the PHS raffle scam.
An eager reader contributes this visual commentary on the PHS raffle scam.

This draft response, like Bosworth's entire Senate campaign and dare I say her entire professional career, is an exercise in distraction by self-adulation turned self-immolation.

Dr. Bosworth, if you want to be honest with the people whose money you took, you need to throw away this draft and throw away the delusional thinking behind it. Sit back down at the keyboard (or pick up the phone, and answer the polite messages I left you on November 15) and answer these simple questions:

  1. How many raffle tickets did you sell for the Moody County land and other prizes after April 2012?
  2. What did you do with that raffle ticket money?
  3. What did you do with those prizes?

Answer those questions directly and truthfully, and any inaccurate stories will disappear. Continue to hide, continue to wallow in your personal mythology, and your ship will only continue to spring leaks and sink.

29 Comments

  1. mathia rall 2013.11.26

    VOA provided monthly stipends to Annette to see the "many native americans" and provide literacy screenings and education to youth in their programs. I don't think you can claim that's where your non-profit money went when you were reimbursed.

    I went on a mission trip to Haiti with the Habers/Bosworth team in December of 2011. The expenses were paid. However much of the money came from donations from several sources- including all the medicine was donated.

    I can only speak to my experience with these people. And it was crazy- and I am still waiting for my last two paychecks.

  2. Rorschach 2013.11.26

    You sure you didn't steal that from their van down by the river, Cory?(-;

    Long on blather. Offers no answers. Back to the drawing board.

  3. Joe 2013.11.26

    This is just flat out odd. I'm waiting for the argus to come up with this story, Ellis said he has the files but makes it sound as if he is going to wait until after this EB-5 stuff is over and probably not touch it until she has enough signatures to get on the ballot

  4. vikingobsessed 2013.11.26

    I understand this is only a "draft", but there are so many typos in it possibly someone should screen her for literacy.

  5. Rick 2013.11.26

    Funny how that works with some reporters, Joe. No time. Yet, we are reading far more here at Madville than any other news source in South Dakota ... and Cory doesn't get paid (much for the ads, which are very inexpensive). What would it be like if newspapers, TV and radio stations and the wire service actually paid people to be news gatherers/reporters on a full time basis? We probably wouldn't have time to read all the breaking news! Our cups would runneth over!

  6. Kristi 2013.11.26

    Last time I checked, an apartment is a home, Dr. Bosworth. Unless, of course, you're telling me that I've been homeless the last 15 years of my life that I've been spending in my apartment? I believe it was in or around April that Mr. Haber whisked his family away from the RV and placed them safely in an apartment in Sioux Falls.

  7. DB 2013.11.26

    Just the grammar alone makes me want to pound my head against a desk.

  8. CD 2013.11.26

    This is all a justification of wrongdoing. Whereas I believe good and heartfelt work was once the focus of Bosworth, it has long since disappeared. The items spoken of in that draft reference good deeds from long ago and certainly nothing within the last year and a half. It's pathetic to simultaneously take advantage of supporters of your missions and to abuse your staff members. All the while broadcasting your supposed Christian and family core beliefs. I read a quote once: never push loyal people to the point the no longer give a damn.
    How true that is.

  9. Jenny 2013.11.26

    When you have children to take care of, you sell or rent the farm land you inherited in order to support your babies. To think there are so many struggling South Dakotans that would have loved to be in her position to be able to own farm land when it is going at such at handsome price these days. This duo needs to take care of themselves and their babies and drop their foolish schemes.

  10. CD 2013.11.26

    Or, Jenny, your husband gets a job.

  11. Jenny 2013.11.26

    I know, does Chad Haber even have a real job?

  12. Jenny 2013.11.26

    If Annette is running around being SDs version of Michele Bachmann, and Chad is her manager, who is supporting the children?

  13. Rorschach 2013.11.26

    How can someone be homeless when she just raffled off $500,000 worth of her own farmland for charity?

    How can someone raffle off $500,000 worth of her own farmland for charity and not pay her home mortgage or staff wages?

    How can we trust someone to represent us in congress who makes such bad personal and financial decisions for her own family?

  14. DeeJay Beejr 2013.11.26

    Chad does not have a job now, nor, do I believe, he has he ever had one in his life. He used to live off the family trucking business. Since his family asked him to "move on," he lives off his wife. I, also, feel very sorry for those boys.

  15. Kristi 2013.11.26

    Apparently, since the Bosworth/Haber's don't care about paying their own bills, they're not concerned about their employees paying theirs. Paychecks are over-rated, really. Maybe she's trying to make her employees eligible for more inexpensive health care under Obamacare? After all, Dr. Bosworth was a strong supporter of the health care reform less than a year ago!

  16. Joe 2013.11.26

    With her I just don't understand it, none of it.

    You inherit land, you raffle it off, make similar money (but less) then you would if you auctioned it. - Odd but whatever

    At a similar time you have problems and are essentially forced out of your house and have to live in a RV (or so you claim).- Very odd, but you just sold your land so you should be fine, but wait you used that money for your charity.

    Ok, so you believe in helping those unfortunate, I think its stupid but I can buy it.

    So at a time when you are in this problem or predicament you then go out and buy more land to raffle off, again for charity. Why? I'm not sure but whatever, you figure you can make money on this, so I can buy it.

    But then you decide to take a vacation to Alaska, while claiming to be broke? Odd, but again I know people who do similar things.

    All of this is odd, and I'd claim stupid but there are people that would or have done similar things in their lives. However none of them then decide to run for Senate. And that is where I just don't get it. Its one thing to put your family through this privately but a totally different thing when you are doing it in the public and it will become very public if she stays in, especially if Rounds is hurt with this EB-5 thing.

  17. Dave Baumeister 2013.11.26

    I used to work for the Dynamic Duo. Last March, when Chad first told me of this political ploy (which I later learned he had been planning for two years prior), I told him I didn't think it was a good idea for just this reason: all of the baggage that would be brought up. Boy, have I ever been proven right! I was never against Annette's candidacy, but in their world, if a person questions them at all, that person is branded as being against them, and Mr and Dr Clean then turn their efforts to try and discredit that person. As to the RV, I offered my basement - bedrooms, separate kitchen and entrances - to Annette and the boys (Chad was in Haiti almost the entire time) on two occasions, and I lean red that others also made similar offers. No, she only lived in an RV because she wanted to live in an RV. If she had truly been hurting, she would have taken one of those offers. I believe it was part of the larger "plan." Cory, I need to write something up for you about my knowledge of what went on.

  18. mathia rall 2013.11.26

    Well said Dave. As you know I to put in my time with the "Dynamic Duo". I believe she live in the RV because you can not get served when you are in a RV. She used my address so her oldest son could attend Patrick. I had 3 process servers at my house over the last year looking for her. Hard to get served when your living in an RV.

  19. Donald Pay 2013.11.26

    I'm concerned for the welfare of their children. These are two mentally unstable adults doing things that are borderline or over the borderline illegal. Anyone know how these kids are being treated through all this? To choose to be homeless when you could provide housing to your children would seem to warrant intervention by human services.

  20. caheidelberger Post author | 2013.11.26

    Vikingobsessed, her verbal infacility may simply reflect her desire to follow the Kristi Noem path to office.

  21. caheidelberger Post author | 2013.11.26

    Rick, I don't get paid, but I do have that Tip Jar up in the sidebar, right below the Recent Comments! :-)

    And to be fair, I'm covering a couple of stories with great intensity; the newspapers and TV stations are still covering lots more.

  22. caheidelberger Post author | 2013.11.26

    Joe, you've been talking to Jonathan Ellis? Tell him to pull the trigger! Or... I wonder... should we just wait on big news until after everyone is done cutting out the weekend coupons and trampling each other for cheap Black Friday junk?

  23. caheidelberger Post author | 2013.11.26

    Dave, I look forward to sharing that knowledge. Knowledge is the best weapon against scam artists. If we know what they're up to, we won't fall for it. If we know they are scam artists, future marks won't fall for it and can save their money for real, reputable, useful projects.

  24. caheidelberger Post author | 2013.11.26

    Donald, given the apparent instability of the home situation, I too worry for the children. Their parents appear to be addicted to financial risk taking instead of rational budgeting and work. The parents seem to enable each other's irresponsible behavior. How do we get the parents to recognize their responsibilities to their children? How do we get them to give up their fantasies and just be parents? Do we have to stage some sort of public intervention?

  25. Kristi Golden 2013.11.27

    Sorry ip @ 11/26 12:19 The Kristi who is commenting is not me...Kristi Golden -- maybe it's Kristi Noem or Kristi Peterson or Kristi Smith or Kristi someone else. But it's not me.

  26. interested party 2013.11.27

    fascinating.

  27. grudznick 2013.11.27

    I am beginning to doubt the stability of the young Dr.'s mind.

  28. Kathy 2013.11.29

    Re: Joe's wondering why the Argus isn't covering this. I'm not with the Argus, but in a way, it makes sense to hold off on running it. The primary isn't until next June and people tend to have short memories.

Comments are closed.