What “Patient Group” Put on Asheville's "Community Vigil"?

On June 29th, a group called The Patients Union hosted a small "Community Vigil: Grieving the State of Mission Hospital" in Asheville, and some believe the outside organizers behind this event deserve a closer look.

The Patients Union, formerly known as "Be A Hero," has spent years positioning itself as a grassroots voice for sick Americans and a crusader against secret political money, but it is itself a dark money political slush fund. Be A Hero’s Executive Director is Jamila Headley, who previously served as Chief of Staff for the Center for Popular Democracy, a far-left advocacy organization, and worked with the Open Society Foundations, the global philanthropic network funded by George Soros. Under her leadership, the group's lobbying arm has nearly doubled its share of revenue in two years, and the organization has aligned itself closely with national progressive figures such as AOC, Ayanna Pressley, Pramila Jayapal, and Cori Bush.

Despite the patient-focused branding, the astroturf group has never paid out a single dollar in grants across any of its entities (c(3) Form 990s, c(4) Form 990s) in any year on record. No patient services. No community investment. Just six-figure salaries, outside consultants, and political advertising funded by donors the public is never allowed to see.

For a group that built its identity crusading against "Big Pharma", taxing the rich, and dark money in healthcare, there's a notable irony in their own funding. Findings show that “Be a Hero” accepted over $800,000 from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Johnson & Johnson fortune. One of the largest pharmaceutical dynasties in American history was quietly underwriting the group's anti-pharma activism. National Nurses United-affiliated PACs also poured approximately $6.2 million into the Be A Hero Super PAC in the 2019-2020 cycle alone. 

The vigil's “local face” has been Rev. Rob Stephens, listed as a “North Carolina organizer” for The Patients Union. Stephens professional life traced a single path through the leftist political infrastructure: Field Secretary for the NC NAACP under Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, organizer of the Forward Together-Moral Monday Movement, National Political Director of Barber's nonprofit Repairers of the Breach, and Deputy Director of the Mass Poor People's Assembly and Moral March on Washington. Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II is best known for pushing to advance a far-left political agenda rooted in radical economic redistribution, racial politics, and government expansion. Barber’s ex-wife has even accused him of using nonprofit funds to pay alimony.

Claire Sandberg is also listed as an admin of “Be A Hero Grassroots” which is associated with The Patients Union. Sandberg served as National Organizing Director for Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign and founded Crowdwave Campaigns. Her presence is a window into the broader network of national progressive operatives with deep ties to the socialist wing of the Democratic Party, parachuting in for a "community" event in Asheville.

This is not the Patients Union’s first vigil; they have also inserted themselves into different communities across the US on at least two other occasions. Western North Carolina deserves advocates who are actually accountable to this community. Residents should know who's coming into their community, what they want, and who is paying for it.