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• Marketing errors: Multnomah has become involved in several questionable endorsements of Ezzo and his materials. In a Babywise-related book, On Becoming Preteen Wise, endorser Amy Maughan is said to be a licensed marriage and family counselor in California. Yet when the book was published, Maughan's license had been expired for five years and was not renewable. Multnomah has further misstated Ezzo's academic background; in a radio ad he was referred to as "Dr. Gary Ezzo." Ezzo has no medical or doctoral degree, earned or honorary.
• Integrity issues: A number of Christian leaders formerly associated with Ezzo have alerted the public to doubts about Ezzo's fitness for ministry, including Pastor John MacArthur; Ezzo's former editorial director, Frank York; and former ministry colleagues Eric and Julie Abel, who worked with Ezzo in the early 1990s. All have severed ties over integrity concerns.

In the weeks before his resignation, Gerke had extensive interaction with pediatrician Aney. According to e-mail messages provided by Aney to CT, Gerke told Aney that he initially investigated the allegations believing that Ezzo had been attacked unfairly, a sentiment shared by Multnomah executives.

"We weren't really feeling the need to do an 'unbiased investigation,'" Gerke wrote to Aney. "We were just trying to field complaints. I think we started the investigation merely so that we could say that we'd truly looked into it. We believed we would find verification for Gary's explanations. We believed we would put out a statement and go our merry way."

As the editor spearheading the investigation, however, Gerke changed his mind. "I'm personally convinced Gary Ezzo and his infant care materials are dangerous," Gerke later wrote to Aney. "He has no medical training and therefore no business writing medical books—or disregarding the advice of bona fide medical professionals."

Gerke also admitted that Multnomah did not have a medical editor who reviewed Ezzo's manuscripts. "Besides these [Babywise] books, we don't do any medical books," Gerke wrote.

After lengthy discussions, Multnomah executives decided to sever ties with Ezzo. "The bomb has been dropped," Gerke wrote to Aney in mid-March. According to Gerke, Multnomah Vice President Kyle Cummings told the author he had two choices: "to purchase the books, inventory, plates, etc. back from us. The alternative is to have us terminate the contracts." The latter, Cummings told him, would be "messier" and would "send a different message to the marketplace."

Yet in March, after CT published an article about the Multnomah action on its Web site, the company released a statement saying that its investigation was still under way and that Gerke's opinions of Ezzo did not necessarily reflect the company's position.

Regarding his resignation, Gerke told CT, "Multnomah felt that I had divulged confidential information to a third party and it was of such an embarrassing nature that I had exercised poor judgment."

In late May, Multnomah issued a statement that did not address the specific issues raised by Gerke or Ezzo's critics. The publishers said they met with Ezzo and had developed a review process that would entail face-to-face meetings between Ezzo and his critics, to be facilitated by a Christian conciliator.

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July 8 2001, Vol. 45, No. 9