Democrat Dirty Laundry: Kind’s Pay-to-Play Scheme Leaves Doctors ‘Running Scared’
SPIN CYCLE: Speaker Pelosi Vowed that Democrats Would Lead the “Most Honest, Most Open, and Most Ethical Congress in History”:
“Our goal is to restore accountability, honesty and openness at all levels of government. To do so, we will create and enforce rules that demand the highest ethics from every public servant, sever unethical ties between lawmakers and lobbyists, and establish clear standards that prevent the trading of official business for gifts,” (Nancy Pelosi’s “A New Direction for America,” Page 21).
RINSE CYLCE: Seven-Term Democrat Accused of Telling Constituents He Requires Contribution of $10K in Exchange for 1-2 Hour Personal Meeting:
A couple of Eau Claire doctors are trying to shake up the sleepy congressional race in southwestern Wisconsin with their claim that they were told to come up with campaign cash before U.S. Rep. Ron Kind would meet with them to discuss a bill detrimental to their hospital.
The pay-to-play allegation has certainly roused the seven-term Democrat.
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Two doctors at OakLeaf Surgical Hospital contacted No Quarter last week with their three-year-old charge, which they detailed in affidavits provided to the paper. Kind’s staff countered with their own set of affidavits challenging the doctors’ story.
“I don’t know the legalities,” Michael Smith, one of the OakLeaf doctors, said in an interview. “But this is an official elected to represent us. What does this mean – if I don’t have the money that he won’t even meet with me to hear my side of an important issue for our district?”
Another surgeon at the physician-owned facility maintains in his sworn statement that an unnamed Kind aide in his Eau Claire office explained that the veteran politician “typically requires a contribution of $10,000 for a 1-2 hour personal meeting and $25,000 for a half day meeting.”
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OakLeaf doctors wanted to talk to Kind about a bill, called the Champ Act, which would have banned the creation of any new physician-owned hospitals while prohibiting the existing ones from expanding their facilities. It also would have limited the percentage of a hospital that doctors could own individually and collectively.
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It’s not unusual for groups with legislation before Congress to hold fund-raisers for federal lawmakers. That happens all of the time. But it would not be OK for a congressman to tell groups that they must raise campaign cash if they want to lobby the lawmaker on a particular bill.
In September 2007, Kind met with about 20 doctors at OakLeaf, where they chatted about the Champ Act, the doctor says in his affidavit. Then the congressman took a short tour of the hospital.
More than two dozen doctors gave $6,600 to Kind at that event or shortly thereafter.
“Although I was opposed to the concept of paying to secure time with a legislator, the pending legislation could have a direct financial impact which could really hurt the Hospital,” the doctor’s sworn statement says.
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Smith, the internal medicine doctor, said he was the one who alerted his fellow surgeon that the terms of the meeting were not kosher. It was during a flight to Michigan in December 2009 that the two first discussed how the get-together with Kind came about.
Just a week after that chat, Smith made the first of three donations to Kapanke for a total of $2,399. Smith also has given to the state Republican Party and to Republican U.S. Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign. In June 2008, he chipped in $800 to Kind’s fund.
“Yes, I support the opponent of somebody who charges their constituency in order to meet with them about important issues for their district,” Smith said in an interview last week regarding his Kapanke donations.
Smith said it was the discussion on that flight that prompted him and his fellow surgeon to air their charges three years after the fund-raiser for Kind. He said it took a little while to figure out how and where to publicize their claims.
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Thomas Peller, a gastroenterologist at the Eau Claire hospital, said many of the physicians had heard rumors about a possible pay-for-play deal but didn’t speak up earlier because variations on the legislation kept surfacing.
“Most of us were running scared,” said Peller, who gave $1,500 to Kapanke earlier this year and $200 to Kind in 2007. “A lot of us were afraid.” (Daniel Bice, “Political mystery unfolds in Western Wisconisn,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 10/26/10)
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