Reply #19: Don't stop with Mike Ross - follow the money & find the truth.

[SandWalker1984]

Rachel Maddow broke the story about Mike Ross's sweetheart deal for his pharmacy building:

"But the $420,000 that USA Drug paid for the pharmacy’s building and land was just the beginning of what Ross and his wife, Holly, made from the sale of Holly’s Health Mart. USA Drug owner Stephen L. LaFrance Sr. also paid the Rosses $500,000 to $1 million for the pharmacy’s assets and paid Holly Ross an additional $100,000 to $250,000 for signing a noncompete agreement. Those numbers, which Mike Ross listed on the financial disclosure reports he files as a member of Congress, bring the total value of the transaction to between $1 million and $1.67 million."

And I read this over on Crooks & Liars.....

"Speaker Pelosi is nixing a deal she cut with centrists to advance health reform, said a source familiar with negotiations. Pelosi’s decision to abandon the agreement that was made with a group of Blue Dogs to get the bill out of committee would steer the healthcare legislation back to the left as she prepares for a floor vote.

Pelosi is planning to include a government-run public option in the House version of the healthcare bill. She wants to model it on Medicare, with providers getting reimbursed on a scale pegged to Medicare rates. "The speaker is full-steam-ahead," said a senior Democratic aide.

snip...

Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.) and a group of fellow Blue Dogs had negotiated a deal with Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) in July that would remove the link to Medicare. Under that plan, officials with the government-run plan would negotiate individually with providers.

That move, which drew howls of protest from liberal members, prevented the bill from getting stuck in committee. But Ross returned from the August break saying he couldn't support a public option under any circumstances, essentially withdrawing his support for the deal."



EVERY blue dog Democrat that is opposed to a Medicare-style public option should be thoroughly investigated to see how much influen$e the health care industry is purchasing with them.

Find it. Report it. Spread the word.

This is political war - us the American middle class against them the corporations buying off members of Congress in the name of excessive greed.