December 20, 2019

Four Years After N.H. Win, Sanders Hopes Consistency Carries The Day in 2020

By Josh Rogers


Four years ago, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders started small in New Hampshire, but ended up winning the state's presidential primary big.

In the 2020 race, Sanders entered the Democratic primary as a top contender, and nothing - not the huge field, not other candidates adopting his key policy proposals, not even a heart attack - has changed that.

Sanders’ resilience puts him in a strong position as voters here start seriously weighing their choices. Talk to voters at Sanders rallies these days and you can find plenty who share the view that that resilience is what will lead him to victory in New Hampshire again.

"I’m excited about Bernie Sanders because I believe in him," said Andrew Menard of Portsmouth. "He is real; he is steadfast. His message has been consistent for decades.”

Read more: https://www.nhpr.org/post/four-years-after-nh-win-sanders-hopes-consistency-carries-day-2020

December 20, 2019

Sanders, Bloomberg test different paths to a California win

By Michael R. Blood and Kathleen Ronayne


One is spending millions of dollars flooding the airwaves from Los Angeles to Sacramento, highlighting his tenure as mayor of the nation’s largest city and commitment to key Democratic causes. The other has hired 80 staff members to knock on doors, organize volunteers and promote his message of political revolution in at least seven languages.

No two Democratic presidential candidates are putting as many resources into the fight for California as Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire businessman and former New York mayor, and Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator. Sanders is marshaling his passionate volunteers to win the biggest prize of the presidential primary season, while Bloomberg arrives with a virtually unlimited checkbook after a late entry in the race.

For now, they’re deploying different strategies. Bloomberg is focused on television advertising, long viewed as the best way to reach voters in the state that is home to 40 million people, while Sanders is focused on door-to-door campaigning on the ground. But they each have the resources and plans to do both, and earlier than most of their rivals.

As Bloomberg spokesman Jason Schechter put it: “California is extremely important to Mike.”

Read more: https://www.concordmonitor.com/Sanders-Bloomberg-test-different-paths-to-a-California-win-31414835

December 20, 2019

On the trail: Shurtleff makes up on mind on 2020 race, backing Biden

By Paul Steinhauser


New Hampshire House Speaker Steve Shurtleff says he struggled to decide which Democratic presidential candidate he’d support in the race for the White House.

“It was a difficult decision for me to make. I had an opportunity to meet with several of the candidates and was impressed with quite a few,” the Concord Democrat explained in an interview with the Monitor.

“I had to do a lot of soul searching,” the speaker added.

In the end, Shurtleff decided to endorse former vice president Joe Biden.

Read more: https://www.concordmonitor.com/On-the-Trail-31411116

December 20, 2019

Brewer legislator Arthur Verow dies at 77

By Eesha Pendharkar


Arthur “Archie” Verow, who represented most of Brewer in the Maine House, died unexpectedly Thursday morning of a heart attack, according to his daughter, Suzette Furrow.

Verow, a Democrat, was first elected to the Maine House in 2012 and was serving his third term when he died. He won re-election in 2014 before losing his seat in 2016. He reclaimed it in last year’s election.

Before serving in the State House, Verow, 77, also had a long history of serving at the municipal level in Brewer. He served two terms as the city’s mayor. He also served on the City Council, and he worked at Brewer City Hall as city clerk for 40 years before he retired in 2007.

Verow leaves behind his wife of 55 years, Fran, as well as a son, daughter and three granddaughters, Furrow said. He also had a daughter who predeceased him.

Read more: https://bangordailynews.com/2019/12/19/news/bangor/archie-verow-legislator-who-represented-most-of-brewer-dies-at-77/
(Bangor Daily News)

December 20, 2019

State sues contractors accused of owing over $1 million to customers

By Stephen Betts


ROCKLAND — The Maine Attorney General’s Office has sued a former Washington couple and a now-defunct contracting business in Union that is alleged to have taken more than $1 million for repair work from more than 100 homeowners in five counties with little to show for the customers.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Knox County Court in Rockland, where Malcolm and Elizabeth Stewart operated Castle Builders for nearly three years before abruptly closing it and their Agway store on Sept. 8.

The couple moved to South Carolina to live with relatives. The state had the lawsuit served against the couple.

The Stewarts have filed for bankruptcy both individually and for Castle Builders.

Read more: https://www.pressherald.com/2019/12/19/state-sues-contractors-accused-of-owing-over-1-million-to-customers/
(Portland Press Herald)

December 20, 2019

Buttigieg-Warren clash on campaign trail spills into debate

By Kathleen Ronayne, Darlene Superville And Steve Peoples


LOS ANGELES — The long-festering feud between Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg erupted Thursday night in a high-stakes debate that tested the strength of the Democratic Party’s shrinking pool of presidential contenders just six weeks before primary voting begins.

Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has emerged as an unlikely presidential power player, gaining ground with a centrist message. Warren, the Massachusetts senator who has become his progressive foil, attacked Buttigieg’s fundraising practices. And Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who is competing with Buttigieg for moderate voters, challenged his limited governing experience.

The debate came a day after a highly contentious vote to impeach President Trump, which showed in dramatic relief how polarized the nation is over his presidency. With the Republican-controlled Senate likely to acquit him, the stakes are high for Democrats to select a challenger who can defeat Trump in November.

The forum highlighted the choice Democrats will have to make between progressive and moderate, older and younger, men and women and the issues that will sway the small but critical segment of voters who will determine the election. The candidates sharply disagreed about the role of money in politics, the value and meaning of experience and the direction of the American health care system.

In the most pointed exchange, Warren zeroed in on Buttigieg’s recent private meeting with wealthy donors inside a California “wine cave,” the details of which were recounted in a recent Associated Press story.

Read more: https://www.pressherald.com/2019/12/19/progressives-moderates-poised-to-clash-in-democratic-debate/
(Portland Press Herald)

December 20, 2019

Prison or profit center?

Lisa Goodine of Portland supports herself on Social Security and a part-time job as a cashier. She also sends what money she can to her son, Shawn Goodine, an inmate at Maine State Prison in Warren, so he can buy coffee, snacks and hygiene products.

So Goodine was shocked to find out that some of the money she sends her son is still being deducted to pay a fine for a 10-year-old disciplinary infraction, when he was serving a previous sentence at Maine Correctional Center in Windham.

“I’m his only mother, I’m the only one that will help him. I don’t like his choices, but he’s my kid,” she said. “I know he’s being punished – he deserves to be – but he needs money, too, in jail.”

Goodine realized during a phone call with her son in September that he was not getting the full amount she would send him. Shawn requested his account statements and saw that his mother sent him $50 five times since June, and each time $12.50 was taken out for a monetary sanction generated March 27, 2009.

Read more: https://portlandphoenix.me/prison-or-profit-center/

December 20, 2019

Justices weigh Maine health insurer's claim of ACA 'bait-and-switch'

One of Maine’s leading health insurers is hoping for a major victory before the U.S. Supreme Court in a case testing provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

Community Health Options of Lewiston was one of many insurers affected when payments it believed were guaranteed by the landmark law enacted under President Obama in 2010 were eliminated after Republicans assumed full control of Congress in 2015.

Prominent Washington, D.C., attorney Paul Clement argued for the insurers Dec. 10 in Maine Community Health Options v. United States.

Clement – a Maine native who has argued nearly 100 cases before the Supreme Court – minced no words about the government’s de-appropriation, calling it “a massive bait-and-switch.”

Read more: https://portlandphoenix.me/high-court-weighs-maine-health-insurers-claim-of-aca-bait-and-switch/

December 20, 2019

Maine group launches resource documenting Collins' voting record, corporate donors

For voters wanting to examine Senator Susan Collins’ record on critical issues, the grassroots group Suit Up Maine (SUM) has launched an online resource, The Case Against Susan Collins, to shed light on the actions of their senator.

The Case Against Susan Collins provides information on the senior senator’s voting record — including how her votes have been scored by groups like the NAACP and the AFL-CIO — as well as who has been funding her campaigns.

“If Mainers want to see how her tenure has actually impacted people’s lives, they need to look at her votes and follow the money,” said SUM co-leader Kelli Whitlock Burton in a press release.

While Collins has often been referred to as a moderate, her votes have aligned with President Donald Trump’s hard-line positions a majority of the time. This alignment came to a head with her vote for Trump’s 2017 tax bill, which allowed corporations like Amazon and Prudential Financial to avoid paying federal taxes in 2018.

Read more: https://mainebeacon.com/maine-group-launches-resource-documenting-collins-voting-record-corporate-donors/

December 20, 2019

Mid-Wilshire Cancer Doctor and His Medical Office Agree to Pay Over $3 Million to Settle Claims They

Mid-Wilshire Cancer Doctor and His Medical Office Agree to Pay Over $3 Million to Settle Claims They Defrauded Medicare and Medi-Cal


LOS ANGELES – The Department of Justice announced today that Nassir Medical Corp. and its owner, Dr. Youram Nassir, have agreed to pay the United States and California $3,356,565 to settle False Claims Act allegations that they defrauded public health care programs by billing for oncology drugs and services that were not actually provided to patients.

Nassir Medical Corp., which does business as Cancer Care Institute, is a hematology and oncology practice based in in the Mid-Wilshire area of the City of Los Angeles. This medical office specializes in treating cancer patients and such treatment often requires physicians to prescribe, dispense, infuse, and administer a variety of oncology drugs. Medicare and Medi-Cal reimburse physicians both for the cost of drugs themselves and for the cost of infusing and administering those drugs to patients.

Between January 2010 and December 2013, Nassir Medical Corp. and Nassir allegedly violated the False Claims Act by submitting bogus claims to Medicare and Medi-Cal, according to this case’s settlement agreement. The defendants allegedly billed public health programs for drugs that were not actually purchased, dispensed, or administered, and for infusion services that were not actually provided. The defendants have agreed to pay $2,377,675.51 to the United States and $978,907.49 to California.

Nassir Medical Corp. and Nassir also have entered into an integrity agreement with the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General.

Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/mid-wilshire-cancer-doctor-and-his-medical-office-agree-pay-over-3-million-settle