Bill Frist Is Trying to Make a Nashville Crony from CCA Into Federal Judge

[NashVegas]

The background: Gus Puryear is a corporate stooge whose main qualification for a Federal bench seems to be his prior gig as an assistant to Former Senator Bill "Terry Schiavo looks just fine to me" Frist of TN. Frist, btw, is laying low and laying the ground for a future run against our current governor Phil Bredesen (D), it's believed.

Since Frist left office, Puryear took a job with Corrections Corp of America where he raked in some $4 million dollars in salary, bonuses, and stock sales.

If he becomes the Fed. district judge for Nashville, it's inconceivable than none of the hundreds of lawsuits against CCA and its officers and employees at the privatized prisons will come across his desk.

He recently testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, no notice on when the vote will be. In the meantime, please help spread the word if you can, and write to the Judiciary committee if you think he'd be as appalling a choice as so many others do.

thanks.

http://www.againstpuryear.org/
http://www.nashvillescene.com/Stories/Cover_Story/2008/03/06/Elephant_in_the_Room/index.shtml
http://www.nashvillescene.com/Stories/News/2008/03/27/A_Jailhouse_Mystery/index.shtml
http://www.nashvillescene.com/Stories/News/Woods/2008/03/27/Walking_Wounded/index.shtml

[Bozita]

1. CCA, where crime truly does pay.

[L. Coyote]

2. 30 U.S. attorneys investigate BILKING BILLIONS, Medicare, Medicaid, Military’s Healthcare

How is it that $$ BILLIONS $$ of fraud does not put CEOs in jail?
How is it that $$ BILLIONS $$ of fraud cases seem to evaporate or settle for so little?
How were those $$ BILLIONS $$ in lobbying by single industries spent? Where do those bucks STOP?

Focus: The BIG PICTURE.

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HCA's "fraud investigation involved 30 U.S. attorneys' offices, 22 FBI field offices, inspectors general from the Health and Human Service Department and the Office of Personnel Management, Defense Department investigators and state fraud units"

SOURCE: John Byrne, "Company run by Frist's brother made $630m deal two days before he announced he would be leader"
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Family_company_of_Senate_leader_made_0929.html

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In September 2005, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, named Frist as one of the thirteen most "corrupt" members of Congress, and filed a complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee calling for an investigation of the stock sale, an alleged cover-up, and an allegedly mishandled disclosure of a campaign loan. ... In April 2007, he was exonerated by the SEC and the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York.
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2006/11/29/frist-decides-against-%e2%80%9908-presidential-bid

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May 23, 2004 -Denver Post by Anne C. Mulkern
When Advocates Become Regulators
President Bush has installed more than 100 top officials who were once lobbyists, attorneys or spokespeople for the industries they oversee.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0523-02.htm

Thomas A. Scully .... former hospital lobbyist presided over an agency that helped a chain he once represented win a favorable settlement in a Medicare fraud case.

Thomas A. Scully represented the nation's for-profit hospitals as a lobbyist before being hired by the Bush administration in June 2001 to head the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Eight months after Scully arrived at the Medicare and Medicaid agency, it moved to settle final claims involving HCA Inc., a hospital chain that was the biggest member of Scully's former employer, the Federation of American Hospitals. HCA Inc. faced allegations it fraudulently overbilled the government for Medicare cases.

Under the terms agreed to in June 2002 by Scully's agency, HCA would have settled for $250 million. Medicare fraud cases typically are ironed out with Justice Department participation, but Scully agreed to those terms on his own, said John R. Phillips, an attorney who represented whistle-blowers in the case.

"The $250 million was a total sellout by Scully, who totally negotiated it behind Justice's back," Phillips said.


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FROM: 30 U.S. attorneys investigate BILKING BILLIONS, Medicare, Medicaid, Military’s Healthcare
May-13-07 - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x877011

[L. Coyote]

3. kick