Senator Max Baucus of Montana proudly talks of a campaign ploy in his tight 2002 race that caused his opponent to drop out. The tactic involved showing old footage of the man at work.
Democrats knew Republican Mike Taylor had once owned hair care schools in Colorado. That led to a newspaper ad that mentioned he had once appeared in an infomercial on the noon news in Denver in the 1980s. That, in turn, led to the basement of a private home where a former television station employee had old videotapes.
For Democrats, the hunt was worth the effort - the party's autumn television commercial showed Taylor wearing an open-front shirt and gold chains, massaging a man's face. Staggered, Taylor briefly dropped out of the race, accusing the Democrats of saying that "anybody in the beauty and hair fashion industry is homosexual."
But in politics, as the old expression goes, if you're explaining, you're losing. “That was a silver bullet” Max recalls.
Actually Max Baucus has some explaining to do. As an influential member of the Senate Finance Committee Max votes on key healthcare legislation impacting Medicare and Medicaid. The for-profit hospital industry knows this choosing to fund Senator Baucus’ campaign.
For Max’s 2006 campaign the Federation of American Hospitals donated 5,000, Kindred Healthcare $6,000, HCA $10,000, Triad Hospitals $5,000, Vanguard Health Management $5,000, Sun Healthcare $2,000, Universal Health Services $2,500, Mariner Healthcare $5,000, LifePoint Hospitals $5,000, HCR Manor Care $4,000, Genesis Healthcare $2,000, Beverly Enterprises $10,000, Renal Care Group $3,000, Fresenius Medical Care $2,100, Renal Leadership Council $5,000, HealthSouth Corp $2,500, Gentiva Health Services $2,500, and Ardent Health Services $1,000.
Which of the above for profit healthcare companies have no, as in ZERO facilities in Senator Baucus’ home state of Montana? Kindred, Vanguard, Triad, LifePoint, Universal, Genesis, Gentiva, and even the monstrous HCA have no hospitals in the Big Sky State. So why donate to Max?
What will $77,600 in for profit healthcare donations get these days? Last summer $30,000 seemed to inspire Chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee to hold a hearing on the unfair advantage non profit community hospitals have as they are “tax exempt”. Earlier this summer Max’s partner on the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Chuck Grassley asked the IRS Commissioner to go after non profit community hospitals with the same vigor as their recent clampdown on credit counseling agencies.
Also at a time when Congress is holding the line on America’s minimum wage, it passed special reimbursement increases for kidney dialysis. Did you note 3 of the above companies specialize in dialysis care? They got a 1.6% increase in 2005 followed by another 1.6% increase in 2006. Investors like predictable income streams. And yes, this is the same period Congress passed a law allowing premium sharing, deductibles and co-payments for poor persons on Medicaid.
Four of Max’s top 12 donating industries are health related. It seems Max hasn’t been caught with his hands massaging a man’s face but should an investigation be conducted on donor driven voting patterns, watch out! Max could well have his pants down around his ankles. In that state it could be awful difficult to dodge that silver bullet. After all Max, what goes around, comes around!
P.S. Max, psst! From the map links alone, your pants have fallen to your knees. You might want to do something about it. Just a thought brother!
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