IL U.S. Senator Durbin encouraged IRS harassment in 2010 - Illinois Review

Why did the #IRA investigate (and bully) Conservatives, Pro-lifers, and Tea Partiers; ‘cause Progressives told them too. 

The closing paragraph from Sen Durbin’s request to the IRA they investigate Crossroads GPS.  I’d like to see that reponse.  (H/T Illinois Review, link at bottom)

I ask that the IRS quickly examine the tax status of Crossroads GPS and other (c)(4) organizations that are directing millions of dollars into political advertising, and respond with your findings as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Richard J. Durbin

United States Senator

IL U.S. Senator Durbin encouraged IRS harassment in 2010 - Illinois Review

Uzbek national in Idaho arrested, charged with supporting the IMU - The Long War Journal

Uzbek national in Idaho arrested, charged with supporting the IMU - The Long War Journal

Rep. Schock: Why did IRS ask for the content of an organizations prayers?

An Illinois connection to the #IRS scandal. H/T Washington Examiner and Illinois Review

And here's the Press Release from the Thomas More Society.

Hezb-i-Islami suicide bomber in Kabul kills 6 Americans, 9 Afghans - The Long War Journal

Hezb-i-Islami suicide bomber in Kabul kills 6 Americans, 9 Afghans - The Long War Journal

‘Private Citizen’ Sebelius Solicits Obamacare ‘Donations’

‘Private Citizen’ Sebelius Solicits Obamacare ‘Donations’

From the federal overhaul of American medicine that brought us the Cornhusker Kickback, the Louisiana Purchase, and Gator Aid, we can now add the Sebelius Shakedown. In what it calls an “unusual fundraising push,” the Washington Post writes, “Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has gone, hat in hand, to health industry officials, asking them to make large financial donations to help with the effort to implement President Obama’s landmark health-care law.” According to the New York Times, Sebelius has suggested “seven-figure donations.”

Chicago Trib: Emanuel to shift retired city workers to Obamacare

Mayor's putting retirees into Obamacare, and it's making AFSCME queezy.

Henry Bayer, executive director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 31, said the uncertainties of Obamacare and the state insurance exchanges they would create, make the city's plan hard to assess.
 
"This uncertainty will cause anxiety and fear for tens of thousands of seniors who gave their working lives to public service — men and women whose retirement savings are already under attack in the name of 'pension reform.'" Bayer said. "Our union will be working to get answers to our many questions, to ensure the City Council closely oversees the administration's proposals, and to protect access to affordable health care for city retirees now and in the future."

 

Too bad the former Socialist Party Organizer Bayer  and present day Illinois AFSCME Chief Henry Bayer didn't consider the anxiety and fear when Illinois AFSCME broke with the National Union in 2007 (Sun Times link broken),

The Illinois chapter of the country's major government-employees union broke with its national organization Saturday to endorse Barack Obama for president.

Nationally, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is backing Hillary Rodham Clinton. But the union's Illinois leaders decided to make their own endorsement.

It is an unusual step, but we've had a long relationship with Senator Obama, said Henry Bayer, executive director AFSCME Council 31. We've had a better opportunity to observe him up close than people in other parts of the country.

Some 400 union delegates meeting in Peoria voted unanimously to support Obama, an Illinois Democrat, AFSCME said.

It's your Brave New World now guys.  Welcome to the fear and anxiety.  See what the long relationship gets you now.

Roskam, Ways and Means GOP Raise Questions on HHS Soliciting Donations

Roskam, Ways and Means GOP Raise Questions on HHS Soliciting Donations

Posted on 05/15/2013 at 11:59 AM

Press Release:
Excerpt: "Congressman Peter Roskam (IL-06) along with Ways and Means Republicans sent a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on her solicitation of outside groups to promote and support the Affordable Care Act."
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Peter Roskam (IL-06) along with Ways and Means Republicans sent a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on her solicitation of outside groups to promote and support the Affordable Care Act. Congressman Roskam released this statement:
 
"On October 1, 2013, the health care law's exchanges are due to open, forcing millions of Americans into a new government-run insurance market. However, the closer we get to October 1, it is clear that the exchanges were not properly funded in the health care law and to make up the difference, HHS has been siphoning funds from other parts of the law without proper authorization. To make matters worse, apparently Secretary Sebelius is now fundraising for the exchanges from the very groups she will be regulating and while implementing Obamacare. This is just another example of the HHS Secretary's willingness to cut corners and skirt the law while implementing the unpopular health care law."
 
The letter to Secretary Sebelius states:
 
"You have publically cited your authority and willingness to force rate reductions on the same companies that the Washington Post reports you have requested contribute to your favored ObamaCare promotional groups…. Your fundraising from groups that may apply to receive federal grants as 'navigators' and 'non-navigator assistors' creates the appearance that giving money to meet ObamaCare's funding needs will result in more favorable consideration of a grant application."
 
Read the full letter here.
 
Read the Washington Post article here.

 

 

John Walker: The Sebelius Shakedown

Walker connects the dots on what's so smelly about Enroll America.  It's a shakedown Chicago style.

Implementing Obamacare costs money. Congress gave Sebelius a hefty chunk of cash – estimated at about $1 billion – to administer the program. But it's not enough. One estimate says it may cost ten times that much to run the program over the next decade. Congress has refused to give her more money.
 
Not to worry. Sebelius came up with an ingenious but dubious solution – put the arm on insurance companies and healthcare companies to help foot the bill.
To a super-bureaucrat such as Sebelius, it must have made perfect sense. After all, the insurance companies will cash-in under Obamacare. It forces people to buy health insurance whether they like it or not. Healthcare companies, such as hospitals and other providers, stand to benefit from a steady stream of payments.
 
This blatant conflict of interest has landed Sebelius in hot water. As one of the most powerful bureaucrats in Washington, she is soliciting money from the very people she will regulate under Obamacare. How can they say no?
 
Sebelius has been asking industry executives for "contributions" to Enroll America, a nonprofit coalition of groups promoting Obamacare by educating the public about the law and working to enroll the uninsured.

Boards with Excecutives participating in this pay-to-play stuff ought to be wary and sensitve to where this will lead their brands.  It's certain to be mud and tarnish.

 

Joe Walsh was going to pick up on this story on his show last night.  Tangling Government and Government contractors/stakeholders together into a vast Politico-Medical combine threatens freedom more than some of these other scandels in the news.  This ones big, entrenched, with hands deep in our pockets.

 

Also, from the LA Times, GOP slams fundraising, other efforts to promote Obama health law

 

Enroll America, created by Families USA Executive Director Ron Pollack, a leading consumer advocate, has become a key partner in the effort to get people to sign up for benefits. The relationship between the administration and Enroll America was strengthened last year when Anne Filipic, a former White House official, took over the organization.
 
The group, which raised nearly $5 million in 2010 and 2011, according to tax returns, brought together major health companies, including Aetna, CVS Caremark, Teva Pharmaceuticals and Express Scripts, with medical groups such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and consumer advocates such as AARP and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.
 
Enroll America's board of directors includes representatives of two insurance companies — Kaiser Permanente and Blue Shield of California.
 

All outfits ready to cash in big with Obamacare.  Beware this collective.

NAACP's Julian Bond: It’s OK for IRS to target ‘racist’ tea party - Washington Times

NAACP's Julian Bond: It’s OK for IRS to target ‘racist’ tea party - Washington Times

Kass on Chicago: where government is the muscle that shuts the mouth

A keeper from Kass today on Obama as the gentle Mr Tumnus v Obama as Chicago Pol.

Using the IRS to smother dissent and grabbing the phone records of The Associated Press isn't something a gentle Mr. Tumnus would do.
 
But it is something done by politicians from Chicago, where government is the muscle that shuts the mouth.

Cal Skinner deconstructs the Teacher Pension mess

Cal Skinner's take on a Phil Kadner column on how Illinois's gotten into this mess.

Daily Beast: Lamar Alexander slams Sebelius over Iran-Contra-style health care scandal

Lamar Alexander says,

Alexander, the ranking member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, called for an investigation into Sebelius' actions Saturday, saying it "may be illegal, should cease immediately and should be fully investigated by Congress."
 

"Such private fundraising circumvents the constitutional requirement that only Congress may appropriate funds. If the secretary or others in her department are closely coordinating the activities of Enroll America, which is headed by a former White House aide, then those actions may be in violation of the Anti-Deficiency Act," he said.
 
He compared such behavior to the Iran-Contra scandal, "when Reagan administration official Oliver North raised funds and directed their spending through private entities in support of Nicaraguan rebels even though Congress had refused to appropriate such funds." 

Those Babes-in-the-Woods over at Enroll America who stand to profit handsomely off ObamaCare ought to pay attention.  This is no charity work.  This a program set to flop at best, and one that can easliy slide into conflicts of interest and abuse.  Just the stuff Alexander warning about.

OLB: Stephanie Kifowit Ducks Gay Marriage Question and Says She Needs to Take a Survey to Figure Out Which Way the Political Wind Blows

Open Line Blog finds Stephanie Kifowit on both sides of SSM depending on the donor community she speaks too.  Time for a poll it seems.

The problem for Kifowit is that she's made her position clear for and against gay marriage, depending on who she was soliciting support for.

She has tried to insult those who are gay at various times, yet cuddles up with gay supporters like Lisa Madigan.

She has told religious people she's "against" gay marriage yet taken thousands from campaign contributors looking for her to endorse gay marriage.

"Kifowit's position changes based upon who's she's speaking to and she will decide based upon purely selfish political interests" said an east side resident from Aurora's 3rd Ward, where Kifowit exploited taxpayers as alderman to attend parties and events.

Good luck with that poll Rep Kifowit.

The Enroll America Racket

Orrin Hatch questions Sec HHS on soliciting money from health care executives  to flog Obamacare  via Enroll America (Previous Post: Enroll America: Rich folks charged with selling us on ObamaCare looking for handouts)

This kind of entanglement between Government, Insurers, and the Healthcare Industry isn't going end well.  Way too much money involved and way too many conflicts of interest. An Exec involved in this a GD fool.  Better have good lawyers on hand.  This will unravel fast and this administration the last folks you want covering your back.

Also, LA Times, Obama uses 2012 campaign tactics to sell healthcare law and Reuters, Obama's health secretary seeks donations from companies for healthcare law

Visit Enroll America to keep an eye on this combine.

Jihadists launch 3 suicide attacks in Mali - Threat Matrix

Jihadists launch 3 suicide attacks in Mali - Threat Matrix

Bill Roggio writes,

While today's attacks were not particularly well-executed (only one Malian soldier was wounded in the attack, and the rest of the suicide bombers were killed), the jihadists in Mali are sending a message to Malian security forces and African Union troops that are preparing to deploy in the north: The attacks will continue, and the jihadist groups are not leaving anytime soon.

Incentifying Illinois's ObamaCare Navigators

From AARP's comments on Illinois's Navigator Program.  Regardless of how paid --per person enrolled or not-- I got a feeling being a Navigator's going to be lucrative work with plenty of opportunties for income enhancement.
 

Given the valuable service that the Navigator program will provide to consumers and the Exchange, it is essential that compensation be adequate in order to obtain and retain qualified, quality Navigators. We concur with the conclusion that Navigators should not be compensated on a per-enrollment basis.   That structure would incent Navigators to focus on those who would be the easiest to enroll, including those who could compare, select and enroll on-line with little or no assistance.  It would also emphasize initial enrollment over ongoing assistance with problems with obtaining timely access to appropriate health care services, poor customer service, and eligibility for Medicaid or tax subsidies and with transitions required due to changes in employment and income.   While we also support the recommendation for a compensation structure that rewards Navigators based on performance, achievement of enrollment targets is only one appropriate measure.  Incentives should also be based on consumer experience, reductions in enrollment disparities based on race or ethnicity, assistance in obtaining Medicaid coverage and tax subsidies, assistance with problem resolution, and gapless transitions between plans, financial assistance and individual and SHOP coverage.

Illinois's ObamaCare Navigator Program

Public Comments on Illinois's Obamacare Navigator Program (PDF File).  The words audit or supervize appear no where in them.  In fact I don't see how these outfits will be supervised or managed at all.

 

Given Illinois's long history of petty bribary of local officals, and the habit of some of our officials to shake-down the immigrant and new comer most intimated by officialdom, it's really amazing no one thought of how these navigators will be supervised.

 

I've asked the question.  If I get a response I'll post it.

Enroll America: Rich folks charged with selling us on ObamaCare looking for handouts

Take a look at the names and outfits behind Enroll America.  They're the bunch charged with selling us on ObamaCare. Gotta wonder why a well-heeled bunch of folks working for Corporations and Insurance companies that will profit handsomely off Obamacare need to ask us to donate to their cause.

And where in the world is AFGE on Unionizing this almost certainly non-Union shop carrying out CMS's mission?

This all stinks of patronage, boodle, and kick-backs we in Illinois familiar from the drug-fueled parties at the Purple Hotel with Illinois Health Facilities Planning Council.

It'll be an investigative reporter's dream for decades.  People foolish enough to get involved working with Enroll America  out to write Stu Levine in Federal Prison for advice. This is a patronage machine and you join it like joining the mob. It'll corrupt you and take you down.

This Medical-Government complex headed for disaster.  Way too much loose money slushing around, unaudited, unmanaged, and they want us to donate?

 

Exclusive: Turkish PM Erdogan: Syria has crossed red line, used chemical weapons

Exclusive: Turkish PM Erdogan: Syria has crossed red line, used chemical weapons

Bruce Rauner and Alexi Giannoulis

A lotta laughs over at the Cap Fax from the Political Class over a  caption contest on Rauner with Giannoulis.   A lot folks there don't think Rauner has a chance.  I know little of Rauner other than he's unknown, has a lot of money, and talks over and over about Illinois's mismanagement in the hands of both Democrats and Republicans.

 

Let me repeat Rauner has lots of money.

 

I don't think I'd underestimate him.

Wapo: Kerry Lester named AP correspondent in Springfield, Ill., to focus on government and politics

Congratulations to the Northwest 'Burbs Kerry Lester on her new job: AP Bureau Chief in Springfield for Govt and Politics.  Via yesterday's Washington Post,

 

Kerry Lester, an award-winning political reporter in Illinois, has been named Supervisory Correspondent for The Associated Press in Springfield, Ill.
 
Lester, 30, joins the AP from the Daily Herald of Arlington Heights, Ill. She will join a four-person team covering state government and politics in Illinois that includes investigative reporter John O'Connor in Springfield and political reporters Sara Burnett and Sophia Tareen in Chicago.
 
The appointment was announced Wednesday by Central Region Editor David Scott and Illinois News Editor Hugh Dellios.
 
"There is no more important beat for the AP in our coverage of states than government and politics, and we've hired a reporter with a history and a habit of breaking news in Kerry," Scott said. "She'll become part of a team that's committed to telling AP's customers all they don't already know about what's going on in Springfield and Illinois state government."

 
I first started following Lester when she covered Joe Walsh in the 8th.  I always found her fair and always got a laugh from the off-the-wall comments on here alleged biases towards Walsh or Duckworth.  She couldn't win sometimes against all the anonymous writers out there (then... DH has switched to facebook which elevates the discourse).
 
Good luck to her.  There's plenty Illinoisans don't know about Springfield.  And there's plenty Springfield Pols don't want us to know.  She's got her job cut for her.

Big ad agencies bid on Illinois health outreach

Big ad agencies bid on Illinois health outreach

No sequester on this contract patronage....