ANNAPOLIS
– The company hired to clean up the O'Malley-Brown Administration's
health insurance exchange website debacle is also a subsidiary of one of
the largest
contributors to the Democratic Governors Association during Governor
O'Malley's tenure as its Chairman, Change Maryland has uncovered.
"Yesterday,
the Baltimore Sun sounded the alarm on a potential conflict of interest
between the subsidiary and its parent company with regard to the
healthcare
exchange," commented Larry Hogan, founder and Chairman of the
nonpartisan Change Maryland. "Now, we found this same group of companies
donated $650,000 to a political organization led by O'Malley."
The
company brought in to fix the exchange, Optum/QSSI, is a subsidiary of
UnitedHealth Group, which owns one of the insurers selling policies
through the state
exchange, according to a
weekend article in the Sun. UnitedHealth Group is also the parent company of United Healthcare Services, a group that Change Maryland found
donated $650,000 to the DGA throughout O'Malley's tenure as chair.
UHS lists the same Minneapolis address on the DGA disclosure reports as
the UnitedHealth Group website.
"The
O'Malley-Brown Administration handed over an emergency contract to a
company that gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to the governor's
organization, and
that has already received over $2 billion dollars in state contracts,"
Hogan continued. "The governor needs to immediately address these
conflicts of interest, and explain how this no-bid contract was
awarded."
Change Maryland is completing an
ongoing investigation into the relationship between state
contractors and their donations to the DGA. The group found dozens of
instances similar to this one, where contractors donated large sums of
money and were subsequently rewarded with significant
benefits from the state in the forms of contracts, extensions, and
advantageous legislation.
"This
additional data further suggests a disturbing pattern of behavior that,
at the very least, is unethical and inappropriate," said Hogan. "I
think the public
has a right to know the truth about these practices. Did the governor
and/or others in his administration solicit large contributions from
contractors, then reciprocate by rewarding those donors with huge state
contracts, extensions, or other favors or decisions
in return?" he added.
Obviously
this has serious implications and gives the appearance of the potential
for decisions being influenced by millions of dollars in "donations."
Recognizing
the inappropriate and unethical nature of these relationships, state
law currently prohibits state contractors from making contributions to
an elected official's campaign account. This evidence indicates the
possibility of a deliberate, coordinated effort
by this administration to circumvent the intent of the law by
soliciting huge, unlimited contributions to a federal, rather than
state, account.
Larry
Hogan is a business owner with over 25 years of experience in the
private sector. As President & CEO of Hogan Companies, he has
attracted hundreds of businesses
and thousands of jobs to Maryland. After a lifetime of experiences as
an outsider political activist, Hogan founded Change Maryland in 2011 to
advocate for fiscally responsible government and to give average
Marylanders the opportunity to hold their elected
officials accountable.
###
SOURCES:
Company helping fix Md. health exchange linked to firm selling policies
The Baltimore Sun, December
28, 2013
Democratic Governors Association
OpenSecrets.org
(yawn) Just another day in O'Malley's version of Utopia.
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