Jeb Bush ally is chosen CEO of hospitals

[seafan]

Jeb ally is chosen CEO of North Broward Hospital District

BY ERIKA BOLSTAD
Jun. 29, 2006


The North Broward Hospital District has offered the job of chief executive to Alan Levine, the architect of the state's Medicaid reform pilot program.

The state healthcare regulator who oversaw Medicaid reform under Gov. Jeb Bush will take over as chief executive of the North Broward Hospital District, one of the first places in Florida where the healthcare changes will be tested.

On Wednesday, the hospital district board voted unanimously to offer the job to Alan Levine, who has served for two years as secretary of the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration.
Levine, 38, previously served as Bush's deputy chief of staff and health policy advisor. He also has been a hospital administrator.
He'll lead one of the nation's largest public hospital systems -- a challenge he said Wednesday he's eager to accept.

snip

The North Broward Hospital District, with a $205 million budget, includes four hospitals and two dozen clinics.
Levine replaces Wil Trower, who agreed to leave in February after 40 years with the district and 11 as CEO. Trower's ouster capped a politically charged year for the board, whose Bush-appointed members also replaced their longtime attorney.
//snip
Levine is best known for pushing through changes to Medicaid that make the health care program for the poor run more like a private insurer. Medicaid serves 2.3 million of the state's poorest and sickest people.

snip

''I'm committed to seeing the Medicaid reform work, less so because I was the architect of it and the governor was the architect, and more because the state of Florida cannot afford for it to fail,'' he said.
Levine's tenure as ACHA secretary wasn't without political and policy hiccups.

He stumbled this spring when he had to reverse policy changes that cut off nutritional supplements to more than a thousand severely disabled or chronically ill children who had been relying on the food from the state.
As Bush's deputy chief of staff in 2003, Levine irritated Republican senators when he suggested recruiting candidates to run against GOP incumbents who were fighting the governor's medical-malpractice reforms. In retaliation, the Senate blocked Levine's confirmation until this spring, when Bush endorsed Senate President Tom Lee in his campaign for state Chief Financial Officer.

[SteppingRazor]

1. Investigative reporter who's a buddy of mine had a good blog on this:

http://www.newtimesbpb.com/blogs/?p=154

[seafan]

2. Interesting on-the-ground reporting! Thanks.

This whole decades-old debacle of the North Broward Hospital District carries on, doesn't it?

Yet, when Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jim Davis said on June 1:

TAMPA – Democratic candidate for governor and Democratic frontrunner Jim Davis today called on Governor Jeb Bush to ask for the resignation of Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Alan Levine, based on published reports that Levine has applied to be CEO of the North Broward Hospital District. Calling it inappropriate for the senior Bush aide to interview for a half-million dollar a year job at an organization he's supposed to regulate, Davis said Bush should fire Levine if he refuses to step down:

"It's understandable that Levine would be interested in his own financial well-being, but the person who holds this office should have the health of Floridians as their only concern. It's the governor's responsibility to make sure he has someone who is looking out for Florida's patients, while his senior health care aide is out looking for a bigger paycheck."

Jeb lashes out against Davis with some drivel about Davis' political ambitions.

It ain't working for the Jebster any more.



On edit: I ran across investigative work by Mr. Norman a while back. He was writing then that the Jebster will likely be called before a grand jury investigation concerning the corruption in this huge hospital district. It was quite informative. Thanks for bringing this to the forefront again, SteppingRazor.

[starroute]

5. You mean like this stuff?

I ran into this stuff a while ago and never did make much sense of the subtle intricacies of Florida politics. But the dirt seems to go very, very deep.

http://www.newtimesbpb.com/issues/2004-03-04/news/feature_print.html

Originally published by Broward-Palm Beach New Times 2004-03-04

Gov. Jeb Bush will likely be pulled into a federal grand jury investigation of the North Broward Hospital District, the $800 million-a-year, tax-subsidized public health powerhouse that serves as one of his chief political fiefdoms.

The grand jury is looking into a project by the nation's sixth-largest public hospital system, which runs four hospitals and numerous clinics, to build a $30 million medical office building in Fort Lauderdale. The deal is marked by apparent insider dealing and an estimated $100 million of inflated profits for a few well-connected businessmen, including Bush supporter Austin Forman, a scion of the county's most prominent family. . . .

To understand the connection, one must follow not only the money but the legislation. And all roads in this imbroglio lead to William Scherer, who, as the district's general counsel, oversees $5.5 million in NBHD legal work, $3 million of which goes to his law firm, Conrad and Scherer. . . .

It also isn't clear whether James Blosser's governmental consulting firm had a role in the veto. Blosser is a business associate of Scherer's and a top-tier supporter of the governor and the president. The district pays his firm, Poole, McKinley, and Blosser, $72,000 a year to lobby the governor and legislature in Tallahassee.

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1090180438131

Elections Supervisor Rapped for Hiring Lawyers With Bush Ties
08-30-2004

Broward Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes is facing sharp criticism for her decision to hire a law firm with close ties to the Republican Party to represent the nonpartisan supervisor's office in the upcoming elections.

Snipes, who was appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush, hired the four-lawyer firm Blosser & Sayfie in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., several months ago to represent her in any election-related litigation.

Name partner Justin Sayfie is a former spokesman for Gov. Bush and currently is co-chair of the Bush/Cheney re-election campaign in Broward County, Fla. The other name partner, James Blosser, was the local finance chair for Jeb Bush's 1998 gubernatorial campaign and is a top fund-raiser for President Bush's re-election campaign.

http://www.newtimesbpb.com/issues/2004-10-28/news/norman.html

October 28, 2004

The touch-screen voting machines aren't accountable. The chief vote counter in Broward County was handpicked by Gov. Jeb Bush, who proved his brother-borne bias in 2000. Glenda Hood -- the new, improved, and possibly even more vote-absorbent Katherine Harris -- lurks in Tallahassee. . . .

None of this makes sense. How did Broward, a crucial Kerry bastion where Democrats outnumber Republicans almost two-to-one, wind up in such shape? Why would the Dem-dominated County Commission spend more than $20 million for machines that scare the dickens out of its people? How on Earth did Brenda Snipes, who is surrounded by the most rabid and unscrupulous band of GOP opportunists imaginable, come to be the Supervisor of Elections? . . .

It's a troubling combination: Snipes is steeped not just in Republicans but in a group well-known for violating the public trust. Also closely aligned with Snipes is NBHD General Counsel William Scherer. You might remember Scherer -- a co-chair for the governor's campaign and a fundraising Ranger for the president's campaign -- from the 2000 reelection fiasco. He's the charming fellow who started yelling on live television during the recount and had to be removed from the Broward County Courthouse. In March, Snipes hired Scherer's law partner, W. Earl Hall, as treasurer for her campaign. Hear this again: The so-called Democrat running the elections office hired a Republican activist's law firm to run her campaign.

Scherer works closely with NBHD lobbyist Jim Blosser, who is perhaps the most influential Republican powerbroker in South Florida. Blosser's law and lobbying firms are loaded with former Jeb Bush officials, including former spokesman Justin Sayfie.

http://www.whitehouseforsale.org/ContributorsAndPaybacks/pioneer_profile.cfm?pioneer_ID=886

Lobbyist Justin Sayfie was a political assistant in the early 1990s to a Miami developer named Jeb Bush. From 1995 to 1998, Sayfie represented other landownders seeking development permits through the Miami office of corporate law and lobby firm Greenberg Traurig (see Jack Abramoff and James Miller). Governor Jeb Bush hired Sayfie back in 1999 as a speechwriter and media director and later appointed him deputy policy director.

Sayfie, who edits a Florida political newsletter called the Sayfie Review, left that Bush administration in 2001 to lobby for Poole McKinley and Blosser. The firm claims three Bush Pioneers (see James Blosser and Van Poole). Sayfie reported 11 Florida lobby clients in 2003, including Accenture, the Seminole Tribe, several local governments and hospitals and JM Family Enterpriese.

http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/7/17/142735.shtml

Saturday, July 17, 2004 2:24 p.m. EDT
'Centigrade' Web Site Counters Moore's 'Fahrenheit'

A new Web site, www.centigrade911.com, has been created to present alternative views to Michael Moore's film "Fahrenheit 9/11." . . .

The site includes articles by both liberals and conservatives who have identified errors, omissions and deceits in Moore's film. . . .

Web site creator Justin Sayfie says, "I created the Web site so that people interested in the truth about President Bush and the war in Iraq would have a single Web page where they could easily access links to articles that debunk Moore's film and challenge his credibility."

[seafan]

6. Oh, definitely! And,incidentally, Jeb's old Sec. of State Glenda Hood is

a newly appointed member of the Homeland Security Advisory Committee (HSAC). Isn't this special?

June 27, 2006

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has announced the appointments of.... Glenda Hood and ... as new HSAC members.

snip

Glenda Hood is former Secretary of State for Florida, appointed by Governor Jeb Bush in February 2003. She served as president of the National League of Cities, the Florida League of Cities and the Florida Chamber of Commerce. She was elected the first woman mayor of the City of Orlando in 1992 and served three terms. She chaired Governor Bush's Florida Domestic Security Task Force and in April 2002, President Bush commended Hood for establishing one of the nation's first Citizen Corps, an initiative that created opportunities for individuals to volunteer for disaster preparedness programs in their communities.

This is mighty special.


Oh, and this is what's on the Homeland Security Site right now:




They're pulling out all the stops from now until November.

[izzie]

3. I will read that. Great to have a friend run the hospital.

Makes one feel so safe to know the Friends of Bush's is doing such things. You would almost think that putting business friends into these things has worked.

[Tempest]

4. I thought I read somewhere recently

That FL had the highest death rate in hospitals in the nation, mostly due to neglect and mistakes.

[flordehinojos]

7. can't get the link to the article to work. would love to read it though.

[SteppingRazor]

9. weird. Works fine for me. Try this...

just go to www.newtimesbpb.com/blogs

Then just scroll down to the DeGroot story (his name will be in the headline. Can't miss it.

[flordehinojos]

10. thanks! i was able to link to it and read the article

i can only repeat what i posted just before i saw this post with the link to the article:

i will refuse to go to any north broward district hospital if i have to, and will chose to die at home if i have to. and may God have mercy of people who have to go to any of the Broward Hospitals while the bushstinkies have their tentacles on the hospitals.

[flordehinojos]

8. it will make it me sicker to have to go into any hospital that has been or

is touched by any of jebutinsky's tentacles. if ever my only choices for going to any hospital lie between any of the North broward hospital districts. i will die a peaceful death at home (and pain free i hope) because i will refuse to set foot in any one of those hospitals.

May God have mercy on the people who have to set foot inside any of those hospitals now to be infected by the bushstinkies' tentacles.

[seafan]

11. Uh, oh, we have a potential *ethics* problem: Lobbyist rules violation.

From the Palm Beach Post, June 30, 2006:

snip

But Levine's ability to put his past experience to advantage for his new employer may be limited for the next two years by a state ethics law that restricts state officials from leaving state service and then immediately representing another body before the state body or agency they previously worked for.

The law is largely designed to restrict legislators from leaving office to lobby before the legislature. But it also applies to appointed officials.
"No agency employee shall personally represent another person or entity for compensation before the agency with which he or she was employed for a period of 2 years following vacation of position, unless employed by another agency of state government," according to state statutes.

Kristy Campbell, a spokeswoman for Gov. Jeb Bush, acknowledged that Levine would fall under those rules.
"The lobbying law applies to him," she said.
But she downplayed possible complications, saying his primary job will be concentrating on patient safety and implementing the new state statutes.
"Alan's a professional and his team is full of professionals and there's no concerns," she said.

snip

The board of the North Broward Hospital District — which runs 30 health-care facilities, including four hospitals — unanimously voted for Levine. Board member Robert Bernstein, also a member of the Broward Republican Executive Committee, said the board is still negotiating a contract with Levine, but he expects Levine's salary to be more than $500,000 a year for at least three years.

Bernstein said the idea of ethics rules affecting Levine didn't come up during the application process.

snip

(Emphasis added)


Why would something superfluous, like *ethics* be a problem with Jeb's hospital panel?? Hah.