Hadassah Lieberman's Ties to the Insurance Industry

[mod mom]

Hadassah Lieberman's Ties to the Insurance Industry
by Tomaline


Wed Oct 28, 2009 at 02:57:50 AM PDT


Sen. Lieberman has long been known to cultivate the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, which provide jobs in his home state and contributions to his campaign fund. But he has literally been sleeping with one of their Washington representatives ever since his wife, Hadassah, joined Hill & Knowlton last year. The legendary lobbying and PR firm hired her as a "senior counselor" in its "health and pharmaceuticals practice."

This news marked Hadassah Lieberman’s return to consulting after more than a decade of retirement. "I have had a life-long commitment to helping people gain better health care," she said in the press release announcing her new job. "I am excited about the opportunity to work with the talented team at Hill & Knowlton to counsel a terrific stable of clients toward that same goal.

It would be uplifting to imagine that Hill & Knowlton—after spending the past decade as a defendant in tobacco class-action lawsuits because of its role in propaganda disputing the deadly effects of smoking—is now devoted to improving everybody’s health. More likely, the firm remains devoted to improving the profits of its clientele, which has historically included Enron, the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, Saudis, Kuwaitis, American International Group and Boeing.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/28/797969/-Hadassah-Liebermans-Ties-to-the-Insurance-Industry


BOTH JOE AND EVAN BAYH (WIFE SUSAN MAKES OVER $800,000 FROM HC) SHOULD RECUSE THEMSELVES BECAUSE THEIR FAMILIES FINANCIALLY PROFIT FROM A PUBLIC OPTION LOSS)



Susan Bayh, a lawyer, drew more than $837,0000 from her work on seven corporate boards last year, as Bloomberg News notes.

She is a director at Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc., "which is part of a medical research partnership awarded a $24.7 million federal grant in May after Evan Bayh and his Indiana colleagues in Congress recommended the group to the National Institutes of Health,'' Bloomberg's Timothy Burger reports. "She's on the board of E*Trade Bank, a subsidiary of E*Trade Financial Corp., while her husband sits on the Senate Banking Committee. She is lead director at Emmis Communications Corp., an Indianapolis radio-station operator that published Evan Bayh's 2003 memoir.

-snip

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/08/evan_bayhs_wife_corporate_boar.html

[AzDar]

1. ...

:puke:

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. Holy War Joe is all about funding the muslim genocide, he fears

that health care would get in the way of this.

[T Wolf]

4. Exactly. Nothing trumps killing Ayrabs for this POS. And the Dems kowtow to him. Disgusting. nt

[YOY]

3. I wonder if Sarah Silverman based her Hadassa on her.

n.t.

[saltpoint]

5. "I got them temple-of-thieves blues, mama."

[Shagbark Hickory]

6. K Street Whore nt

[AndyA]

7. There are so many conflicts of interest in Congress, you couldn't drive through them with a

locomotive.

Anyone compromised in the manner of Lieberman, Bayh, Baucus, etc., should not be involved in the decision making. Of course, lobbying is so thick in Congress, it would be difficult to find ANYONE who isn't compromised!

Lobbying reform must be enacted. We obviously cannot depend on members of Congress to do the ethical thing and recuse themselves from items they have conflicts with.

And that is why the American people get shafted so often.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

8. Here's the original article the Kos Diary came from

And is it me,but I am not seeing any attribution for this source . It's an article by Joe Conason, July 12, 2006 for Truthdig

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20060712_conason_lieberman_drug_lobby/
Joe Conason: Sen. Lieberman Literally in Bed With Drug Lobby
Posted on Jul 12, 2006
By Joe Conason

Editor’s note: In this column, Conason points out that the Connecticut senator who would lecture us on ethics drafted a bill in 2005 that made generous giveaways to pharmaceutical companies—one month after his wife went to work in the pharmaceuticals division of a major lobbying and PR firm.

Sen. Lieberman has long been known to cultivate the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, which provide jobs in his home state and contributions to his campaign fund. But he has literally been sleeping with one of their Washington representatives ever since his wife, Hadassah, joined Hill & Knowlton last year. The legendary lobbying and PR firm hired her as a “senior counselor” in its “health and pharmaceuticals practice.”

This news marked Hadassah Lieberman’s return to consulting after more than a decade of retirement. “I have had a life-long commitment to helping people gain better health care,” she said in the press release announcing her new job. “I am excited about the opportunity to work with the talented team at Hill & Knowlton to counsel a terrific stable of clients toward that same goal.”

It would be uplifting to imagine that Hill & Knowlton—after spending the past decade as a defendant in tobacco class-action lawsuits because of its role in propaganda disputing the deadly effects of smoking—is now devoted to improving everybody’s health. More likely, the firm remains devoted to improving the profits of its clientele, which has historically included Enron, the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, Saudis, Kuwaitis, American International Group and Boeing.

When a senator’s wife works for one of the capital’s largest lobby shops, appearances tend to matter. In this case, something happened immediately that didn’t look very good.

I found this the other day while researching a bit about Mr. Lieberman's ties to the health industry. I believe that from my reading the other day, Mrs. Lieberman no longer works for Hill & Knowlton and that she wasn't there all that long.Her salary was revealed in their tax returns before his last election. I could root around and find the articles, but that's the gist of it. The figure $77K for her salary sticks in my mind, but I would have to check for accuracy.

*********************************************************************
edit -

The DKos posters have completely called out the original diarist for plagerism! You know, when lots of people are thinking the same thing at the same time - i.e. what are Joe Lieberman's ties to the drug/insurance industry, you're going to find the same stuff in a search. Pretty dumb of that poster to think she would get away with it.

Not only that, but if you did dig a little deeper, you would find that her (Mrs. Lieberman's) association with this company did not last too long. There were some other articles where some people wondered if she should have registered as a lobbyist, but that didn't generate too much attention.

[sonias]

10. I love Joe Conason - thanks for sticking up for him

I think his work does not receive as much credit as it should.

If we only had more real journalists like him, some of them would ask Joe Lieberman about Hadassah Lieberman's ties to the insurance industry. Do they still exist? Perhaps she's gone to work for someone else. I would love to see that happen.

The DK diary didn't even credit Conason with the story even-though it's verbatim his from a 2006 story. One of the posters did point that out further down the thread but the diarist should correct his post and give credit where credit is due.

:kick:

Sonia

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

13. The plagerized diary has been removed and the diarist banned.

The interesting stuff was the Conason piece, but as I said before, it's old news and not todays news, so people need to find out what the situation is today before they go off on this info.

[sonias]

16. Justice was swift!

I unrecommended the diary too, once I knew it was plagiarized.

Thanks for the follow up.

Sonia

[bullwinkle428]

9. It's like the "Occam's Razor" of politics : when all other explanations fail,

just follow the money trail!

[havocmom]

11. Did you see the chart on big 3 insurance Rachel Maddow showed?

Stocks down sharply when Reid said Public Option would be part of the bill, then stocks up sharply when Traitor Joe announced he may vote against cloture? Gee, ya think any of Mrs. Lieberman's clients bought stocks when they were in that little low?

Follow the money indeed. And it shouldn't be too hard to follow stock sales in a 28 hour period for three companies.

[flyarm]

12. It is not just Lieberman and his wife..there are many whores to the Health Industry!

and do read this whole article..Daschle is one of the biggest whores and he is working in an unoffical capacity to this White House!

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_33/b4143034820260.htm

Cover Story August 6, 2009, 5:00PM EST text size: TT

The Health Insurers Have Already Won
How UnitedHealth and rival carriers, maneuvering behind the scenes in Washington, shaped health-care reform for their own benefit

Snip:

In 2006, McGuire lost his job after getting caught up in the manipulation, or "backdating," of company stock options. UnitedHealth was forced to restate earnings over a 12-year period to reflect the extra compensation it had granted McGuire and other executives. McGuire's chief lieutenant, Stephen Hemsley, took over as CEO in December 2006. Two independent inquiries concluded that Hemsley wasn't involved with the backdating. Nevertheless he forfeited $190 million in past stock compensation and unrealized gains to resolve the matter.

Hemsley, a former chief financial officer of the now-defunct Arthur Andersen accounting firm, generally shuns the spotlight. But when health reform became a central issue in the runup to the last Presidential election, company executives say they realized UnitedHealth needed to go on the offensive. Hemsley met with White House officials on May 15 and May 22 to promote his company's prescription for cutting federal health spending.

In August 2007, the company hired Sommer, who previously headed global lobbying for Goldman Sachs (GS). He quickly built a new Washington team of former congressional aides and other K Street operatives. One key acquisition: Cory Alexander, former chief of staff for House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), an influential moderate Democrat. Alexander had been lobbying for the huge mortgage financier Fannie Mae (FNM). Today, Sommer directs a team of nearly 50 people from UnitedHealth's spacious Washington office on Pennsylvania Avenue, equidistant between the Capitol and White House. The company spent more than $3.4 million on in-house and outside lobbying in the first half of 2009.

Sommer has retained such influential outsiders as Tom Daschle, the former Democratic Senate Leader who now works for the large law and lobbying firm Alston & Bird. Daschle, a liberal from South Dakota, dropped out of the running to be Obama's Secretary of Health & Human Services after disclosures that he failed to pay taxes on perks given to him by a private client. He advised UnitedHealth in 2007 and 2008 and resumed that role this year. Daschle personally advocates a government-run competitor to private insurers. But he sells his expertise to UnitedHealth, which opposes any such public insurance plan. Among the services Daschle offers are tips on the personalities and policy proclivities of members of Congress he has known for decades.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

do remember Arthur Anderson was involved with the Enron crooks..

so many in our congress and Senate are all the same damn kind of crooks! Doesn't matter what party is in charge.

[derby378]

14. That's it. I'm heading down to Matamoros to stock up on antibiotics.

While I'm down there, can I grab anyone anything? :bounce:

[safeinOhio]

15. Tractor Supply

sells it in bulk.:think:

[goclark]

17. Wish some people would spill the beans about more family members

I bet if the whistle blowers could get paid big bucks, especially in this economy ,we would have a list a mile long.

It could work just like the Clunker Program:

Do you know a husband,child, auntie of a Congressperson that you know for sure is taking money that would effect their decisions on the Health Care Bill?

Did you type a memo that you kept a copy of .....?
Did you overhear a conversation?

Did you see them attend an important meeting.

Somebody needs to compile a list-- that list would take up miles and miles of America because Lieberman and his wife are blood suckers.

This makes me so angry - they need to wear a sign that tells the bribe $$$ thy get to be evil.

[flyarm]

18. lIE bER MAN IS NOT ALONE , MANY ADVISING OBAMA AND THE DEMS ARE TO BLAME AS WELL!

do read this whole article..Daschle is one of the biggest whores and he is working in an unoffical capacity to this White House!

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_33/b414...

Cover Story August 6, 2009, 5:00PM EST text size: TT

The Health Insurers Have Already Won
How UnitedHealth and rival carriers, maneuvering behind the scenes in Washington, shaped health-care reform for their own benefit

Snip:

In 2006, McGuire lost his job after getting caught up in the manipulation, or "backdating," of company stock options. UnitedHealth was forced to restate earnings over a 12-year period to reflect the extra compensation it had granted McGuire and other executives. McGuire's chief lieutenant, Stephen Hemsley, took over as CEO in December 2006. Two independent inquiries concluded that Hemsley wasn't involved with the backdating. Nevertheless he forfeited $190 million in past stock compensation and unrealized gains to resolve the matter.

Hemsley, a former chief financial officer of the now-defunct Arthur Andersen accounting firm, generally shuns the spotlight. But when health reform became a central issue in the runup to the last Presidential election, company executives say they realized UnitedHealth needed to go on the offensive. Hemsley met with White House officials on May 15 and May 22 to promote his company's prescription for cutting federal health spending.

In August 2007, the company hired Sommer, who previously headed global lobbying for Goldman Sachs (GS). He quickly built a new Washington team of former congressional aides and other K Street operatives. One key acquisition: Cory Alexander, former chief of staff for House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), an influential moderate Democrat. Alexander had been lobbying for the huge mortgage financier Fannie Mae (FNM). Today, Sommer directs a team of nearly 50 people from UnitedHealth's spacious Washington office on Pennsylvania Avenue, equidistant between the Capitol and White House. The company spent more than $3.4 million on in-house and outside lobbying in the first half of 2009.

Sommer has retained such influential outsiders as Tom Daschle, the former Democratic Senate Leader who now works for the large law and lobbying firm Alston & Bird. Daschle, a liberal from South Dakota, dropped out of the running to be Obama's Secretary of Health & Human Services after disclosures that he failed to pay taxes on perks given to him by a private client. He advised UnitedHealth in 2007 and 2008 and resumed that role this year. Daschle personally advocates a government-run competitor to private insurers. But he sells his expertise to UnitedHealth, which opposes any such public insurance plan. Among the services Daschle offers are tips on the personalities and policy proclivities of members of Congress he has known for decades.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

do remember Arthur Anderson was involved with the Enron crooks..

so many in our congress and Senate are all the same damn kind of crooks! Doesn't matter what party is in charge.