boutons_deux
06-09-2014, 04:37 PM
House of Cards-Style Corruption in Virginia
State Senator Phil Puckett, a Democrat, announced his resignation today after 16 years in the senate. Puckett is from Southwest Virginia, which is largely poor and rural. His resignation will trigger a special election which Republicans are likely to win, giving the GOP a majority in the Senate. If a Republican replaces Puckett, his daughter gets a judgeship and he gets a position as Deputy Director of the state tobacco commission.
Should the Republicans win the Senate, they’re likely to take Medicaid expansion out of the state budget, making access to health care impossible for 400,000 Virginians – particularly poor and rural Virginians in Russell County, where Puckett used to serve. Unless McAuliffe is willing to veto the Republican budget and trigger a state government shutdown on July 1, nearly half a million Virginians won’t get access to the health care they need.
The sweetheart deal for Puckett and his family will likely come at a lethal cost to Virginians who depend on Medicaid expansion. A Harvard study recently found that as many as 17,000 Americans (http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2014/01/30/opting-out-of-medicaid-expansion-the-health-and-financial-impacts/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=opting-out-of-medicaid-expansion-the-health-and-financial-impacts) may die due to lack of Medicaid expansion in states where Republican governors have opted out of expanding the program under Obamacare.
The fact that Senator Puckett is letting the GOP buy him out with a cushy job and a prestigious position for his daughter so they can successfully block Medicaid expansion isn’t just nakedly corrupt, it’s also lethal. Puckett deserves to be investigated and the Democratic leadership needs to hold fast to either having a budget that expands access to healthcare, or having no budget at all.
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/24134-focus-house-of-cards-style-corruption-in-virginia
State Senator Phil Puckett, a Democrat, announced his resignation today after 16 years in the senate. Puckett is from Southwest Virginia, which is largely poor and rural. His resignation will trigger a special election which Republicans are likely to win, giving the GOP a majority in the Senate. If a Republican replaces Puckett, his daughter gets a judgeship and he gets a position as Deputy Director of the state tobacco commission.
Should the Republicans win the Senate, they’re likely to take Medicaid expansion out of the state budget, making access to health care impossible for 400,000 Virginians – particularly poor and rural Virginians in Russell County, where Puckett used to serve. Unless McAuliffe is willing to veto the Republican budget and trigger a state government shutdown on July 1, nearly half a million Virginians won’t get access to the health care they need.
The sweetheart deal for Puckett and his family will likely come at a lethal cost to Virginians who depend on Medicaid expansion. A Harvard study recently found that as many as 17,000 Americans (http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2014/01/30/opting-out-of-medicaid-expansion-the-health-and-financial-impacts/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=opting-out-of-medicaid-expansion-the-health-and-financial-impacts) may die due to lack of Medicaid expansion in states where Republican governors have opted out of expanding the program under Obamacare.
The fact that Senator Puckett is letting the GOP buy him out with a cushy job and a prestigious position for his daughter so they can successfully block Medicaid expansion isn’t just nakedly corrupt, it’s also lethal. Puckett deserves to be investigated and the Democratic leadership needs to hold fast to either having a budget that expands access to healthcare, or having no budget at all.
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/24134-focus-house-of-cards-style-corruption-in-virginia