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Thread: YEAH, we should have the Government handle our health care.

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    Default YEAH, we should have the Government handle our health care.

    California senator faces corruption charges in medical scam, FBI sting; brother also charged



    A California state senator was charged Friday with accepting $100,000 in bribes, lavish trips and no-show jobs for his children in exchange for pushing legislation to benefit a hospital engaged in billing fraud and participating in a film industry tax scheme that actually was an FBI sting.

    The 24-count federal indictment against Sen. Ron Calderon, a Democrat from a politically prominent family in Los Angeles' blue-collar suburbs, depicts a rogue legislator eager to trade his clout at the state Capitol to enrich himself and his family. His brother Tom, a former state lawmaker-turned-lobbyist, was charged with money-laundering for funneling bribes through a tax-exempt group he controlled, prosecutors said.

    "When public officials choose to callously betray the trust of the people they serve and selfishly abuse the privileges of public office, then we will take all necessary steps to hold those persons fully accountable for their behavior," U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte said.

    The charges come after a long-running corruption investigation that has tarnished the state's majority party _ Democrats hold every statewide office and control both chambers in the Legislature. The charges also threaten the patriarchs of a family that rose to political prominence from the heavily Hispanic, working-class communities southeast of Los Angeles.

    "Because they knew how to run elections and they knew how to speak to a newly incorporating group, Latinos, they knew how to get people elected," said political scientist Fernando Guerra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University. For any would-be candidate around their home base "you needed their support."

    Ron Calderon has denied wrongdoing. His attorney, Mark Geragos, did not return repeated telephone messages but planned to issue a statement later Friday.

    Tom Calderon's attorney, Shepard Kopp, said his client would fight the charges. Tom Calderon appeared in court in handcuffs on Friday and pleaded not guilty to seven counts of money laundering and one count of conspiracy to launder money. His bail was set at $25,000 and he was ordered to surrender his passport, stay in the continental U.S. and appear for a jury trial starting April 15.

    "Every single action they describe my client as having taken was done with innocent intent and no knowledge that there was anything illegal about any of these acts," Kopp said in a telephone interview. "The indictment alleged that he knew that there were payments being made that were bribes or money that was being paid so that he would take some kind of legislative action. Nothing could be further from the truth."

    If convicted on all counts, Ron Calderon, who is expected to surrender Monday, could face nearly 400 years in federal prison. His brother, if convicted, could face a maximum penalty of 160 years in confinement, prosecutors said.

    State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, speaking on behalf of the chamber's Democratic caucus, called on Calderon to resign or take a leave of absence.

    "Given the seriousness of charges that strike at the very heart of what it means to be a public official, Senator Calderon's continued service is a cloud over all the important work that we must get done this year," Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said in a statement.

    The indictment details a rampant pay-to-play culture in which Ron Calderon used his influence in the Legislature to extract money or other financial benefits from those who wanted favors.

    Those bribes, prosecutors said, included trips to Las Vegas, flights on privately chartered planes and jobs for Ron Calderon's son and daughter in which they were paid but did little, if any, work. The film studio, an FBI ruse, hired his daughter for a $3,000-a-month job, and a Long Beach hospital executive involved in the medical scam hired his son for three summers at a rate of $10,000 per summer, the indictment said.

    The indictment alleges Ron Calderon took money from an undercover FBI agent who posed as the owner of a Los Angeles movie studio and sought Calderon's help promoting a bill that would expand tax credits for the film industry.

    A related filing in Sacramento federal court said Calderon flew to Las Vegas on May 4 to meet with two undercover agents, one of whom he believed was the owner of the film studio in Los Angeles and the other whom he thought was a film investor. He was met at the Bellagio Hotel by two other FBI agents who "explained to Calderon that they worked for the FBI's public corruption squad and had been investigating Calderon for quite some time."

    He was interviewed for about three hours but was not arrested.

    "The FBI agents offered Calderon the opportunity to cooperate in their investigation but made it very clear that they were prepared to move forward with their investigation if Calderon turned down their offer," according to the filing.

    "Despite his purported desire to cooperate with the government, Calderon claimed that the information he could provide to the FBI agents would be of little value," the filing says. Agents met with him five more times in May.

    Ron Calderon repeatedly offered to wear a transmitting device, though he said he would not record family members. He did record one person on two occasions, the filing says, though it does not say if the person was a public official. Those recordings did not result in any charges, the filing says.

    Calderon claimed he was ill on the day he was supposed to record the person for a third time, and broke off his cooperation, the filing says.

    The indictment also says Ron Calderon accepted money from a Long Beach hospital executive to promote legislation that would have been favorable to the hospital.

    Bills related to both issues never made it out of the Legislature.

    Calderon was stripped of his legislative committee assignments in November, and the Senate Select Committee on Film and Television Industries that he chaired was disbanded.

    After that action, Calderon responded by trying to tar the Senate's two leading Democrats. His attorney filed documents in federal court in Sacramento saying a raid on his Capitol office came after he refused FBI requests to wear a recording device and act as an informant against Steinberg, the Senate president, and Sen. Kevin de Leon of Los Angeles, another Democrat.

    That was echoed by Kopp, Tom Calderon's lawyer, who said outside court that the case "is payback by the government for the refusal of Ronald Calderon to participate in their sting."

    Steinberg and de Leon, who is in line to succeed Steinberg as the Senate's leader later this year, have said federal prosecutors have told them they are not targets of the investigation at this time.

    In the midst of an election year, it was difficult to gauge whether other Democrats could suffer political fallout from the Calderon case, said San Jose State University political science professor Larry Gerston. Another Democrat, Sen. Roderick Wright, was convicted last month of voter fraud and perjury for lying about the location of his Los Angeles County residence. He has been allowed to remain in office while awaiting sentencing in May.

    "I think it certainly gives Republicans an opening to talk about the `culture of corruption' that results with one-party government," Gerston said. "Just how much damage it does is hard to tell, but I'd clearly like to be in the Republican camp rather than the Democratic camp because they're clearly on the defensive."
    SEDITION: incitement of resistance to or insurrection against lawful authority.


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    Supporting article:

    Former hospital owner will testify he bribed senator and others in massive health care fraud

    The former owner of a tiny orthopedic hospital with an unusually heavy roster of spinal surgery patients was charged Friday with health care fraud in a $500 million scheme to defraud workers' compensation insurance providers with the help of a California state senator.

    The state insurance commissioner called the 16-year scheme one of the largest workers' comp fraud cases in the history of California's Department of Insurance.

    Michael D. Drobot, 69, a central figure in the scandal that ensnared state Sen. Ronald S. Calderon and his brother, agreed to plead guilty and testify in return for a reduced sentence. Calderon is charged with accepting bribes and luxury perks from Drobot to influence legislation that would allow him to continue the scam.

    U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. released a plea agreement with Drobot in which the former hospital owner outlines his payments to Calderon as well as doctors, chiropractors and other medical professionals who referred patients to his Long Beach hospital.

    There were no allegations of medical problems with the surgeries. The charges focused on illegal kickbacks given to those who referred patients.

    "In some cases the patients lived dozens or hundreds of miles from Pacific Hospital, and closer to other qualified medical facilities," the court documents said. The patients were not told that their medical professionals were getting kickbacks for sending them to Drobot's facility.

    Drobot had a bribery payment scale for specific surgeries, the documents said. He would pay a kickback of $15,000 per lumbar fusion surgery and $10,000 per cervical fusion surgery.

    Prosecutors, who dubbed their investigation "Operation Spinal Cap," used an undercover FBI agent in their probe.

    Drobot's attorneys, Janet I. Levine and Jeffrey Rutherford, said he accepts responsibility for his actions and "is providing information to assist the government in its expanding investigations."

    Drobot has agreed to testify about his links to Calderon which began when he sought help in keeping a "spinal pass-through law" on the books. The now-repealed law permitted hospitals to pass on spinal medical device costs, plus up to an additional $250, to workers' comp insurers.

    In his disclosures to the government, Drobot said he set up shell companies to sell surgeons hardware used in the surgeries at highly inflated prices. If the surgeon did not use the devices specified by Drobot, the kickbacks were smaller, the documents said.

    With Calderon's help, Drobot said he was able to meet with other senators to discuss his legislative agenda and advocate for bills that would financially benefit him and his hospital. No other senators were named in the indictment.

    Many of Drobot's revelations centered on his extraordinary largesse when dealing with Calderon. In addition to money, there were jobs given to Calderon's children, expensive dinners, trips to golf resorts and free flights on a private plane, the indictment said.

    "All of these financial benefits were intended to ensure that Senator Calderon would take legislative positions favorable to defendant and Pacific Hospital, which would allow defendant to continue to commit and expand his health care fraud scheme," the plea agreement said.

    At one point, they met with a director at the Division of Workers' compensation to discuss proposed regulations that Drobot opposed.

    Doctors were referred to by initials in the documents and it was unclear whether further charges would be forthcoming.

    Drobot's plea documents were filed in Orange County where he resides. He is due to be arraigned in federal court in Santa Ana on March 31. He could enter a plea, but his sentence will be delayed until after the Calderon case is completed.
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    Default YEAH, we should have the Government handle our health care.

    He is being picked on because he is Hispanic.

    He must be one of the 1 in 4 sociopaths Desh always tells us about. If this were a republican, it would be wall to wall on PMSNBC..

    I don't know what the big deal is, he only defrauded tax payers aka "the rich" and they are asking for it.

    It isn't like a bridge closed

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    Idiots abound. Another misrepresentation. All government did was regulate the health care industry and is subsidizing those who can't afford to pay the whole premium on the health insurance that many people had before the law was passed. The only health care facilities the government is actually running are the VA hospitals and clinics and they are doing much better than the private facilities. And if they had bigger budgets they could offer vets things like Z-packs and other more effective treatments. But otherwise there is no government run or handled health care in this country. And anyone who claims there is is just a big fucking fool!
    In Solidarity with Darla, women and rape victims all over the world I too am changing my signature!


    " 'I wonder if you were aware that she was not a virgin? There was this narrative that she was an innocent 13 yo when in actual fact she was anything but...this puts a fresh perspective on events[,]' TOM PRENDERGAST about a 13 yo rape victim. The 'events' being, she was drugged, then raped vaginally, orally and anally by a 43 yo man."

    How do you like them apples, tommy?

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    As everyone knows, governments do not handle health care - doctors do that, some because they care about the sufferings of the sick, others because they want to make a packet. Governments, and peoples, choose which to pay, and whether to let the poor die, that's all. I suppose your rich want to kill off prospective Democrat voters as a point of principle.

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    UPDATE:

    Senate spokesman: California state senator accused of corruption to take indefinite leave

    A California state lawmaker facing federal corruption charges alleging he took kickbacks while in office will take an indefinite leave of absence from the Legislature while he awaits trial, a Senate spokesman said Sunday evening.

    Mark Hedlund, spokesman for Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, told The Associated Press that Democratic state Sen. Ron Calderon sent Steinberg the request for leave.

    Calderon has been arraigned on charges that he accepted bribes totaling $100,000 in cash and trips, funneling some of the money to his children.

    He pleaded not guilty, but his fellow Democrats had given him until Monday to resign, take leave or face being suspended.

    By taking leave, Calderon will continue receiving his $95,291 annual salary but not the $163 daily expense payment he would get if he were traveling to Sacramento.

    Calderon, of Montebello, is the second Senate Democrat this week to take leave while he fights criminal charges.

    Sen. Roderick Wright, a Democrat who represents another Los Angeles-area district, requested the leave after he was convicted of perjury and voter fraud for lying about his legal residence. Wright is seeking to have his conviction overturned before he faces sentencing in May.

    The departure of Wright and Calderon deprives Senate Democrats of the two-thirds margin they need in the 40-member chamber to raise taxes, pass emergency legislation, override gubernatorial vetoes and put constitutional amendments before voters without Republican cooperation.

    Steinberg, D-Sacramento, had said senators would suspend, but not expel, Calderon because he has not been convicted of a crime. But he and other Democrats called for Calderon to step down because he is charged with activities that Steinberg said "strike at the very heart of what it means to be a public official."

    Calderon, 56, is charged with accepting bribes from an undercover FBI agent who pretended to own a Los Angeles movie studio and wanted to expand tax credits for the film industry. He also is charged with accepting bribes from the former owner of Pacific Hospital of Long Beach to back legislation involving state workers' compensation laws.

    Calderon was elected to the state Senate in 2006 and represents Montebello, Bell Gardens and other southeastern Los Angeles suburbs. Wright, 61, served in the Assembly from 1996 to 2002, and has been in the Senate since 2008. He currently represents areas including Carson, Compton, Gardena, Lawndale, Hawthorne and Inglewood, though redistricting has changed the boundaries since he was accused of misrepresenting his legal residence.

    The Calderon indictments threaten a powerful Democratic political family. His brother, former Assemblyman Tom Calderon, pleaded not guilty last week to eight counts of money laundering and conspiracy resulting from the same federal investigation.

    With both senators gone, a spokesman for Steinberg said their staffs will remain to help deal with issues raised by their constituents, while other senators will carry on with any pending legislation they had introduced.

    Calderon is termed out of office after this year, but Wright is in the middle of a term that expires in 2016. Steinberg said he expects Wright would leave the Senate if a formal conviction is entered at his sentencing May 16, meaning a special election would then be held to replace him.

    Republicans have not been satisfied with Wright's decision to take leave instead of resigning. Democrats blocked their effort to expel him on Thursday, but three GOP senators said they planned to try again Monday by calling for both men to be suspended instead of being allowed to take leave. Suspensions, like the leaves, would not affect the senators' pay.
    SEDITION: incitement of resistance to or insurrection against lawful authority.


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    Quote Originally Posted by Dantès View Post
    Idiots abound. Another misrepresentation. All government did was regulate the health care industry and is subsidizing those who can't afford to pay the whole premium on the health insurance that many people had before the law was passed. The only health care facilities the government is actually running are the VA hospitals and clinics and they are doing much better than the private facilities. And if they had bigger budgets they could offer vets things like Z-packs and other more effective treatments. But otherwise there is no government run or handled health care in this country. And anyone who claims there is is just a big fucking fool!
    LMAO. Fucking stupid is the only way to describe morons like you.
    "When government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny."


    A lie doesn't become the truth, wrong doesn't become right, and evil doesn't become good just because it is accepted by a majority.
    Author: Booker T. Washington



    Quote Originally Posted by Nomad View Post
    Unless you just can't stand the idea of "ni**ers" teaching white kids.


    Quote Originally Posted by AProudLefty View Post
    Address the topic, not other posters.

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    Quote Originally Posted by iolo View Post
    As everyone knows, governments do not handle health care - doctors do that, some because they care about the sufferings of the sick, others because they want to make a packet. Governments, and peoples, choose which to pay, and whether to let the poor die, that's all. I suppose your rich want to kill off prospective Democrat voters as a point of principle.
    LMAO; another fucking stupid fool. Do you bleat like a sheep when your Government tells you to bend over dunce?
    "When government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny."


    A lie doesn't become the truth, wrong doesn't become right, and evil doesn't become good just because it is accepted by a majority.
    Author: Booker T. Washington



    Quote Originally Posted by Nomad View Post
    Unless you just can't stand the idea of "ni**ers" teaching white kids.


    Quote Originally Posted by AProudLefty View Post
    Address the topic, not other posters.

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