The Governor's Club:
The Governor's Club is an "exclusive" organization open to anyone giving
$25,000 or more to
Ridge's campaign. (Where do you think he got all his money from?!).
Membership in the Club
according to the Philadelphia Inquirer,
has its
privileges:
-
State contracts are supposed to be awarded according to an open
bidding process. When the state pharmacy contracts were up for bid a few
months ago, Eagle Managed Care (a Rite Aid subsidiary)
was not among the finalists.
However, after Rite Aid executives gave approximately $400,000
to the Governor's Club, Eagle came from nowhere to be
awarded the state contract,
worth about $13 million this year. Ridge representatives "denied
any connection" between the contributions and the contract.
Eagle also was awarded the privilege of
administering payments to pharmacies filling medicaid and medicare prescriptions.
This means Eagle
was given control of the state money which pays for these prescriptions.
Since they set the reimbursements given to dispensing pharmacists lower
than the cost of the drugs, independent pharmacists have been losing huge
amounts of money. Several hundred have gone out of business. Eagle,
however, loses nothing because they keep any "savings" (of state money)
left over at the end
of the year. In effect, they have used their control of this money to
squeeze out independent pharmacists and increase their own market share.
This is economic thuggery of the worst sort.
-
Envirotest is a company that contracted with Pennsylvania to provide
centralized car emissions testing. Due to a grassroots opposition to
the program, Pennsylvania scrapped the program and
paid
approximately $145 million to Envirotest to buy out the contract
and real estate assets which Envirotest had purchased in Pennsylvania.
They were subsequently resold
to banking members of The Club for a price which the Governor refuses to
disclose, despite the public nature of the transaction and freedom of
information suits. Rumor has the purchase price in the region of $70
million; if this is true, it would represent an apparent profit to Club
members of around $70 million - nice work if you can get it. If true, it
might also be a felony.
-
The Hospital Association lobbyist joined the club, and the inspection
of Pennsylvania hospitals stopped. Stopped!!
-
Numerous members of the Club have become
landlords to state government departments
(e.g., the Parole Board and the Human Relations
Commission), or obtained lucrative state insurance contracts,
since joining the Club.
Is Pennsylvania Tom Ridge's to sell?
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