Scott Walker Caught Trying To Rob Family-Planning Clinics

It's no deep dark secret that Scott Walker will pander to any special interest group that might support him, including the right to life groups. Hence, Walker will do whatever he can do - whether or not it's legal or ethical - to prevent women from getting basic health care and to have the right to make decisions regarding their own bodies.

He already had one of his schemes broken up when it turned out that his attempt to limit women's access to family-planning clinics was found to be unconstitutional.

Now, he's been found to have his hand in the money till of these clinics, falsely accusing them of overbilling for their services. That amount was found to be off by at least 93%:

Last August, a Wisconsin state agency told two family-planning organizations that they owed a total of $3.5 million because they had overbilled Medicaid programs for prescription drugs and certain services.

Last week, the agency — the Office of Inspector General at the Department of Health Services — lowered the amount by more than $3.2 million.

The two family-planning organizations — NEWCAP Community Health Services and Family Planning Health Services — were told of the change in letters from Alan White, the inspector general. Yet the letters raise more questions than they answer, not the least being how the state could have been off by 93% — and maybe more, given that at least one of the organizations plans to challenge the remaining claims.

[...]

The dispute stemmed largely from conflicting interpretations of how the state reimburses family-planning clinics for contraceptives.

The state contended the clinics — which can buy the drugs at a discount under a federal program — should bill Medicaid for the actual purchase price plus a dispensing fee.

The clinics countered that they were billing the state properly under published rates that allowed a markup to offset operating costs.

"You don't get to dictate to Medicaid or the state what they pay you," said Jennifer Waloway, a nurse practitioner and director of community health services for NEWCAP Community Health Services in Oconto.

The organization, which runs clinics in six counties in northeastern Wisconsin, initially was told that it owed the state $1,169,837.10, based on audits conducted for 2010 and 2011. That is slightly less than its annual revenue of $1.2 million.

The Office of Inspector General now contends NEWCAP owes $185,074.80, which the organization still plans to challenge.

Family Planning Health Services, which operates 11 clinics in north-central Wisconsin, was told initially it owed $2,324,750.73.

That's been reduced to $44,706.83.

Other organizations that provide reproductive health services in the state also have contended that they were paid for contraceptives and other prescription drugs at a rate agreed upon and set by the Department of Health Services in 2009.

"This isn't just us," Waloway said. "This is the whole family-planning network."

Walker backing off of his false claims have raised other questions which can only be explained as lying to cover up his malfeasance:

Although White reduced the amount the state is seeking to recover from the two organizations, the letter left numerous unanswered questions.

Some examples:

■White wrote that his office became aware from the clinics' response that "employees of this department had given verbal instructions to a small subset" of providers on billing for prescription drugs.

But Diane Welsh, a lawyer with von Briesen & Roper s.c., who represents the family-planning clinics, said the reimbursement rates were published and were consistent with what the clinics were paid.

In an email, the Department of Health Services disputed that.

But the department would not comment on why it would reduce the amount of the clinics' alleged overbilling on the basis of "verbal instructions" given five years earlier.

■White wrote that his office "discovered" a Medicaid update issued in February 2009 that set a new reimbursement rate for contraceptive pills dispensed by family planning clinics.

Waloway said her organization gave that update to the Office of Inspector General when it was doing the audit.

■White wrote that the update "created confusion for some family-planning clinics."

The clinics were reimbursed at a published rate, Welsh said. "How confusing is that?" she asked.

White's contention particularly irked Waloway.

"We are not confused," she said. "We are following instructions of DHS (the Department of Health Services). Every family clinic was billing the same way we are."

The article notes that a director of one of the clinics Walker tried to rip off and force into bankruptcy was miffed because they got no apology from Walker's administration. I would advise her, based on my professional and personal experience, that she not hold her breath waiting for Walker to do the right thing.

Walker's Gaffe Within A Gaffe

Today the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Patrick Marley was all a-titter that Scott Walker made a Freudian slip regarding something that is old news - that Walker wants to be president:

Speaking to reporters at the National Governors Association in Milwaukee, Walker was asked
about the idea of Republicans trying to block the federal budget to halt the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

“Right now I’ve got my hands full being governor. I’m not real involved yet at the – strike that last word – at the federal level,” Walker said to laughter.

Wisconsin’s Republican governor is named frequently as a potential 2016 candidate for governor, though Walker has largely downplayed such talk. Walker’s own response to his use of the word “yet” shows he’s aware of how his comments can be read when speaking on national issues.

This gaffe prompted a press release from Mike Tate, head of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, including a pretty good zinger:

Even as he denies it, everyone knows Scott Walker is running for president -- he’s never here to govern Wisconsin because he's too busy raising campaign cash at Tea Party gatherings all around the country. So it’s pretty ironic that Walker's Freudian slip came on a day he was visiting Wisconsin.”

But Marley's article contained a more subtle, but more significant gaffe.

Per the article, Walker went on to talk about Obamacare and Walker, predictably, took the insane, inane and wrong-headed approach:

“I’ll let them work that out for right now,” he said. “Obviously I have concerns on principle about he Affordable Care Act, not only in terms of the implementation, but I don’t think it’s good pubic policy to have the federal nor the state government dictate to me and my family what we do or what any other family in this state or this country does on health care. But I’d have to look at all the different options are going forward.”

It's odd that Walker would take that stance, since dictating what poor people did regarding health care was exactly what Walker was doing for the vast majority of his time as Milwaukee County Executive, when he administered the GAMP program:

The program was called the General Assistance Medical Program orGAMP for short. The best description I've found of GAMP, and the benefits it gave to its consumers and to the taxpayers, comes fromThe Commonwealth Fund (emphasis mine):

Wisconsin's General Assistance Medical Program (GAMP) provides health care coverage to indigent Milwaukee County residents who are not eligible for other forms of public coverage (such as Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program) and are not enrolled in private coverage. The county redesigned the GAMP program into a community-based primary care model in the late 1990s to achieve two interrelatedgoals: to provide increased primary care services, and to do so via community-based clinics. The new design was intended to improve effectiveness and efficiency of care. Prior to this, indigent patients relied on the emergency room of the county hospital, which created access barriers for enrollees and cost inefficiencies for the county. Under the redesigned model,GAMP enrollees select a participating clinic as their primary care provider, which is then responsible for providing andcoordinating services. The clinic coordinates specialty care for the enrollee by working with specialists and hospitals that participate in the GAMP network. The program covered a total of 24,000 individuals in calendar year 2003, with some 10,000 to 12,000 individuals enrolled at any given time. All in all, GAMP estimated that it saved $4.2 million in 2000 (in comparison to the projected costs had the previous system remained in place). Administratorsbelieve that inpatient and outpatient costs have been controlled largely through a Utilization Management program that ensures delivery of care in the appropriate settings and using appropriate resources.

In other words, the County designed and ran a health care system that limited people's choices by having to go through a community clinic first, and only if it was covered in the network. Yet, instead of leaving people without insurance and forcing them to go to hospital ERs, it saved $4.2 million. That's a big chunk of change for a relatively small amount of people.

Other descriptions of the program include the one from Milwaukee County itself and a report(pdf) from the state after the program just started. The County page calls the program as "nationally recognized." The state's report summarized the program with this sentence:

Inpatient hospital and specialty services constitute the majority of the GAMP budget
although, the program has successfully used primary care services provided in community based clinics and selective utilization management techniques to control and reduce inpatient and outpatient hospital costs over the last two years.

The only reason GAMP ended was because Governor Jim Doyle was able to expand BadgerCare to cover these individuals, taking the load of the county.

Given that he has experience running a government-controlled health care program and knows that it saves taxpayers money and provided affordable health care, there is no valid reason for Walker to reject it on a higher level.

In fact, the only reasons that Walker would have for turning rejecting Obamacare is that he is using the poor as political pawns (something he has done before) , pure malfeasance or both.

Walker's Malfeasance Goes For A Song

For those who have been reading my reporting about Scott Walker dating back to his time in Milwaukee County is fully aware that one of his predominant traits is the need to overreach is authority in order to get his way, whether it's to reward a campaign donor, advance his political career or punish his political  enemies.  With the help of the corporate media, he has all too often been able to get away with such malfeasance.

But even the most powerful corporate media in the state can do little to spin away Walker's latest acts of

Image courtesy of
Sarah Mittermaier

malfeasance - his vain efforts to stifle the people who participate in the Solidarity Singalong.

My colleague in dissidence, Jeff Simpson, has been doing a yeoman's work in covering the abuse of authority going on in the state capitol.  You can find his excellent coverage here, here, also here, there, this one and that one.

As the gentle reader is probably aware, Walker has sent Commandant Dave Erwin and his jackboots into the Capitol's rotunda to arrest octogenarians, veterans, mothers with children, the disabled, friars and reverends. They even arrested journalists and onlookers.

One of the acts of suppression that I have personally found most egregious involves a friend of Cognitive Dissidence, the good Reverend Carter Dary, who is also running for the 13th Wisconsin Assembly District. Not only did Walker's goons arrest the good reverend, but also were neglectful towards him as he was having an apparent cardiac incident:

The minister, a gentle man named Rev. Carter Dary, sits in his zip tie cuffs, says he isn't feeling well, is having chest pains. Nitro, nitro… this man needs his nitro! He's not well, and he needs his nitro. The policeman in charge of collaring and cuffing errant Lutheran clergy put it in his palm. But he's handcuffed, see, and he can't get the pill into his mouth. He fumbles, but the pill doesn't reach its target. Too many zip ties are in the way. The policeman puts it under his tongue for him, like some weird reverse benediction. Things seem better. Rev. Dary tells the policeman that he has no family or friends to be contacted, and the policeman leaves the processing room.

But then the soft spoken Reverend suddenly slumps where he sits, head against a pillar, eyes closed. A woman next to him, also in detainment tries to nudge him. He doesn't move. She yells for the police. Irving, stalwart Solidarity Singer already arrested too many times to count, also sits next to him in detainment. The police come and try to get the Reverend to respond. The police finally call EMS. It takes forever for the ambulance to arrive. Everyone waits and waits, Mr. Dary inert, folded over like too much laundry. Irving and the woman who nudged Mr. Dary, begin to recite the Lord's Prayer out loud. They think the Reverend is dying. The police, tell them to be quiet, to quit praying out loud. The police try to stop them from praying out loud to a semi conscious minister! They continue reciting the Lord's Prayer. Five to ten minutes after they call the ambulance, the police take the Reverend's handcuffs off.

Perhaps an ordained minister apparently having a cardiac event might be trusted to not run off? The police try to ascertain his condition. Can he recite scripture? He only gets out the first line of the Lord's Prayer.

Follow the link to see a video of Reverend Dary talk about how police had refused to allow him to offer guidance to the political prisoners of the day before as well as an eyewitness account of the unforgivable neglect by the troopers.

And make no mistake about it. The people that Walker is having arrested are political prisoners.  They have committed no crime, unless one, - like Walker does - thinks that exercising the Freedom of Speech is a criminal behavior.

In fact, the Madison National Lawyers Guild has sent out a pres release basically pointing out that Walker was overstepping his authority and purposely misinterpreting a court order in order to practice this particularly act of fascism (emphasis mine, for obvious reasons):

Citizens singing traditional civil rights songs, some with lyrics rewritten to criticize the current governor and state legislative priorities, were again subjected to mass arrest in the Wisconsin
Capitol Rotunda July 24 and July 25. After U.S. District Court Judge William Conley issued an injunction against enforcement of the Wisconsin Administrative Code and Capitol Access policies on
July 8, the Wisconsin Department of Administration tried to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in their ongoing campaign to stifle voices of dissent in the Capitol. Twenty three people were arrested Wednesday, and another twenty or so on Thursday, some more than once, while hundreds sang along or looked on, including a number of Democratic state legislators.

Dept. of Administration Secretary Michael Huebsch, announcing the impending arrests on Wednesday, which included two people aged 80 and over and two journalists, claimed that the state was “enforcing” Judge Conley’s ruling, as if the judge had directed arrests. The decision issued in the lawsuit filed against Huebsch and Capitol Police Chief David Erwin did not direct arrests. Nor did it find that the state’s permitting scheme was constitutional, despite such claims by DOA spokesperson Stephanie Marquise.

An injunction was issued because the court determined that the permitting scheme was improperly content based and overly broad, and that the plaintiff Michael Kissick had shown a likelihood of success in his case against Huebsch and Erwin. One of Kissick’s attorneys, Larry Dupuis of the A.C.L.U. of Wisconsin, issued a press release condemning the misrepresentation of Judge Conley’s ruling by Secretary Huebsch and the DOA’s media handlers.

“Rather than impose a blanket prohibition on enforcing the existing permitting scheme, however, the court will preliminarily enjoin defendants from (1) distinguishing based on the content of the speech between “rallies” and other events for permitting purposes inside the Capitol and (2) enforcing the permit requirement for gatherings expected to draw 20 or fewer persons inside the Capitol rotunda itself. Of course, nothing in this decision prohibits enforcement of existing laws and regulations that restrict disruptive noise or other disorderly conduct,” wrote Judge Conley granting the injunction against enforcement of the rules as rewritten by the DOA on an “emergency” basis in April, 2013.

Image courtesy of
Sarah Mittermaier

All the singers and others present arrested Wednesday were charged with violating an administrative code provision that describes what kind of activity would justify a declaration of an “unlawful event” by Capitol Police. Yet no access was blocked to any part of the building, and no violence, threats of violence or any interference with the operations of state government during the lunch hour singing was observed during the event, which has continued for over two years every weekday in or outside the Capitol. The tickets merely listed “No Permit” as the basis for getting a citation, and when citizens asked why they were being arrested, Capitol police, state troopers and DNR wardens told them they would “find out downstairs,” but no further explanation was offered. Agents of the Wisconsin Dept. of Justice Criminal Investigations unit were called in to help process the large number of people arrested.

The Madison Mass Defense group, involving attorney and legal worker members of the National Lawyers Guild, ACLU and others concerned about federal and state constitutional rights to petition and protest the government, has represented most of the 40 defendants given over 160 tickets in the “crackdown” ordered by Capitol Police Chief Erwin since he became chief a year ago. Only one case has gone to a jury trial resulting in a guilty verdict, and over 70 cases have been dismissed by the prosecuting Wisconsin Attorney General’s office or denied prosecution by the Dane County District Attorney. An appeal is pending in the Court of Appeals which may result in the state being ordered to pay the defendants’ attorneys’ fees if the prosecutions were not “substantially justified.”

Anyone needing legal assistance for arrests while singing or observing singing at the Capitol can call the NLG at 608-520-0654. The coordinator will then attempt to find legal representation for the person who has been arrested.

The Madison Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild is the local arm of the national organization of lawyers, legal workers, law students, and jailhouse lawyers. The National Lawyers Guild represents
progressive political movements, and its motto is that human rights are more sacred than property interests.

And yes, again, they are political prisoners. They are being arrested for singing the truth to power. They are being arrested because Dear Leader Walker doesn't like them pointing out his failures and corruption.

Ironically, Walker's overreach and malfeasance does more damage to himself than anything the singers could hope to accomplish.

Chris Abele's Emails

During the Walkergate investigation, the few emails that the DA's Office released through the court proceedings showed a glimpse of some of the backroom dealings and illegal politicking that Scott Walker and his minions were involved with.  It was said emails that were enough to convict Kelly Rindfleisch as well as show that with Walker, there is always more and still even more.

Recently, some of Milwaukee County Executive's Chris Abele's emails were also revealed.  They really reinforce Abele's claims that he admires Walker and the work he has done, if you know what I mean.

Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel covers one part of the emails, showing that despite Abele's claims of wanting civility and that nothing is personal, Abele is a huge hypocrite:

"The Sheriff is crazy but that press release is bonkers," Abele wrote to Moreen on July 17, 2012. "He is so embarrassingly a childish bully." 

In the email, Abele then encourages his staffer to raise some issues with Weishan and a Journal Sentinel reporter about the usefulness of the handguns, which cost $75,000.

My esteemed colleague and friend, Cory Liebmann further addresses Abele's emails in his must read post.   Liebmann points out that in one email that Abele had  one of his mouthpieces, Brendan Conway, send talking points to attack and undermine Senator Chris Larson, who opposes Abele's Plutocracy Bill.

Does anyone really consider Abele to be a Democrat when he is backstabbing the Democratic Minority Leader of the State Senate?

Liebmann also points out that the Plutocracy Bill was actually conceived in 2012, long before Sanfelippo was elected.  The creators of the bill, as if we didn't already know, was Abele, Julia Taylor and the rest of the GMC.  No one else had any input into this plan for this hostile takeover of Milwaukee County.

But bless his heart, Liebmann also gave us a link to a few pages of information which reveal a bit more than covered by Bice or Liebmann.

The first page shows Abele's schedule for June 25, 2012.  As Liebmann had noted, part of his morning was meeting with Julie Taylor, the head of the Greater Milwaukee Committee (GMC).

It should be noted that the purpose of the meeting with Taylor was to discuss the "Agenda from Julie."

Um, excuse me?  She's setting the agenda, which includes county policy as well as their legislative strategy for ramming through the power grab bill.  That's strikes me as being very similar to Michael Grebe of the Bradley Foundation and Walker's campaign ordering Walker's county staff on what to do.  It's even more disturbing when one remembers that Taylor was upset when Tim Russell was fired for his misconduct in office.

The second page is the start of an email between Abele and Amber Moreen, his Chief of Staff.  The first thing that should be noted is that Abele used his private email to discuss county business:

Well, well, isn't that a lot like Walker's infamous email to Tim Russell, chastising him after Darlene Wink got busted.

The next point of interest is his condescending and whiny tone towards Barbara Beckert, the head of Disability Rights Wisconsin (DRW).  DRW has been heavily involved in trying to correct the multitude of problems at the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex:

Thanks for the Barbara Beckert forward.  I'm happy, of course, to sit down with the task force, get an update, etc.  I still don't care for her tone that sometimes seems to presume or imply more decision-making authority over county resources than she has, though I'll always listen to her input.

In reality, he doesn't have much choice.  DRW is the authority when it comes to issues dealing with people who have a disability, including mental health issues.  Considering how bad Abele and Walker allowed things to get, they should be glad to be getting help instead of fines.

Near the bottom of the second page, Abele makes a reference to a press release sent out by a number of supervisors who showed their support for the workers at Palermo's.  Abele, who is very anti-worker and anti-union, was upset by this.

I wonder why he is so concerned about the labor relations at a private business, unless it's because he's personal friends with the owners of Palermo's.  Ironically, he snipes at the supervisors for not contacting anyone at Palermo's, despite that it's obvious that Abele didn't do his homework either.

It should also be noted that to help with the situation, he "connected with Giacomo and connected him with Aaron."  Aaron would be Aaron Rodriguez, of course, who is Abele's ghost writer and has weighed in repeatedly with his propaganda and lies to attack people who dare to want to get paid a living wage.

In summary, through the articles by Bice and Liebmann as well as the few points that I have made here, as well as the other ones that the gentle reader is more than clever enough to pick up on their own, we see that Abele is a horrible hypocrite, a master manipulator, an egregious egocentric, a petty tyrant and a pitiful sockpuppet for well-moneyed special interests.

Or in other words, Abele is really living up to his courthouse nickname of Little Walker.  All he needs is a secret router.

Malfeasance Of The Highest Order

Shortly after the Wisconsin 14 took off for Illinois, Scott Walker inappropriately sent state troopers after them. A government watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (not to be confused with the corrupt group of local thugs that use a similar name), filed complaints with the Government Accountability Board stating that state troopers cannot take part in a dispute between employer and employee when it was about wages, working conditions, and whatnot.

To me, it was a much more disturbing sign. What literally happened was that Walker sent armed officers of the state to go after political opponents who were openly defying him.  If that doesn't smack any honest person as a sign of a dictatorship, I don't know what would.

But as egregious as Walker's behavior might have been, he could always use the defense of plausible stupidity.

The same can't be said for Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald.  CREW did an open records request on the  emails of the Republican senators in regards to anything to deal with the decision to send the troopers out after the Democrats.  What they found was a treasure trove of skulduggery.

Among the myriad of emails was an ongoing discussion on how to coerce the Democrats to come back and capitulate to the Republicans' collective plan.  There was discussion of several different things they could try, but most of them were illegal and/or would end up in a lengthy and costly court case.*

Included among the illegalities that were discussed and identified as an illegal maneuver was sending troopers out against their political opponents.  So what did Fitzgerald get his Republican colleagues do? Well take a vote and send the troopers out, of course!  (And I thought Walker was bad...)

If we had an honest Attorney General in Wisconsin instead of the political hack we have now, Fitzgerald would already be under investigation.  Then again, if we had a halfway decent AG, we wouldn't have a fraction of the problems that we have encountered in the past ten weeks.

The more things like this come out, the angrier the people become.  And yet the Republicans still show bafflement on why people are upset with their unilateral attempt to take away our rights and our democracy.  It's only becoming the simple question of which will come first: recall, impeachment or indictments?

*The only action the Republicans never considered was actually acting like adults and working with the Democrats.  Now they're surprised that they are reaping what they sowed.

Your Tax Dollars Not At Work - Day 2

In case you hadn't figured it out, I was able to report Scott Walker's fiscal malfeasance this afternoon because today was the second of my twelve twenty-two furlough days.

As I pointed out on Day 1, this isn't saving the tax payers any money. Now the County is $1,200 behind by furlough me alone. Multiply that by the thousands of revenue-generating workers and it becomes painfully clear this idea isn't working. And this doesn't mention that my clients aren't receiving services unless it's an emergency. Then another worker is taken from his or her duties to cover what I should and could have done, if I had been at work. The only way a person could think this was a good think is if he were a drunken sot.

And, of course, the County Executive and the County Board are not only not partaking in the fun, but are actually getting raises, and are exempt from all of the other cuts.

Walker is making sure the County is hemorrhaging money at every turn, as long as he thinks it looks good politically. Why would anyone support such recklessness and duplicity is beyond me.