Under the wire ... An executive from the LifeCare Management Services pleaded guilty to making illegal campaign contributions. To whom were these contributions made?
You guessed it: mostly to Republican Congressmen who represented states that had Lifecare Hospitals. LifeCare Management Services is the company that operated in several of the hospitals in New Orleans, one of which hit the headlines with 24 dead patients after Katrina. Lifecare operated at Memorial Hospital (a Tenet Healthcare Corporation facility) , and has been under investigation for accusations of the "mercy killing" of some of these people(1). More convoluted is the fact that Lifecare was acquired by The Carlyle Group this past summer.(2)
Carlyle group, illegal campaign contributions? Naw, that couldn't be. Boucher is just a bad apple in a barrel of nice shiny bombs,uh,I mean pomes, pomes! Carlyle wouldn't buy any special favors, would they? They just give lucrative jobs to politicians who leave public office, that's all.
Ex-Hospital Exec, GOP Donor to Plead Guilty
Friday, March 03, 2006 7:23 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A former hospital company executive has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges in connection with $50,000 in illegal corporate campaign contributions over more than five years, the man's lawyer and court papers said Friday.
Donald M. Boucher, who was a vice president of LifeCare Management Services of Plano, Texas, made the contributions between April 1997 and December 2002, prosecutors said in a filing in U.S. District Court in Washington.
LifeCare operates 21 hospitals in Louisiana, Texas and seven other states, according to the company's Web site. Most of Boucher's contributions went to Republican members of Congress, mainly from states with LifeCare hospitals, according to federal campaign records.
Individuals may contribute to federal candidates and committees, but corporate contributions are banned under federal law.
Prosecutors say Boucher was involved in a plan to be reimbursed for his contributions by LifeCare, said Jay Stewart, Boucher's attorney in Austin, Texas. No date has been set for his plea hearing.
Another former LifeCare executive, David LeBlanc, remains under investigation, Stewart said. He represents LeBlanc as well.
LifeCare was acquired last summer by the Carlyle Group. Twenty-four patients died at a LifeCare facility on the grounds of a Tenet Healthcare Corp. hospital in New Orleans that was cut off by floodwaters from Hurricane Katrina.
Copyright © 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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(1)story on the investigation of Katrina Mercy Killings:
[url]http://lonestartimes.com/...[/url]
(2)Carlyle's acquisition of Lifecare:
[url]http://www.thecarlylegroup.com/...[/url]
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