Gov. Jim Gibbons, reacting to the state insurance commissioner’s approval today of the acquisition of Health Plan of Nevada by UnitedHealth Group, expressed concerns about the effects the purchase would have on Nevada residents. The governor’s office released this statement, calling for unspecified consumer protections.

Governor expresses concerns about merger
calls upon attorney general to pursue efforts to PROTECT NEVADA citizens
 
Carson City – Governor Jim Gibbons expressed concerns today about the approved merger between Sierra Health Services and UnitedHealth Group and asked for safeguards to ensure that healthcare in Nevada does not suffer as a result of that merger.

"I am deeply disturbed by some of the potential monopolistic tendencies that can result from this merger and by the constraints in Nevada law that prevented the Insurance Commissioner from acting more forcefully to curb these potential threats," said Governor Gibbons.   "I urge the Attorney General to work with my office to take any and all legal steps to prevent adverse outcomes and will also urge the Justice Department to closely examine the monopolistic potential in their review of this merger.”

Governor Gibbons initiated a series of hearings on the merger and welcomed the input of the public and of the medical and political community.  "During those hearings, I heard many valid concerns about the potential for higher prices or loss of access to medical care if this merger takes place," Gibbons stated.  "While the Insurance Commissioner was able to require some concessions, I am not convinced that we have enough protections for the public at this time.  We need to take additional steps to ensure that Nevadans are not harmed by this merger."

"The free market works best for consumers when safeguards are in place that prevent monopolistic tendencies from hampering competition.  The Nevada Attorney General and the Justice Department need to examine this merger and take all appropriate steps to ensure that Nevada consumers are protected from the potentially negative consequences that can result when competition is greatly reduced," Gibbons added.

Governor Gibbons noted that in other states, mergers of this size have included a number of concessions from the merging companies to ensure that the newly created companies do not take advantage of their increased market share by charging much higher premium rates or by reducing payments to healthcare providers, which can result in a loss of doctors.  For example, when UnitedHealth Group acquired Pacificare Life and Health in California, the insurance commissioner required that the company not pay any dividends to the parent company to ensure that premiums were not raised to cover the merger costs and also required that the company protect consumers by waiving preexisting conditions periods in some circumstances.  In Colorado, UnitedHealth was required to fund a liaison between the medical community and the insurer to address physician concerns caused by a similar merger.

Gibbons noted that healthcare costs and access to health care are major concerns in Nevada, and he pledged to work with the Attorney General and other officials to ensure that all legal safeguards are implemented to protect consumers and providers.

"Both in public hearings and in meetings with advocates and opponents of this merger, I have heard many concerns about this merger’s impact on consumers, as well as advantages to the merger," Gibbons concluded.  "I share many of the concerns, and I will work with other public officials to ensure that we take steps to address them while making sure that we obtain the benefits promised by UnitedHealth."

On the one hand, we’re surprised: We thought that Gibbons had simply called for hearings (and even attended them) simply for show. He’s a Republican, after all, and Republicans usually don’t mind when giant corporations merge to form even larger and more powerful corporations. This statement shows that Gibbons actually does get that near-monopolies created by the vaunted free market aren’t always good.

We don’t know how we’d avoided doing it up until now, but we realized today that we hadn’t signed up for news releases from the Joe Biden for president campaign. That’s why we were mercilessly scooped by our colleague Jon Ralston on the latest Biden presidential news: He’s been endorsed by that guy who ran for president against U.S. Sen. John Ensign.

Anyway, we surfed over to Biden’s campaign website, and located the RIQ, or Release in Question. Here’s the lowdown:

Wilmington, DE (August 27th, 2007) - The Biden for President Campaign is pleased to announce today the endorsement of Jack Carter, the 2006 Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate and son of former President Jimmy Carter. Mr. Carter went public with his support for Biden at a fundraiser last week in Las Vegas in honor of Senator Biden.

"Today my wife Elizabeth and I are announcing our support for Joe Biden in his bid for the Presidency. He was the first Senator to support my Dad in 1975, and he was helpful in my own campaign last year," said Carter. "He is experienced, knowledgeable, affable and humorous. Sen. Biden has entered serious proposals into the debate on many of the issues critical to Americans - and others - today."

"His son, Beau [Biden, newly elected Attorney General of Delaware], put it best to me a couple of months ago: ‘Can you imagine what would happen if Dad came in first or second in Iowa?’ That statement rang in me like a bell. I know how it can work…We did it in 1976."

"With Joe Biden, we don’t have to worry about the problems of lack of experience or high negatives affecting our chances in November 2008. I’m very comfortable that he can win," said Carter.

"Jack Carter is a role model for anyone who has ever thought about public office. In that regard, he takes after his father," said Sen. Biden. "Jack’s support for my campaign will be a tremendous asset to us, not only in Nevada, but in Iowa where the Carter name is revered, as well as around the country, where someone of Jack’s stature will bring real credibility to my campaign."

Now, we’re not entirely sure how helpful Biden was to Jack Carter here in 2006, given that Carter got creamed 55 percent to 41 percent. And this is John Ensign we’re talking about here. He spends more time on the golf course than Tiger Woods. He thinks a "wedge issue" is a short-game technique question. When he hears "trust fund," he doesn’t think Social Security. (You get the idea.)

Anyway, we’ve signed up for Biden releases, so you’ll hear about them first here from now on. On to Iowa! Or is it Michigan? Perhaps Florida? New Hampshire? It’s all just so confusing.

You know, we’ve been thinking. Nevada is certainly getting screwed, big time, in this whole primary schedule thing. We won’t see a single presidential candidate in this town between now and forever if Michigan executes a plan to move its primary to Jan. 15, just four days before Nevada’s Jan. 19 date. And even with the Democratic National Committee’s firm bitch-slap to Florida, which is also angling for an earlier vote, Nevada could still be overlooked.

We’ve got the answer: Nevada should hold its primary on Wednesday.

Yeah, this Wednesday. Sept. Aug. 29.

First, this would allow Nevada to be first in the nation, stealing that traditional honor from Iowa and totally punking those state-fair-going, corn-raising, agrarian-lifestyle-living hicks. Boo-yah! Second, we wouldn’t have to endure another 1,231 visits from candidates of all parties, like all the other states. We could enjoy the rest of our summer and the start of the fall TV season in peace, without phone calls, TV ads or door-to-door canvassing. And third, we’d prove that a two-year runup to the White House isn’t really necessary. Cool people can make up their minds quick.

So, what do you say, Nevada Democrats? Lunchtime good for you?

» U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, who is friends with some really bad people, took some money from a corrupt former senator, Bob Torricelli from New Jersey. You remember these two, right? Reid donated $500 to Torricelli’s legal defense fund, and then balked at stepping aside as chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee looking into Torricelli’s behavior. Yeah, they go way back.

» You know how you can tell that Mississippi’s Gulf Coast has fully recovered from the ravages of Hurricane Katrina? Because a bunch of people are losing money in casinos there, that’s how! And when American Gaming Association President Frank Fahrenkopf says something like this — "Let’s face it, the casinos are the economic engine in Biloxi and Gulfport and reopening helps in the recovery." — you know he’s leaving town with somebody’s balls in his pocket.

» Live women’s football, or Face to Face with Jon Ralston? Jeff Simpson votes for the latter. But how about this: The Las Vegas women’s football team ON Face to Face with Jon Raslton? Tough questions, direct sacking of the host! It makes basic cable worthwhile, if you ask us.

» The Review-Journal’s solution for the "problem" of feeding homeless people in city parks? Privatize the parks, of course! That way, the private owners could just kick homeless people out. You know, to the nearby private streets, where those owners could also kick them out. You know, down to private social service agencies, where, if they refused to comply with searches and other rules, they could be kicked out… to where exactly?

» If U.S. Reps. Jon Porter and Dean Heller think the pressure’s off on Iraq, they’re’s wrong. A group of protesters is planning "Take A Stand Day," for Tuesday, with a public town hall meeting on Iraq that will urge the Republican congressmen to vote to get troops out of Iraq. Of course, Porter isn’t going to be at the event; organizers will set up an empty chair for him, all Elijah-like.

The key question: With America running low on troops to deploy to the war zone, and no end in sight from the president, what if America has to turn to the draft?

The event will run from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Local 159 Painters Union Hall at 1701 Whitney Mesa Drive, Suite 20, in Henderson.

Thanks to an alert reader — and the Associated Press, via the Las Vegas Sun — we’ve just learned that Gov. Jim Gibbons‘ director of communications, Brent Boynton, is quitting to return to journalism. Boynton, who spent 28 years in journalism before signing on to Gibbons’ staff in 2006, will become the main news anchor and assistant news director at KOLO Channel 8, the ABC affiliate station in Reno.

"I got another offer, an offer I couldn’t refuse," Boynton said, responding to a question about whether he wanted out of his job, according to the AP dispatch. (Um, maybe KOLO is the Mafia-affiliated station in Reno?)

But of course Boynton wanted out of his job! Being a news anchor, assistant news director, and working at a bookstore, Starbucks and McDonald’s part-time while also going back to school to get a Ph.D. at the same time he was volunteering 100 hours a week to help orphans would still be a less work-intensive job than explaining the myriad mistakes of Jim Gibbons to skeptical journalists! Boynton’s stress-free days are here, baby!

This does raise some journalism ethics questions, however. Obviously, Boynton is biased towards Republican governors who may or may not have left certain offices with certain briefcases and pants pockets weighted down with cash and casino chips. Will he recuse himself from covering crime news, we wonder? Because it sure seems like he’s got a soft spot for remorseless lawbreakers!

UPDATE: Here’s the official news release, complete with the odd avoidance of capital letters in the headline.

communications director brent boynton to return to television news

 “AS A 28-YEAR VETERAN OF TELEVISION NEWS AND A FORMER EIGHT-YEAR EMPLOYEE OF KOLO-TV, THIS MOVE MAKES ME FEEL AS IF I’M GOING HOME” 
 
Carson City—Governor Jim Gibbons’ communications director, Brent Boynton, has resigned to become anchor and assistant news director at KOLO-TV, the ABC affiliate in Reno.  He will assume the main anchor role held for nearly four decades by anchorman Tad Dunbar, who retired last month.  Boynton’s last day in the governor’s office will be September 7th.
 
“Brent’s professionalism and loyalty will be missed by my administration and all those who have had the opportunity to work with him as communications director.   I thank him for his dedicated service to the state and wish him the best of luck at Channel 8 and in all future endeavors.  I know many people are looking forward to seeing him on the air again, and Dawn and I are among them,” said Governor Jim Gibbons.
 
“It has been an honor serving Jim Gibbons as he has served the people of Nevada—in Congress, as a candidate and now as governor,” Boynton said.  “He is a good man who inspires his staff.  I have enjoyed the opportunity to work for him and to work with talented and dedicated coworkers.  However, Channel 8 made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.  As a 28-year veteran of television news and a former eight-year employee of KOLO-TV, this move makes me feel as if I’m going home.”
 

 

"Once or twice each calendar year, justice does prevail." – Detective Andy Sipowitz, NYPD

And today, friends, is that day. As you’ve no doubt heard and read by now, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has decided to resign. What President George W. Bush’s enabling couldn’t do, the weight of reality has finally done.

(For that matter, the pathetic enabling of our own U.S. Sen. John Ensign was for naught as well. Even assuming that Ensign really did believe — despite all evidence to the contrary — that Gonzales still had the ability of leading Main Justice, the political winds were blowing too hard for Gonzales to stay. You’d think a potential vice presidential candidate would know that.)

In the end, the situation is clear: Gonzales was a political hack whose fealty to Bush over the Constitution resulted in some truly dangerous and awful things happening in American society, and it’s good that he’s going. Would that it would have been sooner, and for reasons other than his political ineptness.

Too harsh? Let’s do the mini-resume: Gonzales opined that habeus corpus was not a personal right, although it clearly is; he opined that Bush could wage war against Iraq without congressional authorization; he wrote a memo — later rescinded — that said Bush could ignore domestic and international laws against torture in the name of national security; he tried, as White House counsel, to get ailing former Attorney General John Ashcroft to bless a warantless wiretapping program conceived by the president; he either presided over, or was criminally negligent of, the firings of several U.S. attorneys, some of whom were either prosecuting Republicans or failing to prosecute Democrats; he very likely lied under oath to Congress about his conduct in that matter; he allowed, by design or negligence, several underlings to consider political affiliations in hiring decisions at the Justice Department; he helped Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney install the warantless wiretapping program that abridges critical Fourth Amendment rights.

Whew. There was more than we thought.

So what did Bush say? That Gonzales is a man of "integrity, decency and principle," that he "aggressively and successfully pursued public corruption" (we think the president meant the prosecution of public corruption, but who can be sure?) and that he was the victim of "unfair treatment."

The only unfair treatment related to Gonzales was what he dished out, to the fired U.S. attorneys, and to the Constitution itself. Good riddance.

"I don’t recall." – Gonzales, under oath, to Congress. A lot.