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The Brinks truck just made a few more deliveries to proponents of the half-cent sales tax

September 30, 2013 by jimmycsays

Taking up where we left off last Thursday…

The Committee for Research, Treatments and Cures is now up to $907,500 in campaign contributions.

Since Thursday, the committee reported four contributions totaling $127,500, to augment the $780,000 that the committee had reported previously.

(Contributions of $5,000 or more must be reported to the Missouri Ethics Commission within 48 hours of receipt.)

If you will recall, there had been no contributions of less than $10,000. Now, there’s one: The law firm Stinson Morrison Hecker gave $7,500. Cheapskates.

Other recent contributions:

St. Luke’s Foundation, $10,000
Children’s Mercy Hospital, $100,000
William Gautreaux, a top officer at Inergy LP, $10,000.

Inergy’s chairman and c.e.o., John G. Sherman, gave $100,000 earlier.

(For your convenience, I have listed all the earlier contributions at the bottom of this post.)

Of course, St. Luke’s Health System and Children’s Mercy are two of the establishments — along with UMKC — that would reap hundreds of millions of dollars from the proposed half-cent sales tax for “translational medical research.” Election Day is Nov. 5.

It makes perfect sense that St. Luke’s and Children’s Mercy would put up tens of thousands now to ensure millions later. The capper would be if UMKC, a state-funded school, somehow weighed in with a contribution.

You have to ask yourself what some of these companies and individuals expect to get in return for their deep-pocketed support of the tax proposal.

Allow me to hazard a couple of educated guesses:

:: The new Translational Medicine Institute of Jackson County would have its home on Hospital Hill, and the Hall Family Foundation, along with individual family members, has pledged $75 million to build it (provided that voters approve the tax). Some company is going to have to construct the building, right? Hmmmm…I wonder which construction firm that would be? Oh, yeah, JE Dunn, which, as you can see below, has given $100,000 to the campaign committee. (The institute would be run by Board of Directors that would not have to award projects to the “lowest and best” bidders.)

:: At least three other boards would be involved in overseeing the institute or keeping an eye on the Board of Directors, so, naturally, a lot of legal contracts and ongoing representation would be needed. Who might the board turn to? Why, I’m sure they’d consider Wagstaff & Cartmell, Husch Blackwell and the Polsinelli firm to be fine, fine candidates. (And none of those law firms should worry; there’ll be plenty of business to go around.)

:: I would think these “rock star” researchers that are to be hired would need a lot of insurance, just in case, say, they came up with some treatments that ended up harming people…Well, hey, hey, lookie here! We have Lockton insurance to provide coverage. (The armada of lawyers also would jump into action, of course.)

Oh, my…All the money and all the possibilities make my head spin.

But, wait a minute, are any of these wheeler dealers thinking about the thousands of Jackson County residents who are not making enough money to qualify for Medicaid coverage but who would have to pay an extra $5 or so each month in sales taxes?

Apparently not.

Oh, and thanks so much to the Missouri General Assembly for refusing in this year’s session to expand Medicaid, even though the federal government would have picked up the tab.

If the legislature had voted to expand Medicaid, many of those who are not making enough money to qualify would, indeed, be picked up by Medicaid.

It all makes me reflect on the quote that the Rev. John Wandless, a member of our Committee to Stop a Bad Cure, gave me recently:

“The one percent is always ready to tax poor people.”

***

Here are the earlier contributions to the Committee for Research Treatment and Cures:

– Wagstaff & Cartmell law firm, $10,000
– Husch Blackwell law firm, $10,000
– Irvine O. Hockaday Jr., former Hallmark Cards c.e.o., two contributions of $10,000 each
– Robert Kipp, former Kansas City city manager and former Crown Center Development president, $50,000.
– Tom McDonnell, retired DST c.e.o., $25,000
– Dr. L. Patrick James, board member of the Kansas city Area Life Sciences Institute, $10,000
– St. Luke’s Health System, $10,000
– KCP&L, $25,000
– Polsinelli law firm, $10,000
– John Sherman, chairman and c.e.o. of Inergy LP, $100,000
– Hallmark Global, $100,000
– J.E. Dunn Construction, $100,000
– The Civic Council of Greater Kansas City,  two contributions of $100,000 each
– Lockton Insurance, $10,000
– Donald Hall, $100,000

***

Be sure to see the latest post — “KC Area Already Awash in Medical Research Dollars” — on the stopabadcure.org website.

(New posts go up frequently, keeping the presses running almost continuously.)

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Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

8 Responses

  1. on September 30, 2013 at 3:22 pm Jayson

    Wow, this is getting to be serious shit what with all these heavy hitters throwing a few poker chips into the game. Always wondered what was missing from the local newspaper. Great reporting!


    • on September 30, 2013 at 3:41 pm jimmycsays

      For my first 20 years or so at The Star, we used to run almost run the names of everyone who gave more than $100 or so to any campaign. Over time, as the amount of space dedicated to politics shrank and the effort to save newsprint grew, we started giving short shrift to campaign contributions.

      Happy to provide that here. Who gives and how much are very important. That kind of information can predict the future, as I tried to do here.


  2. on September 30, 2013 at 6:11 pm Larry Luper

    $800 million is serious *hit! And in this case it is thievery.
    We subsidize R&D for medical institutions and pharmaceutical companies like this all of the time. I have a Niece who is in the business and she has loosely discussed monetary figures the medical giant she works for receives. It is astounding.
    It is much more than the $40 million-a-year we are opposing here.
    A doctor told me the pharmaceuticals and insurance companies (banks) will profit most from the ACA debacle. I am not against helping, and I do, besides taxes..
    I wish we had the wealth to oppose the tax. Yael A. is on our side. Or he hinted that on KCPT’s Ruckus, aired 09/26/13. Hopefully we can get some help from decent reporting people will realize this tax is crazy.
    I am in the fight until the end.


    • on September 30, 2013 at 10:24 pm jimmycsays

      A dedicated committee member you are, Larry — “…fight until the end.”


  3. on October 2, 2013 at 10:48 am Elaine

    Thank God someone is following the money trail. I am not a Jackson County voter but work in the health care field and have grave concerns about asking for so much money from the taxpayers without knowing what the money will be used for. What specific research studies will be funded? Where are their budgets? You cannot ask for a blank check from the taxpayers. Keep up the good work on reporting this information!


    • on October 2, 2013 at 10:54 am jimmycsays

      Thanks, Elaine…I wish you were voting in Jackson County.

      For much more information on the deeply flawed tax proposal, see our campaign committee’s website ..http://stopabadcure.org/


  4. on October 2, 2013 at 11:23 am Elaine

    Keep digging. There is more to the story.


  5. on October 2, 2013 at 5:01 pm chuck

    Get ’em buddy!!



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