Aurora Should Be Removed as Manager of Citizens/Montevue

George Wenschhof

A day of reckoning is approaching on the Frederick County government contract of sale of the Citizens Care and Rehabilitation Center and Montevue Assisted Care facilities to  Aurora Health Management.

Local attorney Leslie Powell of Powell-Flynn LLC tells me “we have a consolidated hearing in court on two separate actions that we filed in the Circuit Court on January 16.  One an administrative challenge relating to the adoption of the resolution authorizing the sale and the second, a broader action which raises claims relating to the restrictive covenant, the conduct of the BOCC in interfering with the Board of Trustees' management of the facilities, failure to comply with procurement rules, and other actions arising from the attempted sale.”

You can read them here and here.

This hearing cannot come soon enough for those exasperated with the reckless manner Frederick County board of commissioner president Blaine Young has pursued his obsession with the privatization of government services since he won election in 2010.

It has been a tortuous three years beginning with the serious consideration given to the ill conceived Oliver Porter privatization report, followed by dramatic slashing of funding to nonprofits, the elimination of $2 million in county funding for Head Start, reducing the number of county employees during a period of deep recession and high unemployment, and now taxpayers are faced with the haphazard and irresponsible approach to the selling of the Citizens Care and Rehabilitation Center and Montevue Assisted Care facilities.

The recent city zoning board of appeals ruling reversed the planning commission decision on the subdivision of the property, finding that the application was incomplete and the planning commission had not considered the impact of the sale on the community. This requires the county to either file a judicial appeal or resubmit subdivision plans to the city.  The latter is the most likely choice the county will make, and either way, this will definitely delay the planned end of the year settlement.

This ruling followed the Maryland Board of Public Works decision to delay approval of the sale, pending the outcome of litigation. The Board of Public Works confirmed their decision in spite of theatrics by Blaine Young to proffer them a check for $200,000.  

On January 16^th, don’t be surprised if the Judge hearing the arguments finds additional missteps taken by the county in their rush to sell these facilities.

For one, state law prohibits entering into a contract of sale on a lot subject to subdivision and the zoning board of appeals decision is an example of why this law exists.

The manner the county dismissed the board of trustees, entered into a management agreement with the contract purchaser and whether they provided due public notice are just a few of the areas where the county will have to withstand judicial review.

Perhaps the most important issue, is the 1828 deed of the property when conveyed to the county states "for the use and Benefit of the Poor of Frederick County". The Deed provides that the property was conveyed to the Justices of the Levy Court and their successors in office "forever, for the Benefït of the Poor of said County, and to and for no other use, intent or purpose whatsoever.. .".

It would not be surprising the judicial review on the 16^th doesn’t find additional administrative errors that will certainly delay the sale even further.

If the Judge rules the deed covenants restrict the sale to a company such as Aurora Health Management, the county’s only option will be to appeal and hope for a more favorable decision.

Either way, the contract of sale will be delayed for a considerable time period, with the distinct possibility the sale will be declared invalid by an upper court.

What is extremely troublesome is the contract purchaser continues to manage the facilities and receive a $50,000 per month fee as the legal wrangling takes place.  There is no incentive for Aurora to operate the facilities in the best interest of the county government and taxpayers during what is likely to be a considerable delay.

There is nothing to stop them from writing off delinquent debt to the county during this period and “cleaning” the books for when they become the owners.

What needs to be done immediately, as the likely long legal process takes its course, is the reinstatement of the board of trustees, notice given to the contract purchaser as provided in the contract, they will no longer manage the facilities and a bid issued or interim manager hired for the management of the Citizens/Montevue facilities.

Stay tuned.

---

Please donate today to Frederick Politics by clicking on a Donation Button in the right hand margin of page - Thank You!

Daily Political Wire

George Wenschhof

Affordable Care Act Will Cost Billions Less Than Expected - Over the next few years, the government is expected to spend billions of dollars less than originally projected on the law, analysts said, with both the Medicaid expansion and the subsidies for private insurance plans ending up less expensive than anticipated.

Economists broadly agree that the sluggish economy remains the main reason that health spending has grown so slowly for the last half-decade. From 2007 to 2010, per-capita health care spending rose just 1.8 percent annually. Since then, the annual increase has slowed even further, to 1.3 percent. A decade ago, spending was growing at roughly 5 percent a year.  The NY Times has more here.

---

Murray, Ryan Continue to Work on Budget Deal - Even though the Senate is out of session until next week, Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) will return to Washington this week for negotiations with Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the House budget panel’s chairman. 

The House plans to adjourn for the year on Dec. 13. Therefore, a deal must be reached soon if lawmakers are to vote on it before the Christmas break.

Conferees are trying to reach an agreement that could turn off some of the automatic spending cuts known as the sequester, which already started to go into effect this fiscal year on Oct. 1.

Patience among some conferees is wearing thin.

“There is no question that the budget conference should be moving at a faster pace.  House appropriators asked for a deal ‘by Dec. 2nd at the latest’ — and yet, almost seven weeks later, we still don’t have an agreement. This is simply unacceptable,” Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), one of the conferees, said Monday.  TheHill.com has more here.

---

Biden Urges China, Japan To Lower Tensions - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden called on Japan andChina to find ways to reduce tensions that spiked after Beijing proclaimed an air defense zone over disputed isles in the EastChina Sea, while repeating Washington was "deeply concerned" by the move.

The United States has made clear it will stand by treaty obligations that require it to defend the Japanese-controlled islands, but it is also reluctant to get dragged into any military clash between the Asian rivals.

"This action has raised regional tensions and increased the risk of accidents and miscalculation," Biden told a news conference alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

"This underscores the need for crisis management mechanisms and effective channels of communication between China and Japan to reduce the risk of escalation."  

He said he would raise U.S. concerns directly when he met Chinese leaders. Reuters.com has more here.

---

Please donate today to Frederick Politics by clicking on a Donation Button in the right hand margin of page - Thank You!

Daily Political Wire

George Wenschhof

Bank of America to pay $404 million to Freddie Mac to settle mortgage dispute - Bank of America said it settled all claims with Freddie Mac arising from residential mortgages sold to the government-backed housing agency through the end of 2009.

BofA will pay $404 million to settle claims related to loans sold to Freddie Mac from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2009, and to compensate for certain past losses and potential future losses relating to denials, rescissions and cancellations of mortgage insurance.The payments are fully covered by the company's reserves, BofA said in a statement on Monday.Last month, the U.S. government urged Bank of America to pay $863.6 million in damages after a federal jury found it liable for fraud over defective mortgages sold by its Countrywide unit.  Reuters.com has more here.

---

Smith to Challenge Shaheen in New Hampshire - Bob Smith, a former Republican senator from New Hampshire, decided to challenge incumbent Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) next year for his old seat. 

Smith told Manchester TV station WMUR that he previously stayed out of the race to allow room for other candidates. He said he gave into encouragement to run when no other major candidate materialized for the GOP. 

There are already two other Republicans in the race, according to WMUR: former state Sen. Jim Rubens and activist Karen Testerman. Prominent national Republicans also have been encouraging former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown to run for Shaheen's seat.  TPM.com has more here.

---
113th Congress Least Productive Ever - From the confirmation of a new Federal Reserve chairman to the expiration of dairy pricing rules, House and Senate leaders head into the final month of 2013 with a checklist that is short but critical. But even a final burst of activity would do little to change the historic arc of this calendar year under the Capitol dome.

According to congressional records, there have been fewer than 60 public laws enacted in the first 11 months of this year, so below the previous low in legislative output that officials have already declared this first session of the 113th Congress the least productive ever. In 1995, when the newly empowered GOP congressional majority confronted the Clinton administration, 88 laws were enacted, the record low in the post-World War II era.  The Washington Post has more here.

---
Online Voter Registration Expands to 15 States - To date, 15 states that have put in place online voter registration, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts. Five more states passed legislation allowing online registration, which Pew expects to be implemented in time for the 2014 midterms.

Wendy Underhill, program manager for the National Conference of State Legislatures, said she expects that by 2020 all states will allow online voter registration.

But when it comes to voting technology, the most important — and contentious issue — is whether to allow the delivery and return of ballots to and from voters electronically, either by fax or email or on a secure website.

According to NCSL, which is holding a panel on the Future of Elections at its annual meeting in D.C. this week, 32 states allow uniformed military service members and overseas citizens to return ballots electronically. The effort has been driven by the 2009 passage of the federal Military and Overseas Voters Empowerment Act, which requires states to have at least one electronic format to provide blank absentee ballots.

Alaska is currently the only state that allows all voters, not just those in the military or overseas, to return ballots electronically, and is the only state that has an online system to do so.  Politico.com has more here.

---

In the East China Sea, a Far Bigger Test of Power Looms - In an era when the Obama administration has been focused on new forms of conflict — as countries use cyberweapons and drones to extend their power — the dangerous contest suddenly erupting over a pile of rocks in the East China Sea seems almost a throwback to the Cold War.

Suddenly, naval assets and air patrols are the currency of a shadow conflict between Washington and Beijing that the Obama administration increasingly fears could escalate and that American officials have said could derail their complex plan to manage China’s rise without overtly trying to contain it. As in the Cold War, the immediate territorial dispute seems to be an excuse for a far larger question of who will exercise influence over a vast region.  The NY Times has more here.

---

Please donate today to Frederick Politics by clicking on a Donation Button in the right hand margin of page - Thank You!

Daily Political Wire

George Wenschhof



President Obama took part in Small Business Saturday by heading over to Politics and Prose, a locally-owned bookstore in Washington, D.C.

---

Health Care Website Website Fixes On Target - “With the scheduled upgrades last night and tonight, we're on target to meet our stated goal to increase capacity and for the site to work for the vast majority of users,” Aaron Albright, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services director of media relations, told The Hill in an email on Saturday.

Officials will brief reporters on progress during a conference call on Sunday morning. TheHill.com has more here.

---

Eye on 2016, Clintons Reach Out to African Americans - Since Mrs. Clinton left the secretary of state post in February, she and her husband have sought to soothe and strengthen their relationship with African-Americans, the constituency that was most scarred during her first bid for the presidency. Five years after remarks by Mr. Clinton about Barack Obama deeply strained the Clintons’ bond with African-Americans, the former first family is setting out to ensure that there is no replay of such trouble in 2016.

Mrs. Clinton used two of her most high-profile speeches, including one before a black sorority convention, to address minority voting rights — an explosive issue among African-Americans since the Supreme Court struck down part of the Voting Rights Actin June. A month after Mr. Gray’s funeral, Mrs. Clinton and her husband both asked to speak at the service for Bill Lynch, a black political strategist who is credited with the election of David N. Dinkins as mayor of New York, and stayed for well over two hours in a crowd full of well-connected mourners. And there have been constant personal gestures, especially by the former president.

“I think that this is an effort to repair whatever damage they felt may have been done in ’08,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton. Mr. and Mrs. Clinton “know that there are some who have lingering questions, if not antipathy, towards them,” Mr. Sharpton said.  The NY Times has more here.

---

Iran, World Powers to Meet on Details to Implement Nuclear Deal - Envoys of Iran and six world powers will meet next week to start working out steps to implement a deal under which Tehran is to curb its nuclear program in return for some respite from sanctions, a top Iranian negotiator said.

The landmark November 24 interim accord between the Islamic Republic and the United States, France, Germany, China, Russia and Britain is seen as a first step towards resolving a decade-old dispute that has stirred fears of a new Middle East war.  Reuters.com has more here.

---

Please donate today to Frederick Politics by clicking on a Donation Button in the right hand margin of page - Thank You!