Idaho’s Brad Little and St. Luke’s Hospital Have a Quid Pro Quo
I’m shocked, shocked to find Governor Brad Little is beholden to big donors. Contributions to political campaigns aren’t secrets. For the last couple of months I’ve been telling you Little and his fellow establishment Republicans are bought and paid for by Idaho’s healthcare providers. It’s why they’ve been like whipped puppies when it comes to vaccine mandates for hospital staff. Have cash? Little will gladly perform something akin to a figurative Lewinsky!
Ed Humphreys is a Republican candidate for Governor. Earlier this week he told my audience his plan was to build a campaign on small donations. He believes it would make him more accountable to constituents. Under the current system, you’re second. Big agribusiness and the hospitals come before you.
Little hasn’t yet announced his re-election plans but in July he sucked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions. Putting him at a three to one advantage over his closest competitors.
In August the money continued rolling in. Including a personal contribution from Chris Roth according to Humphreys. The Chief Executive Officer at St. Luke’s cut a check for Little. Roth’s contribution is in the amount of $2,500, which if memory serves me right, is the personal maximum. The healthcare lobby is likely to funnel even more money in the direction of Little and the political action committees (PACs) working at the behest of the pharmaceutical companies will bathe him in additional cash.
The check from Roth was cut the day before St. Luke’s planned to fire workers refusing to take a COVID vaccine. Little is opposed to vaccine mandates proposed by President Biden but said he couldn’t interfere with private business decisions in Idaho. Which he did last year when he closed “non-essential” stores, restaurants and companies. Since then, Little has sent federal COVID relief money (which you’re on the hook to pay back) to hospitals whining about being overburdened.
Candidate Humphreys issued a statement. You can read a portion below. The italics are mine.
The status quo exists because certain well-connected groups benefit from it. While the elites are busy kissing one another’s proverbial ring, regular folks like us are starting to wake up to the reality of a political environment which has been corrupted.
Folks in the ruling class sneered when I publicly called for an investigation into the healthcare systems weeks ago. To them, it makes all the sense in the world to turn over hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to private organizations and not conduct any audits or due diligence.
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