These past years have been hard on everyone. Employment is out of control, homelessness is rampant and worse yet Rick Scott is the governor of our state. I just don’t like the man, and there are plenty of reasons any sane person would have grounds to question his intents and who he may be in bed with, leading him to make the decisions he’s making. Either he is incredibly smart in this vision he has, or there are a lot of questions to be answered. I make no excuses for my feelings. I don’t think he is good for Florida. So do numerous people of the state in his party.
Among them, is the question of his fraud case. I don’t understand how a man that had to pay the government so much money, is our governor. Perhaps it involves his taking the fifth seventy – five times during the investigation. But I hear you say, Lee, the fifth is a right and doesn’t he have that right like anyone else. I’m glad you asked.
Let’s talk about the Fifth Amendment. First off, taking the fifth can in no way be used to imply guilt. That’s its purpose. I am sure there are times where this can be used in some strange circumstances where a person feels threatened by the way things look, although they are completely innocent. That is the real purpose of the Fifth Amendment. The good part of the amendment is that “shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.” Fair enough, but it’s a good way to not perjure yourself.
In 2000 Scott gave a deposition where he did indeed invoke the Fifth Amendment 75 times. The kicker here, which some people think absolves him, is the deposition was not with the fraud case but with a civil case involving a breach of contract with Nevada Communications. They actually never even questioned the CEO of ten years the first time. The federal government somehow chose to overlook questioning what he might know about the Medicare charges. It just seems really, really strange they would not have sat the man down for a come to Jesus session.
I don’t care who you are, that should make you ask questions, or at least set off a couple of red flags.
The other side of this story is this. The civil suit was used, in my opinion, to mask any evidence that could be used against him, not in the civil suit, but in the fraud investigation. Here is a quote from Rick Scott’s attorney. This is what he answered to the very simple question of whether Scott was employed. “Under normal circumstances, Mr. Scott would be pleased to answer that question and other questions that you pose today,” Scott’s lawyer, Steven Steinbach, said. “Unfortunately because of the pendency of a number of criminal investigations relating to Columbia around the country, he’s going to follow my advice, out of prudence, to assert his constitutional privilege against giving testimony against himself.” Seventy–five invocations of the Fifth Amendment later, the deposition was over.
Through a little research I found out the Fifth Amendment really became a powerful tool in 1956. Here’s a great example of a great use of the Fifth Amendment. This is its true purpose.
A gentleman, who just happened to be a professor at Brooklyn College got dragged before the U.S. Senate Committee during the infamous McCarthy hearings. That man’s name was Harry Slocower.
McCarthy seemed to think Slocower was a communist. For those of you that don’t know or remember the McCarthy hearings, they were an overwhelming effort to eliminate any communist thinking among the citizens of the U.S. Anyone suspected of such tendencies was brought before the hearings and grilled.
Slochower would have none of it and pleaded the fifth. To him, it was no one’s business, and to be truthful, it was no one’s business. The Supreme Court agreed. He had taken the Fifth Amendment and as a result he had gotten fired by the college.
The statement released by the Supreme Court cleared up their feelings. The court said no way. He could not be fired for invoking constitutional rights given to him. “The privilege against self-incrimination would be reduced to a hollow mockery if its exercise could be taken as equivalent either to a confession of guilt or a conclusive presumption of perjury,” the court wrote in the Slochower case.
“If this was a criminal prosecution I would not refer to his invocation of the Fifth Amendment, but that’s not what we’re talking about,” Justice McAuliffe said. “This is not a criminal prosecution. It’s the political process and he has put himself out there to be vetted by voters. They’re the jury in this case.”
So okay, we shouldn’t judge but my wheels yet turn. Let’s add this.
Scott started Columbia in 1987 by buying two El Paso hospitals. I have to give the man credit, he broke out and it became one of the nation’s largest chains. He merged with HCA out of Tennessee in 1994 and added another 100 hospitals.
Ten years after his start federal agents started an investigation of Columbia/HCA. Medicare and Medicaid fraud weren’t the only allegations. In July of 1997 Scott resigned. I find that interesting. From the outside looking in, it appears he took the money and ran. Certainly, there is no proof of that, I am sure, but seriously, how does it look?
To his credit however, he did say he wanted to fight the federal charges but Columbia/HCA settled for an amazing amount of $840 million in criminal fines and civil damages. Another $881 million fine was paid for the same thing in 2002. Grasp this…that is $1.72 billion…with a “B”.
This is the first in a series I plan to write. I am open and honest that I don’t like this man and my personal question is how did he get elected? Oh…I remember…he bought it. In my very personal opinion, from money he stole from our taxes.
The elephant in the room may be sticking his nose in places where it may not be welcome, but let’s face it, if I don’t, who will?
