LTC Bullet: Roll
Call Exposes Sleazy CREW Wednesday, January 30, 2008 Asheville, North Carolina-- LTC Comment: Roll
Call, the highly respected Capitol Hill newspaper, investigated CREW
and found disreputable motives and tactics.
Vindication for the Center after the ***news.*** *** LTC TOUR INFO.
You'll find everything about the Center's 2008 LTC Wake-Up Tour
at www.centerltc.com.
View
the LTC TOUR SPONSOR PACKET including 2008 LTC Tour Sponsorship Levels.
SILVER BULLET PICTURES -- Size and Positioning of Sponsors'
Logos. 2008 LTC Tour
Calendar and Schedule. See
also: Sponsorship
Opportunity as Regional Representative, LTC Tour Media Coverage and
Subscribe to our YouTube channel -- See our LTC Tour videos. *** *** MORE MEDIA.
Special thanks to the Center for Long-Term Care Reform's
Asheville, NC Regional Representative David Hensley and his wife Carol
for their efforts to publicize the National Long-Term Care Consciousness
Tour. Because of their
initiative The Asheville Tribune published a story this week
about our new report on long-term care financing in North Carolina:
"Locke Study Shows Long-Term Care Costs Could Strain N.C.
Budget: Report Offers Tools
to Cope with Baby Boom Retirements." *** *** LTC TOUR RADIO.
Listen to the WLRN (FM 91.3) "Topical Currents" radio
show broadcast January 15 in Miami.
It featured Center president Steve Moses, "Fearless
Caregiver" Gary Barg, and the Center for Long-Term Care Reform's
Regional Representative in Miami George Braddock.
Check it out at http://207.145.75.57/audio/TC/2008/jan08/tc_01-15-08.mp3.
And special thanks to Regional Rep Braddock for his help getting
the Center's message of responsible LTC planning out to public radio
listeners throughout southern Florida. *** *** LTC TOUR VIDEOS.
Subscribe to the LTC Tour's very own YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/LTCconsciousnessTOUR.
Don't miss any of our videos from the LTC Tour.
Early broadcasts include Steve Moses explaining the Tour's
purpose, a home health care agency owner vowing to use LTCI instead of
Medicaid planning, and Regional Representatives of the Center talking
about their passionate support for the LTC Tour and the Center.
Special thanks to the Tour's marketing and public relations
consultant, Marilee Driscoll, well known author and speaker on long-term
care issues, for producing these clips. *** LTC BULLET: ROLL
CALL EXPOSES SLEAZY CREW LTC Comment: A
couple months ago, the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in
Washington (CREW) started popping up in Google alerts for the Center for
LTC Reform. CREW claimed
that I am a mouthpiece for LTC insurance carriers and that the Center is
a wholly-owned subsidiary of the LTC insurance industry.
CREW dusted off specious criticism first levied against the
Center by NAELA members years ago.
It urged Senator Grassley, the Senate Finance Committee and the
NAIC to investigate the Center for Long-Term Care Reform. Of course, nothing ever came of this cybernetic
slander. We never heard
word one from the Senator, the Committee or the NAIC.
Nevertheless, when a well-financed hate group decides to throw
mud on the internet, what can you do?
It's a logical impossibility to prove one's innocence. So groundless accusations hang out there making friends
wonder and opponents rejoice. How
can a small, family-run, lightly funded public policy advocacy
organization like the Center fight back against web-based bullies? We can't, of course, but big, credible, media
outlets like Roll Call can.
Last week a reporter from the newspaper called me.
He was baffled by CREW's attacks on the Center.
I explained that CREW's unfounded criticism and charges came from
Medicaid planners and others who bash private sector LTC solutions and
seek a government take-over of long-term care.
He said he'd found enough evidence to conclude that CREW's
attacks on the Center and others were "tantamount to legal
malpractice." Yesterday, Roll Call published an expose' of
CREW that revealed the radical group's richly endowed funding sources
and censured its methods and objectives.
As of this morning, the whole Roll Call article
("Watchdog, Donors Share Common Foes" by Paul Singer) was
still available free of charge at http://www.rollcall.com/issues/53_85/news/21796-1.html?type=pf.
A few snippets follow. Then
our comment on the irony of politically based criticism of the Center. ------------- "Several
news stories - in this newspaper as well as in The Washington Post,
The Wall Street Journal and others - have pointed out that much
of CREW's funding comes from liberal groups and big donors to Democratic
candidates and causes. And all but a handful of its complaints against
Members of Congress have targeted Republicans. . . . "On Sept. 1, 2006, CREW received $75,000 from
the SEIU [Service Employees International Union], according to documents
that the union filed with the Department of Labor. . . . "Like most CREW filings, the complaint the
organization filed with the DOJ against Musgrave was based on local news
stories, and the document contains no indication that CREW made
independent efforts to confirm the details. "Republicans complain that the overwhelming
majority of CREW’s targets are GOP officeholders or allied
organizations. CREW denies a partisan bias to its activities. . . . "Since there is no public process for
arbitrating ethics complaints or DOJ investigations, CREW can issue a
press release and there is no way for the target of the complaint to be
publicly exonerated. 'Where do you go to get your reputation back?'
asked Stefan Passantino, who served as counsel for then-Speaker Dennis
Hastert (R-Ill.), who was targeted by CREW. . . . "CREW also has lost most of its legal
expertise. Of the 13 staff members listed on the organization’s Web
site in December 2006, at least eight have left, and Roll Call
has identified three other staff members who have worked there and left
in the past year or so. While the 2006 staff included a chief counsel
position, two senior counsels and two counsels, only the chief counsel
still works at CREW, and no other staff member besides Executive
Director Melanie Sloan has a legal background, according to the CREW Web
site." ------------- LTC Comment: The irony of a leftist hit-group attacking the Center for LTC Reform as if we were a conservative advocacy organization is rich. The Center's objective is to save Medicaid as a long-term care safety net for the poor. We fight against the lawyers who misappropriate Medicaid to benefit their affluent clients. We fight against organizations that undercut Medicaid by opposing new private sector revenues to shore up the struggling public assistance program. Saving Medicaid is a fairness issue. Political parties and ideologies don't matter. What's important is that scarce public welfare resources go to people in need and that others, who are affluent, healthy and young enough, plan responsibly for long-term care. Let's all pull together, whatever our political preferences, to save Medicaid for people in need and encourage responsible long-term care planning for those who are able. |