Governor Rick Scott and Doubts about Florida's Elections

by Nomad

In a recent two-post series, I examined the business career of Florida governor Rick Scott, a man who by most standards would be a very unlikely candidate for higher office. As founder and CEO of a healthcare company which was involved in the largest Medicare fraud in US history, Scott would seem to be unlikely to have aspired to anything higher than a bartender in some small town. Perhaps a born-again preacher.  And yet there he is today, governor of Florida. And ironically the only qualification for holding high office is his... erm.. business experience. 
Of the two questions that remained unanswered about Scott, the most perplexing was: How could such a person, with such a dubious background ever get elected? 

One person thinks he might have found the answer to that. David Kearns,  a former journalist for Florida Today newspaper covering police beat news, city and county government, and the environment, has investigated the suspicious goings-on in Florida's election system. After sorting through the complicated electronic balloting systems, he believes he may have found the method that has been been repeatedly used to rig the election results. 
If Kearns is correct, this audacious election fraud stretched all the way back to the hotly contested presidential election of 2000, which put George Bush in the White House.

The Rise and Fall of Businessman Rick Scott - 2/2

by Nomad

In Part One of this two-part series we took a close look at the rise of Rick Scott who, through its aggressive business tactics built the largest for-profit healthcare provider network.
Before the scandal which was to rock the company to its foundations, the corporation had grown to more than 340 hospitals, 135 surgery centers and 550 home health locations in 37 states and two foreign countries. 
And then, in a matter of months, it was out of Scott's hands.

Scott's Sudden Fall 

Scott's prestigious empire all came a-tumbling down when, on March 19, 1997, FBI agents, in conjunction with the Internal Revenue Service, the Health and Human Services (which oversees Medicare), and the Defense Department's Criminal Investigation Service raided Columbia/HCA facilities in El Paso, Texas. Eventually the seizure of documents regarding the case would expand across the country. At issue were allegations that Columbia/HCA had knowingly bilked Medicare and Medicaid.

The Rise and Fall of Businessman Rick Scott 1/2

Businessman Rick Scott, 
the Face of 
Corporate Healthcare

by Nomad

The story of Rick Scott's career before entering politics is a fascinating one. How a person with such a background would even consider the public scrutiny of a campaign show something about the audacity of the man.

When businessman Rick Lynn Scott decided to throw himself into the Florida governor’s race, he had one significant problem to deal with. 

As a candidate with absolutely no prior political experience, his sole qualification for being the Sunshine State’s governor was his shady history in business. 

A Very Aggressive Corporation

Before he lost his empire, Rick Scott had much to be proud of. At the young age of 34, he co-founded what was to become the largest private for-profit health care company in the US, Columbia Hospital Corporation. 

According to his supporters, Columbia was a wonderful example of how the free market system could be applied to health care, an idea that conservatives have gushed about for decades. Columbia, like Bain Capital, became known for its aggressive business tactics and since its founding had embarked on one of the most aggressive and successful buying and takeover sprees ever seen.