[HCCN] new speaker of the Me House

[Dexter Bellows]

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/11/19/921959/-New-Maine-GOP-House-Speaker-Stole-$1.6M-from-Taxpayers


" This month Maine voters elected a Tea Party governor (thanks to a 3- 
way race) and turned control of the State House over to the  
Republicans for the first time in 30 years. Governor-elect  LePage got  
a lot of support by railing against able-bodied "welfare cheats" who  
supposedly are draining the coffers of the Maine treasury.
So, in their first major action post-election, who do the Republicans  
elect as the new House Speaker?  A certain Robert Nutting. Mr. Nutting  
owned a pharmacy and several years ago was at the center of  
"Diapergate" - a scheme where his store overbilled MaineCare, the  
state and federally-funded  Medicaid program, by $1.6 million.



True's Pharmacy, which Nutting owned from 1970 until it closed in  
2003, was found to have overbilled the state-and-federal program by  
about $1.6 million for sales of adult incontinency products, such as  
diapers and bed liners, according to an audit in 2001. Nutting was a  
member of the Legislature at the time.

Unable to repay the money fast enough, the company went into  
bankruptcy and its assets were liquidated, leaving nearly $1.2 million  
in remaining debt, according to state records obtained by MaineToday  
Media. That balance was wiped out in the bankruptcy, and the state and  
federal governments were forced to absorb the loss.

This is the face of the Maine GOP's commitment to fiscal  
responsibility: take from the hated "government" and then use the  
protection of the courts in order to avoid paying your debts....."
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