Sen. Evan Bayh will work very hard to defeat meaningful healthcare legislation

[Vinnie From Indy]

One need look no further than his wife Susan's position on the board of Wellpoint. Wellpoint is one of the largest healthcare insurers and based in Indy. She recently left the board of directors at the company. She was paid over 300k for her "work" as a board member. Here is a snippet of an Indy Star article last month about the Bayh's financial interests.

"Susan Bayh owns from $500,001 to $1 million in employee stock in WellPoint, the Indianapolis-based insurance giant on whose board she sits. She also owns stock or stock options in Emmis Communications, Golden State Foods, Curis, Dendreon, and Dyax, on whose boards she sits, and MDRNA and E-Trade Bank."

More at:
http://www.indystar.com/article/20090613/NEWS05/906130414

In short, I have never believed any politician that tells me that they can take obscene amounts of money from industries and not be influenced. It is one of the oldest and greatest lies ever told by politicians.

I also think that all members of Conngress should be forced to wear corporate logo patches of their largest donors on their suits when they are in session.

[babylonsister]

1. Rec'd. I didn't know that about his wife. I'm not surprised. nt

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

2. Then he should recuse himself from discussion and vote, shouldn't he?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6006590&mesg_id=6006590

Sigh . . .

[bobbolink]

16. Should be FORCED-- Conflict of Interest!!

WHY oh WHY aren't there laws prohibiting this shit????

:grr:

[Mind_your_head]

3. Well, there's another congresscritter, Evah Bayh, who OBVIOUSLY has to GO....

he won't represent his constituent's interests, by his obvious "conflict of interests" with his wife's connections....

So, Bye-bye Bayh!

(Good riddance to bad rubbish!)

[kenfrequed]

17. An irritating pseudo-moderate

I have been wanting this conservadem to retire for a long time.

[Old and In the Way]

4. Conflict of Interest.

5th rec....I hope this gets the visibility it deserves.

[bvar22]

5. Evan Bayh is up for re-election in 2010.

The Left should organize Nationally and target Bayh for a Liebermanesque unseating in his primary.
70% of ALL Americans (including those in Bayh's district) support a strong Public Option.

If we organize, we can send Bayh (and ALL Repub-lites/DLC/Blue Doggers) a very strong message in 2010.

[Sebastian Doyle]

11. Hopefully they have a law in Indiana (as they do in most states)

That will KEEP Bayh out of the race once he loses the primary. And he won't be able to form a fictional party like Holy Joe did, and regain his seat with DLC funding and Repuke votes.

[bertman]

6. Are there any of those bastards and bastardesses who do not feather the bed of their family

while they're on the public payroll?

This kind of shit is infuriating. Sadly, we can only look to the good folks of Indiana to hold this sleazy asshole's feet to the fire.

Recommend.

[me b zola]

7. I am all in favor of corporate sponsorship patches for congress

...and defeating Bayh in the primaries of 2010.

[spanone]

8. i am of the belief that a great percentage of our congressfolks are corrupt as the day is long

[closeupready]

10. I completely agree. Probably between 75 and 80% are hardcore.

I would guess another 10-15% are borderline. Then there are those like Barbara Boxer, for example, :)

[DonCoquixote]

20. It's just like a jail or mental hospital

Even if you came in there innocent, you learn very quickly that if you want to live, you better start developing certain behaviors, especially the ability to lie and stab people in the back.

[Vidar]

9. K&R

[UTUSN]

12. What a disgrace to his parents. Him and Kookie ROBERTS. n/t

[UTUSN]

13. Anybody got an e-addy for him for me to tell him this: What a disgrace to your parents n/t

[nightrain]

14. just disgusting....

[Vinnie From Indy]

15. I made a mistake!

Susan Bayh is STILL a board member at Wellpoint. Wellpoint is a behemoth in the healthcare insurance industry. I believe it is one of the top three health insurers in the US. Anthem is one of their subsidiaries.

I should also add that I believe Evan will try and kill any real reform behind the scenes. His entire political career is hallmarked by his ability to appear all things to all people. He will do everything he possibly can to make sure that his fingerprints will not be on the dagger in the corpse of meaningful healthcare legislation. He knows the polls on healthcare better than we do here on DU you can be sure.

[DonCoquixote]

18. Evan Bayh

This guy is a bigger threat to the Democratic agenda than any GOP member. Why do I say that, because the GOP at the moment is like a castrated child molester; they may want to screw a victim over, but they can't. People like Bayh have the means, and worse yet, will prop up the GOP to help them.

[DonCoquixote]

19. Here is the deal

If you REALLY want to bust the two party monopoly, you won't do it by Voting Nader in 2012. The presidency was NEVER meant to the be one to set the agenda, and because Presidents from Washington to Bush have abused that, we forget that lesson we all should have learned in High School Civics. If you want to make changes, support candidates against the Blue Dogs. Granted, we might get a GOP, but unlike the presidency (where Obama's worst performance is still better than a president named John or Sarah would be) Congress will not show a radical changes if we lose a few Blue Dogs. Granted, if said Blue Dogs acted like Democrats for once, we might want to keep them, but they show no signs of doing so.