(Fred Weinberg) – You know how you’ve been reading that Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval is presidential timbre because he’s wildly popular and competent?
Well, he’s not.
Any of those things, that is.
If you need some bright line evidence, look at how he has handled the near criminal acts—approaching defalcation—of the Xerox Corporation in its contract with the state’s health insurance exchange. And, keep in mind, he used to be a Federal Judge. (You might argue that Xerox is just not competent, but I would suggest that when a company takes $72-million tax dollars and delivers bupkis, they have embezzled the money.)
The first question which comes to mind is why a Republican Governor would have had his state be involved with its own exchange in the first place, but he did.
And, just like the standard we hold Barack Obama to, if you’re going to place the taxpayers on the line, you ought to at least do it competently.
The state hired Xerox to build the system. Did he make the decision? Let’s put it this way; nothing happens for $72-million of state money which he doesn’t have the final approval of.
You know Xerox. The company which technology has shoved out of the copier business. Xerox has reinvented itself as big data. At least, that’s what their salespeople told the state.
I, personally, tried to open an account on Nevadahealthlink.com October 1 of last year.
And I got the same response as Barack Obama’s Federal customers got.
When I called the toll free number, I was told by a “navigator” to wait a few weeks, that they were working on it.
Now the difference between me and maybe you is that I have a well manicured rolodex of phone numbers and some level of access because some people are scared of what my radio stations might choose to do if I get pissed off enough. (Like the episode of WKRP where Johnny Fever tells his listeners to put a bag of garbage on the Mayor’s lawn to get him to settle a garbage strike.)
I tried to get something done behind the scenes because I am past the point in my career where self-promotion is a virtue. That said, I know (and knew) damn well that a good plaintiff’s lawyer would find Xerox a juicy target and I could easily find that lawyer and get a class action suit on file.
But, silly me, I thought that Xerox might respond well to encouragement and only an implicit threat.
So, I wrote a letter to one of their outside directors and emailed it to him.
Two days later I got a call from the head of the business unit which has made a mess of the insurance exchange who assured me that they were committed to fixing things starting with my policy.
I explained to them that merely fixing my problem wasn’t enough.
I have learned over the years that what happens to me invariably is also happening to my listeners and readers and, since we now have a Spanish language station in Reno, many of them don’t speak English so well.
The only difference between me and my listeners and readers is my rolodex. And years of experience in the application of pressure.
Maybe Xerox has made such a mess of the project that it cannot be redeemed.
But you know what Governor Presidential Timbre has decided to do? Hire Deloitte for another million and a half dollars to fix it. On top of the $72-million he has already allowed to be pissed away with Xerox.
In the meantime, the news comes this past week of a guy in Las Vegas who has had a heart attack after the exchange not only told him he was insured but took his premium money.
Only the insurer says he wasn’t.
And now he owes $407,000 in medical bills.
And, wait for it, Xerox has lawyered up. Because they don’t want to pay, either.
The Governor (his initials are BS—really) doesn’t seem to realize that just as Barack Obama owns Obamacare, he owns Sandovalcare. That platitudes from him and another million and a half tax dollars won’t solve the problem. Plus nothing is being done to claw back the money already paid Xerox for the job it didn’t do.
This from a former Federal Judge who is auditioning to be the great Hispanic GOP hope.
Here’s some advice for Governor Presidential Timbre. Get mad. Do something. Show your constituents that you are not Barack Obama with a better suit.
Here’s some advice for Xerox: Peddle your bullshit somewhere else. Get ready to be stomped in court. Not by the state. No sane person is scared of either Barack Obama or Governor Presidential Timbre. But by mere citizens who have had enough.
As conservative as I like to think I am, there is a proper use of plaintiff’s attorneys…and THIS IS IT!