The most progressive and ardent statewide Democrat in the State of Delaware is …
Beau Biden??? Who would have thunk it?
Attorney General Beau Biden says he will oppose the merger of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware and Pittsburgh-based Highmark Inc. unless regulators require Blue Cross to set aside $45 million to pay for programs that support uninsured Delawareans.
Biden’s office acknowledges that it does not have veto power over the deal. It will push for the condition at public hearings scheduled for next month.
Still, Biden’s demand, which has irked insurance regulators charged with approving or denying the deal, comes after earlier failed attempts to set up a foundation for uninsured Delawareans as a part of the deal. This time around, Biden expressed his position in a letter last week to lawyers for Blue Cross and Highmark.
“For more than 75 years, Delawareans have invested in BCBSD by granting it the tax favorable status of a not-for-profit corporation,” Biden wrote. The deal, which will result in Highmark controlling Blue Cross, “places the public investment at risk of being diverted for other purposes,” he added.
Couple this with his stand against the proposed settlement with banks over dubious foreclosure practices without adequate investigation, where he and New York AG Schneiderman have formed a coalition of prosecutors ready to take on the big banks, and I think Beau Biden is overdue for some respect.
One problem with progressives and why we are not more successful is that our instinct is not to reward good behavior but to punish impurity and past transgressions.
AGREED! Biden is a breath of fresh air. It is wonderful to have the emails cross my inbox almost daily extolling his stance on bank fraud.
I got this one the other day from the Progressive Change Campaign Committee –
Hi, this is Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway. I wanted to make sure you heard about an important issue.
The same Wall Street banks whose irresponsible actions led to our nation’s economic collapse are now pressuring all 50 states to give them legal immunity. The banks want to block any criminal or civil accountability for actions that have yet to be investigated.
Attorneys General from Delaware, Minnesota, Nevada, and New York have been fighting back. Today, I want to make a clear statement in support of Wall Street accountability and against immunity for banks — and I ask you to join me on this statement:
“Today’s economic crisis was caused by Wall Street acting improperly. Every American has paid the price — with families losing their homes, investors losing their money, and many Americans losing their jobs. There should be absolutely no criminal or civil immunity given to banks for activity that has not yet been investigated.”
If you agree, add your voice to this statement by clicking here — so America hears our voices together.
http://act.boldprogressives.org/sign/petition_conway/?akid=5250.185326.XgB0YM&rd=1&source=e1-conway-petition-6mo-ty&t=4
Frankly, all elected leaders owe it to their constituents to take this position. If we speak up together, more and more of them will.
Now all Beau has to do is uncontort himself and require Tony DeLuca to make his DOL timesheets public. Until Beau does that, I’m nowhere near ‘all-in’. Progressives should not be in the business of protecting the Delaware Way.
“One problem with progressives and why we are not more successful is that our instinct is not to reward good behavior but to punish impurity and past transgressions.”
Oh, please. Do you think for one moment that, if elected to the Senate, Beau wouldn’t change his tune and sing for the banks just like his daddy did?
I also have a long list of other things I’d like Beau to do, but this is good news and a good portent for the future. It would have cost Beau nothing to just let it be.
He’s doing better, but I’m nowhere near genuflecting or humping literature door to door.
I’m not near “humping literature door to door”, but I might hang out at the airport and ask complete strangers “Would you like to know the Truth?”
So Beau is against something that he doesn’t have a say in? Hmmmm. What does Beau have to lose here?
What Beau has to lose is getting on the bad side of the insurance companies, who can make all sorts of mischief for his political career if they want.
I suppose he might be opposing the merger with a wink and a nudge to the insurance companies, but even I am not cynical enough to think that – yet.
“What Beau has to lose is getting on the bad side of the insurance companies, who can make all sorts of mischief for his political career if they want.”
How?
Come on, Geezer – the usual stuff. Funding opponents, funding attack ads, withdrawing contributions to Beau himself, coordinated PR attacks from insurance execs, funding oppo research, etc. Plus all sorts of stuff you probably know more about than I do.
There is no guarantee that scenario would play out, but even so Beau has no reason to risk it. Why poke the bear, unless you really believe it is the right thing to do?
We should thank Beau for standing up to the banksters. But when he is going to stand up for the gulag state prison run by Carl Danberg?
Puck, I disagree with you entirely. For any of that to have an effect, the politician must have opponents. Beau Biden will not be primaried by any Democrat — the party is too eager to use the Biden name to its advantage — and Delaware has no functional GOP. So to what end would the insurance companies spend all that money? And why would any other insurance company have any skin in a game that affects only Blue Cross/Blue Shield? BC/BS is in a situation unique to itself. There will be no fallout.
And the banks are well aware that when they come calling, the next Sen. Biden will be all ears.
I think a big part of the reason for the demise of the Delaware GOP is that Republican donors are already getting everything they want from Democrats. And they are smart enough to know they would be worse off under the current batch of Republicans.
I’ll add that when the Treasurer actually tried to make some waves doing things that weren’t strictly in his wheelhouse he summarily dismissed for reaching outside of his office. I wonder why Beau is different?
Good point, LG… whose job is it to protect Delaware’s past investment in BC/BS? It is a public fiduciary issue and not really a legal issue, right?
“whose job is it to protect Delaware’s past investment in BC/BS? It is a public fiduciary issue and not really a legal issue, right?”
Please define what exactly that “investment” is?
Beau is right. Too bad your insurance commissioner didn’t make that case, but wanted the money in slush fund for her department. Where are you General Assembly?
While the media has concentrated on Attorney General Biden’s request that BCBSD reserves be used to help provide medical insurance coverage for uninsured Delawareans, attention should be focused on the Attorney General’s continued opposition to the proposed merger with Highmark.
While the request serves a need, the issue remains the negative consequences of the eventual loss of BCBSD to an out-of-state company. We also must not lose sight of the argument that Blue Cross needs the affiliation in order to “upgrade” its computer system and that the cost of such an upgrade seems to go up every time it is mentioned. Even if the cost is the nearly $100 million it is getting close to being, BCBSD can afford that expense out of its existing reserves, leaving a balance still far in excess of the minimum needed. These “reserves” are nothing more than excess premium dollars paid by consumers and transferred into a reserve account so that the company can remain “not-for-profit”
Citizens of Delaware must continue to oppose this merger as we near the day the day the Insurance Commissioner alone will decide whose interests she really feels the obligation to protect.
He makes my skin crawl. I met him once at a party back when he was running for AG. I was still an ardent Dem and completely enamored with the Bidens at the time. I can’t remember exactly what I said to him, but it was something about the race or the political climate at the time. It was just small talk – nothing of real substance. He handed me a business card and said, ‘I’d love to meet for coffee sometime to discuss it further’ in such a cheesy, slick-politician manner. Even though I (foolishly) swooned over the Biden brand, all I could see was plastic. He came off as incredibly insincere and full of himself the entire evening. Not impressed at all. At least his dad comes across as a man with a bit of humility.
I have criticized the AG here numerous times for totally botch some murder and rape cases. However, I give him tons of credit here for making this stand.
Dominque, I have never met him, but losing your Mom as a kid and having a Senator for a Dad is going to cause some insecurity which he may be over-compensating for.
And maybe he really did want to meet you for coffee.
“He makes my skin crawl.”
Yeah, but so does holy water, so go figure.
Puck wins for Comment of the Day.
Yeah, Dominique is now a rabid racist teabagger Palin supporter, and never was an ardent Dem. So undoubtedly she is lying now, like all racist teabaggers.
hold on. Did a1 just offer a thoughtful, rational explanation for something a tad questionable that a politician did?
you feelin alright man?
Yeah, and speaking of Bankster fraud, the Wall Street protests have an interesting story this morning about the cop who pepper-sprayed one of the peaceful marcher-ladies in the face. He is also named in a Bush era civil rights violation – from http://www.memeorandum.com/
Karen McVeigh / Guardian: Occupy Wall Street: ‘Pepper-spray’ officer named in Bush protest claim — Anthony Bologna, NYPD officer named in pepper-spray incident, is accused of civil rights violations at the time of the 2004 Republican national convention protests — A senior New York police officer accused …
FreeSpeechForPeople.org. New field director came to Delaware last week to meet with Beau to urge him to revoke the corporate charter of Massey Energy the coal mine company that caused the deaths of 29 miners one year ago. They brought 35,000 petitions signed by Appalachian Voices, Rainforest Action Network and Credo.
We urge everyone to contact Beau and tell him its time to reign in this coal mining operator who knowingly cut the safety rules and regulation, turned off the equipment that would have alerted the miners they were in danger. This corporate thug has several unsafe coalmines all over WVA, KY and Pa. Join us to deliver a message from Delaware citizens that we support revoking the Charter of Massey Energy. Its the least we can do.
Mitch: Citizens of Delaware are ready for a Delaware Single Payer Health Care System, just like Vermont is putting in place. Eventually every state will go to single payer as the for profit health care system is outdated, inefficient and out dated.
‘Yeah, Dominique is now a rabid racist teabagger Palin supporter, and never was an ardent Dem. So undoubtedly she is lying now, like all racist teabaggers.’
WTF are you talking about, you piece of shit? What an incredibly irresponsible, libelous statement that is completely without merit. How am I racist? Oh, wait…is it because I didn’t vote for Obama? Well, that’s rational. When have I ever proclaim my allegiance to the Tea Party? Did you skip half of your law school classes or just your meds, you bipolar imbecile???
What possible motivation would I have to lie? Is my opinion of him or my retelling of the story going to hurt him in some way or even sway opinions in this fucking echo chamber? Jesus. It was a party a friend of mine held at the WCC. She is a close friend of Beau’s wife, so they were both there. NOT THAT I OWE YOU AN EXPLANATION.
Seriously, DD. I see brief flashes of a normal human mind in your FB comments. BRIEF. But then you spew your rabid bullshit here. You really need to seek therapy. Or a fucking lobotomy.
FTR, I’m a registered Republican. I have NEVER attended a Tea Party event. Of all of the GOP candidates, Huntsman is the one I relate to the most. Assuming he doesn’t get the nod, I will happily support Romney.
Fuck you, asshole. Seriously. I’m so done with your bullshit. I post a benign comment about how I’m not a fan of Beau Biden’s because of an encounter I had with him – I even complimented his father. I didn’t attack you, your feeble fucking mind, your pigheaded closed-minded opinions, your obvious Napoleon complex or your general fucktardedness. Yet you couldn’t resist the temptation to come after me personally.
Jesus Fucking Christ. I usually try to limit my interaction with morons to snarky comments, but you could bring the bitch out of Mother Fucking Teresa, you stupid piece of shit. Do us all a favor and get meds or get laid. Seriously.
Anonone – You’re probably right about the root of his possible insecurity.
Shark week?
i used to not be able to stand Beau…met him years ago whenhis oldest was a bay and for yeas tstudiously avoided him. saw no depth no drive no passion…just all politician…with a little snake oil mixed in.
then i got passionate about an issue…and called him out at a bad time and place.
to his credit…he got into with me…not too many want to go there and pushed back…hard.
to this day i respect him for it and we have a very positive relatiomship. one might think an exchange such as we had would go south quickly..it did not .
i saw him as his own man for the first time and now will actually listen to him and not dismiss him out of hand.
he is coming into his own and i hope he continues to live up to the promise i see in him. he won my support fairly….by earning it.
if he looses it…trust me…i will let him know when and why. i found he is the type to appreciate the candor
just dont expect him to pander to u…he wont.
aoine-As Gordon Lightfoot sang: ” You can’t jump a jet plane like a freight train”.