HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius: a trusted Capo in the ObaMafia

Even after weeks of continued scandal fallout, the Media & the Democrats (“buy one/get the other FREE!“) are still largely trying to downplay the worst aspects of Obama’s Scandal Complex. They’ve referred to the all of the varied and scandalous incidents as ranging from “silly” and “laughable“, to “stupid“, to mere “kerfuffles“. Some are not worth discussing since they happened “a long time ago“, while others are simply “no big deal“.

Uh, huh. Got it.

How “silly” of us to think otherwise.

—-

Regardless, ever so slowly these incidents are taking hold in the public consciousness, even without any real assistance being given to them by the Dinosaur Press. Yet with much of that attention centered on Benghazi, the AP/Fox News phone records, the NSA snooping and the IRS’ indulgences and transgressions, the scandal which is remaining below the radar is the Kathleen Sebelius/HHS Shakedown.

And of all the current “Big” Scandals, I believe THIS to be the most indicative of how Obama’s Administration operates on a daily basis.

—–

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, having THE individual (who’s named in the Obamacare Law as having huge discretionary powers) call your office and ask politely for “donations” bears more than a passing resemblance to a Mafia protection racket:

“What is the difference between this, and Joey Two Toes stopping by your establishment to “suggest” you consider doing business with a particular vendor friend of his?

The inference is identical: do it, …or else.

In Sebelius’ case, I doubt anyone was thinking they’d be firebombed or beaten in the streets if they didn’t “volunteer” to contribute. But for a Fortune 100 CEO, the implied/perceived threat of not being able to conduct business (or outright failure) may have been arguably the same.“

And last week it became apparent that my guess was more than just “close” to being accurate.

From the New York Times:

Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), disclosed on Tuesday that she had made telephone calls to three companies regulated by her department and urged them to help a nonprofit group promote President Obama’s health care law.

At a hearing of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Ms. Sebelius said she did not explicitly ask the companies for money, but urged them to support the work of the nonprofit group, Enroll America.

“…urged…?”

Yeah, I’m sure the companies felt no undue pressure about being “urged” by this particular individual.

Oh, I almost forgot:

Ms. Sebelius said that she had made a total of five calls soliciting support for Enroll America, and that she did not know if anyone else in her department had also done so.

She said she “never discussed” the solicitations with anyone at the White House.

Why, that goes almost without saying: of COURSE she never discussed anything with anyone, ever, at the White House. Why would she? NO ONE seems to discuss ANYTHING with the White House, which just goes to further bolster my earlier Mafia comparison.

As you’ll no doubt recall, the term for this is “omerta“: the code of silence where no one says anything and no one knows anything, so the people who really matter can keep their hands shiny and clean.

At its heart, this is straight forward “pay to play”, being enforced with the Boot of Government … which is obviously morally wrong. But to Ms. Sebelius’ chagrin, the more that this gets reviewed, it appears as if it was wrong LEGALLY, too.

From the Washington Free Beacon:

Sebelius told Congress on Tuesday that she asked the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to contribute to a nonprofit organization that is working to implement President Barack Obama’s healthcare law. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation holds 13 million shares of Johnson & Johnson stock valued upwards of $1 billion, making the foundation one of the pharmaceutical company’s largest shareholders.

Sebelius testified that she had asked RWJF and H&R Block for funds and had talked to Johnson & Johnson, Ascension Health, and Kaiser Permanente about the program but had not asked them for funds. She said she did not solicit funds from any entities under her regulatory authority.

However, former White House chief ethics counsel Richard Painter said RWJF’s large investment in Johnson & Johnson, a company under Sebelius’ regulatory purview, makes the foundation a “prohibited source” that she cannot solicit money from under government ethics rules.

“[The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation] might as well be Johnson & Johnson so far as the ethics rules on solicitation are concerned,” Painter, who served as President George W. Bush’s ethics counsel from 2005 to 2007, told the Washington Free Beacon. “The HHS secretary can’t ask them for money.”

And yet, she did.

Funny how with this bunch in power, all sorts o’ stuff that shouldn’t happen somehow manages to just keep happening…?

So for your viewing enjoyment, here’s a clip of the Woman Of The Hour herself, as she attempts to explain to all us dunderheads how ridiculous we’re being. I mean, who could possibly misconstrue this as a shakedown by the Government Mafia?

Yeah, we’re just being “silly”…

—–