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Bribing officials for Medicaid money; Suhl case goes farther than latest indictment
By Max Brantley on Fri, Dec 4, 2015 at 7:32 AM
The indictment yesterday of Ted Suhl, whose mental health care companies received $135 million just since 2009 in Arkansas, illustrates sharply corruption at the highest levels of Arkansas government.
Two men, including a former state legislator and high Department of Human Services official, Steven Jones, have pleaded guilty to taking bribes from Suhl to bring him advantage in in-patient and out-patient counseling services. His method of operation could help explain why he got away for so long with questionable practices detailed over the years in Arkansas Times reporting. This included alleged improper use of physical punishment, religious-based programs and undue influence on high political officials, won through heavy campaign contributions and currying favor with people like Gov. Mike Huckabee, who was flown around on Suhl's private plane.
The news of Suhl's indictment brought numbers of comments on Twitter yesterday from people who said they'd tried to blow the whistle on Suhl but were ignored or silenced in DHS. These are only Twitter allegations, but the circumstantial evidence of his power over the agency has been present for years, as reporting for us by Mary Jacoby, Leslie Peacock and others illustrated long ago.
The question of political influence over DHS comes up all too often — most recently in the conduct of state Rep. Justin Harris, who regularly used his political influence with DHS officials. His influence helped him win an adoption of children that turned tragically bad, so bad that what he finally did — giving away adopted children — has now been made a crime.
Two men, including a former state legislator and high Department of Human Services official, Steven Jones, have pleaded guilty to taking bribes from Suhl to bring him advantage in in-patient and out-patient counseling services. His method of operation could help explain why he got away for so long with questionable practices detailed over the years in Arkansas Times reporting. This included alleged improper use of physical punishment, religious-based programs and undue influence on high political officials, won through heavy campaign contributions and currying favor with people like Gov. Mike Huckabee, who was flown around on Suhl's private plane.
The news of Suhl's indictment brought numbers of comments on Twitter yesterday from people who said they'd tried to blow the whistle on Suhl but were ignored or silenced in DHS. These are only Twitter allegations, but the circumstantial evidence of his power over the agency has been present for years, as reporting for us by Mary Jacoby, Leslie Peacock and others illustrated long ago.
The question of political influence over DHS comes up all too often — most recently in the conduct of state Rep. Justin Harris, who regularly used his political influence with DHS officials. His influence helped him win an adoption of children that turned tragically bad, so bad that what he finally did — giving away adopted children — has now been made a crime.
Snip
Read the indictment.
http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2015/12/04/bribing-officials-for-medicaid-money-suhl-case-goes-farther-than-latest-indictment