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Monday, February 12, 2007
Perhaps a last request: In the end, Charlie Norwood goes back to the beginning
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This has the look of a last will and testament.
On Monday, U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood’s office announced that the congressman had reintroduced the original, bipartisan Patient’s Bill of Rights that he’d fought so hard for in the 1990s.
Norwood, currently undergoing hospice treatment in Augusta, ordered the 1999 legislation reintroduced without change, as it was approved by the House that year, “knowing his original co-author, U.S. Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) is now House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman, and can be relied on to safely update the bill as necessary without sacrificing patient protections,” according to the press release.
The Augusta congressman “acknowledged he will not be able to further impact debate on the legislation,” the release said.
Norwood made his mark in Congress shortly after he came in 1994, when he broke ranks with fellow Republicans and launched a decade-long fight to protect patients from health insurance providers.
Having dealt with insurance companies for years as a dentist, he’d concluded their interests and patients’ interests weren’t always the same.
Norwood pestered Speaker Gingrich on flights to and from Atlanta to take up the issue, and in Washington, he built a coalition of 230 Democrats and Republicans to eventually force Gingrich to bring the bill to a vote.
Among other things, the bill would have allowed patients to sue HMOs that overruled doctors and refused to pay for recommended treatments.
The House approved it twice, and President Bill Clinton once took up the cause.
Norwood’s fellow conservatives and President Bush objected to key provisions, and in 2001 Norwood cut a last-minute deal with Bush - eliminating the right for patients to sue for malpractice - to avoid a presidential veto.
Giving in to Bush cost Norwood all of his Democratic support and his fight never again regain its prominence on Congress’ agenda.
In December, Norwood wrote that his bill might be something for Democrats, soon to be in control of Congress, to consider. “If the Democrats can use their new majority to pull that off, they will and should score big with the public,” he wrote.
In which we speculate about the many reasons a company might give away $2.3 million
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The first rule of charity is never look a $2.35 million gift horse in the mouth.
The second rule is that there’s no such thing as a $2.35 million gift horse.
AT&T today announced it would give that amount to three programs in Atlanta. The biggest hunk, $1 million each, would go to Piedmont Park and the Atlanta History Center. Millions more would come from an AT&T Foundation.
All well and good, so far. Nothing but green reassurances from a big corporation to the people of a big city, saying, “We care.”
Then again, according to the State Ethics Commission, AT&T has a small army of 45 lobbyists at the state Capitol. Who knew charity extended that far? Last week, they packed the pews at a House committee meeting to support the debut of H.B.227. The lead sponsor is state Rep. Jeff Lewis (R-White).
This bill, dubbed the Consumer Choice for Television Act, would allow AT&T to pipe video through its phone lines and into your home, providing much-needed competition to cable and dish companies - not to mention the manufacturers of rabbit ears.
But here’s the real money-saving part of the measure, at least for AT&T. Cable TV companies now must negotiate with each and every city and county in which they establish a franchise. That’s how public access channels are created.
AT&T wants to skip that time-consuming and expensive process by signing a single franchise agreement with the state of Georgia.
How much will this save the company? As much as $500 million, we’ve heard.
As it turns out, the only sand in this deal is coming from Atlanta’s arts community.
Early this year, Joe Bankoff, president of the Woodruff Arts Center, wrote a long memo to state Sen. David Shafer (R-Duluth) about the legislation. It’s been in circulation around the state Capitol for a month now.
“We know how supportive BellSouth has been of Georgia — it remains to be seen about the ‘new’ AT&T,” he wrote.
This legislation, Bankoff said, offers an opportunity. Federal regulations, he argued, permit the addition of a $1 per subscriber that would go toward the support of arts education in Georgia. That’s the way they do it in Texas — where AT&T is headquartered, he wrote.
It’d be worth $12 million, Bankoff said.
AT&T is against this. And as the legislation is being considered, it freely donates $2.35 million to Atlanta causes, to prove that cultural leaders need not worry about a prime donor disappearing. Curiously, so far as we can tell, no money went to the Woodruff Arts Center.
So do we call this artful politics? Or the politics of art?
Blogwatch: About an e-mail from Iraq
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Through the weekend, the blogs talked of the Job-like speech in the House on Friday by freshman state Rep. Mike Glanton (D-Jonesboro), whose daughter Latisha is an Army sergeant in Iraq.
We have the audio for you here. Blog for Democracy was kind enough to provide a link to the video. The Glanton speech begins at about the 43rd minute.
Glanton begins as a lonely figure at the rostrum. By the time he’s finished, half the chamber is gathered at his side.
Here’s a transcript:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Distinguished colleagues of the House of Representatives. I rise this morning to ask for this body’s prayers for my family. This has been a challenging week for my family.
On Monday, my grandmother passed away. On Tuesday, my aunt in Ohio had a massive stroke, and is in her last hours — not expected to live another 48 hours. On Wednesday, my aunt from Rome was rushed to Floyd Medical Center with complications from diabetes. And if that wasn’t enough, on yesterday, my uncle in Summerville, Ga., passed away from a massive heart attack.
And still challenging my week, on yesterday, my daughter’s camp in Baghdad was hit by a mortar attack. Many of you have asked about my daughter’s status daily, and I appreciate that. In the midst of our storm, we stand on our faith in almighty God and dare not lean…to our own understanding.
And so this morning, if I might, Mr. Speaker, I would like to share with this body the e-mail I received from my daughter this morning:
“Dear Dad,
I hate to tell you things like this, but I don’t know how to feel. Last night, I was out with my friends at the air field, talking, waiting for their chopper to come and to pick them up to finally go back home, when we got hit by a mortar.
One of my friends pushed me out of the way” — Praise God, Glanton said, interrupting himself — “and into safety. But two of my friends were hit. I cannot stop crying, Daddy.
When I close my eyes, I hear my friend McCall screaming he can’t feel his leg. And seeing all the blood on his uniform. I hear Milton screaming, “Don’t leave me.”
When I close my eyes, I see the flash of the mortar landing in front of my eyes. I’ve been put on bed rest for today. And I’m supposed to go to the medics tomorrow to take some kind of medications. I am being monitored because they are thinking of sending me to our main base.
I don’t want to come off like some wimp, Dad. I can’t leave my troops out here, but I am scared to leave my room. Maybe I just need some time. I don’t know. I just want to tell you that I love you, and to keep you informed of my health.”
To this body, I ask for your continued prayers for my daughter, for my family, and for all our service men and women who so bravely serve in our armed forces, guarding our way of life and this country, serving in harm’s way.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
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