Posted on 07/30/2008 9:09:51 AM PDT by the anti-liberal
How afraid is the Democrat leadership of truly maverick conservative GOP Sen. Tom Coburn, who is waging war with Hapless Harry Reid over binge spending and secrecy?
They’re so afraid of his effectiveness that they are trying to kneecap him with bogus Ethics Committee complaints about his practice of not charging for delivering babies at the Muskogee Regional Medical Center. Coburn continues to serve as an OB/GYN in Oklahoma.
Jill Stanek read my mind: If Sen. Coburn were aborting babies for free instead of delivering them, he’d be getting awards instead of ethics complaints.
Contact info for the Senate Ethics Committee:
The Select Committee on Ethics can be contacted at 220 Hart Building, United States Senate, Washington, DC 20510. Telephone: (202) 224 - 2981. Fax: (202) 224 - 7416.
***
From the Hill:
Coburn has come under new pressure from the Ethics panel for delivering babies at the Muskogee Regional Medical Center, which changed from a public to a private institution in April last year….
In May, Coburn received a strongly worded “final determination” memo threatening him with a Senate censure if he did not stop delivering babies for free….
Coburn spokesman John Hart… called the Ethics panel’s logic “absurd” and its argument “inane.”
“Just as parents don’t choose him hoping to sway his vote, parents don’t choose to receive his services at a particular hospital because Dr. Coburn has somehow endorsed that hospital because he is a senator,” Hart said in a statement…. “The committee has shown us zero empirical evidence to back up its flimsy claim.
“Has Sen. Leahy provided an improper endorsement to Warner Brothers for appearing in Batman?” Hart asked. “Will millions of Americans now see Batman not because it features stars like Christian Bale or the late Heath Ledger, but because Patrick Leahy, a distinguished U.S. senator, has offered his illustrious endorsement to this motion picture?
“If Sen. Coburn can only deliver babies for free at a public hospital, shouldn’t Sen. Leahy only be allowed to donate his notable thespian skills to a public entity like PBS?”
…Hart estimates that Coburn has delivered dozens of babies since last receiving an ultimatum from the Ethics panel in 2005. Coburn has received no compensation for his work and paid “tens of thousands of dollars” out of his own pocket for medical malpractice insurance and other costs related to his medical practice, Hart said.
Other physicians in the Senate, such as former Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), a heart surgeon, voluntarily gave up their medical practices when they joined the Senate.
Coburn, however, wants to remain a true citizen-legislator and has long argued that the Senate should allow him to keep serving his patients because he plans to return to the practice when he leaves the Senate in 2016, consistent with his pledge to serve only two terms. He would like to keep up his medical skills if he is going to continue being able to earn a living in his chosen profession.
Frist, by contrast, had no plans to return to his practice when he retired from the Senate.
Asked about the recent Ethics Committee action, Coburn said he doesn’t believe he is in violation and will continue to fight any action taken against him.
“All I’m going to say is that’s a fight I would relish,” he said.
Hart said Coburn has no intention of abandoning his medical oath to his patients under threat of censure.
Reader Ray e-mails: “I would think the Democrats would want to praise Dr. Coburn, R-OK, for providing ‘free’ medical care as they hate that so many Americans cannot afford it.”
Now if he was performing abortions for free you can be sure they would be singing his praises.....
Yep, that’s Liberal’s for ya!
NEW RULE:
If a liberal politician helps out the less fortunate, he is kind, generous and good.
If a conservative politician helps out the less fortunate, he is corrupt.
No doubt those pukes'd been the first in line to get their little woundsies' bandaged by Dr. Coburn had AlQaida crashed that plane into Capitol Hill, but never mind.
I'd suggest Dr. Coburn notify them that he will no longer deliver any Democrat babies for free (and see their answer).
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
I disagree with Coburn on some things, but I definitely appreciate his commitment to being a citizen-legislator. Maybe that’s what the entrenched career legislators are afraid of, don’t want a good example being set.
How many doctors do we have anyway? Coburn, Paul, Frist, are there any others?
Someone PLEASE explain to me where there is any sort of “ethics” violations for a Doctor to deliver babies for free...
I guess to Dems/Libs, any situation handled without throwing truckloads of money at it is a violation of their ethics...
I haven't seen the movie yet. Did Leaky Leahy find out Batman's secret identity in a early, early morning meeting with Commissioner Gordon so that he could announce it on Good Morning Gotham?
The Donkey Congress is allergic to debateConservative stalwart Sens. Tom Coburn and Jim DeMint blew the whistle last week on a new report from the Congressional Research Service showing that 94 percent of bills passed in the Dem-controlled Senate have been rammed through without debate or vote.
If Coburn keeps up his medical skills and license, he might have some employment to fall back on so he won't be as loyal to the "club". He's been taught the secret Senate handshake and everything. That demands lifetime (and then some if you look at Sen. Byrd) loyalty to the club.
Apparently, Leaky is an extra in the movie in one of the scenes (a guest in a party scene, in the credits he is listed after ‘Thug at Party’).
What nonsense, this.
Screwtape rules the Democrat party.
(love your B16 tag line, btw)
Gob bless Senator Coburn. I wish to God we had many more like him in the Senate and in the House.
What’s Coburn doing wrong? I thought the Dems wanted “free” health care for everyone.
Who is John Galt?
-PJ
Lautenberg is born to run away from deal (Ticket scalping) (July 22, 2008 )
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