Money talks but it appears that Sen. Julie Denton isn’t listening.
From the Herald Leader:
The legislature passed SB110 quickly and overwhelmingly after a lobbying blitz and big campaign donations by optometrists to Beshear and legislators. On Thursday, the Legislative Ethics Commission said the Kentucky Optometric Association's lobbying force in Frankfort went from four to 18 lobbyists this session, including 13 lobbyists who started Feb. 1.
Optometrists and their political action committee have increased their donations to state elected leaders during the past year, campaign finance records show. In 2010, optometrists gave $250,000 to all political candidates, compared with just less than $50,000 in 2009, according to the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance.
The Governor is trying to spin this bill as providing expanded health care. In truth the only thing that it will expand is the Medicaid billing, the cost to taxpayers and the bank accounts of those who thought it was worth a quarter of a million dollars to get the law passed.
I am glad to see one Senator try to do something about it.
Sen. Julie Denton, R-Louisville, referred to a Senate committee as a "kangaroo court" earlier this month when it brushed aside medical concerns and rushed the bill to the Senate floor. Now Denton is filing floor amendments that would require the state to issue a certificate of need for eye surgery using a laser unless a clinic offers such services already — as only ophthalmologists do — or unless they are performed by an ophthalmologist.
Bottom line, if you have money and lobbyists, the General Assembly and the Governor will see that no matter what you want, it will be good for the Commonwealth and better for them.
