Lynch at Large

I almost overlooked the following item (Could it be satire?), which ran in the Stephens Media Group papers In Springdale and Fort Smith. Here is what the Regional Business Editor, Michael Tilley, has to say about the impending sale of Beverley Nursing Homes. Of course, I totally disagree - well, I THINK I MIGHT disagree, but heck everybody needs a laugh now and then.

Exquisite Goofiness Proves Amusing, Puzzling
Now for a Sunday memo.

TO: U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., State Rep. Stephen Bright, R-Maumelle.

FROM: amused, yet puzzled, small-town business editor

RE: your exquisite goofiness related to the following news blurb:

U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., and State Rep. Stephen Bright, R-Maumelle, are questioning Beverly Enterprises' announced sale of its operations. Pryor has sent a letter to the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services asking them to ensure that the sale of Beverly Enterprises would not adversely affect the care and treatment of its nursing home residents.

Some folks say elected officials aren't good for anything, but you gentlemen have been good for a laugh.

As noted above, this paper had a story a few weeks ago about you, Mr. Bright, calling a special legislative committee meeting to investigate the pending sale of Beverly Enterprises to a group of big-dollar wavin' New York investors who collectively hail by the name of North American Senior Care. Beverly, a company based here in Fort Smith, fought off a hostile takeover by a company that would have removed its corporate headquarters and the more than 600 jobs it provides. Most of us, maybe all of us, really, in Fort Smith were very pleased to learn of the NASC offer and its intent to keep the company here.

Then you boys show up with your overblown sense of self and misplaced and suspicious "concern" for nursing home residents who might be — and I'm guessing here as to your concern — forced to work long hours making gym shoes and Pimp Daddy sweatshirts and turn over their government checks to Nurse Gambino just to help these carpetbaggin' New York investors recoup their costs of buying Beverly.

Or maybe that's a little much.

Which is a good way to describe your involvement in what is really a market transaction that will receive a look-see from federal health-care reimbursement regulators and the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.

Many of us in Fort Smith were proud, no, relieved, to read Friday that State Sen. Percy Malone, D-Arkadelphia, and State Rep. Jim Medley, R-Fort Smith, were just as puzzled as we were.

"What is the purpose for us to be involved in these discussions at this point when there is not — as far as what I have read — an agreement ... for this (deal) to consummate?" Malone asked at the start of your recent hearing, Mr. Bright.

Then we read on into the newspaper story and came across probably one of the oddest things we've heard from a legislator — which is quite a feat, Mr. Bright, and you should be commended for your accomplishment.

In response to legislators who operate in the real world and were wondering as to why the sale of Beverly was any business of a state legislative committee, you, Mr. Bright, offered the following:

"Now, if we were going to turn our correction institutions over to a private bidder or to a private entity, wouldn't you want to ask questions?"

That's not just comparing apples to oranges, that's comparing apples to the bones of a unicorn. I mean, what the ... ? Mr. Bright, are you so terribly confused that you'd compare the privatization of a taxpayer-created and managed prison system to the sale of a shareholder-owned company to a legally formed investment group under the auspices of a complex set of rules and regulations drafted, revised and managed by the federal government since at least the mid-1930s?

And the good Sen. Pryor, well, as a former Arkansas attorney general, you should know better.

Many of us folks who voted for you are hoping that the letter you sent to Daniel R. Levinson, inspector general with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is similar to your predecessor's decision to mess around with a staff member — a big you-know-what mistake.

Your chief spokesman, Rodell Mollineau, admitted that you had not spoken to Beverly officials about the letter until you were ready to send it. Considering the number of factual errors in the letter, we believe him.

Mollineau also tried to pass off the letter as a "for your information letter only (to the inspector general). ... I think you are reading too much into the letter."

Really?

In the letter, you tell Levinson that the boys buying Beverly are broke and that "in light of these events, I am concerned that there is potential for the NASC purchase of BEI to result in significant hardship for many patients."

And then you note your "significant concern" that Beverly's prior agreement with the federal government to do the right thing by its patients will be voided once the company is sold — as if all the patients will be hustled into the Superdome once the transaction is complete.

The really good part of your letter — and by good I mean there is "significant concern" with your judgment — is where you note: "While I'm not making a comment with regard to the veracity of these allegations, I do believe that you should be aware of them."

We all know that game.

"Hey, Margaret, I heard the preacher is sleeping with his secretary. I'm not sure that's true but, my brother-in-law said he was told by his boss that the boss' wife saw them twice in the same month eating together down at the Feed The Five Thousand Cafe."

If you two gentlemen are really concerned about tax dollars and the well-being of residents, there are plenty of things you could do in your governmental jurisdictions to beef up patient oversight, reimbursement oversight and financial incentives for nurses and other caregivers.

Other than that, we'd appreciate it if you'd nix the goofiness.

MICHAEL TILLEY IS THE REGIONAL BUSINESS EDITOR FOR THE TIMES RECORD AND MORNING NEWS.