Money and Organized Medicine

Attached an article from the Sun Sentinel highlighting a sad chapter of organized medicine's attempts and efforts to buy political influence and cloud.
Alan Mendelson was once THE political power broker acting on behalf of the Florida Medical Association. Every ranking FMA official did not dare to miss joining one of the many political fundraiser which took place in Alan's house or office. I also participated in those events and have to ask myself why I did not see the writing on the wall! During Eleanor Sobel's Florida Senate campaign Alan Mendelsohn, then treasurer of the Florida Medical Association’s political action committee, aggressively raised money on her behalf and hailed her Aug. 26 victory in the Democratic primary as the FMA flexing its might.
We all were "encouraged" by our own county medical association and the FMA to donate at least $500 to People for a Better Florida Fund Inc. and many of us did so.
Eleanor Sobel's victory was considered a watershed moment demonstrating that Florida's doctors could buy influence in Tallahassee like so many other interest groups already did at that time and still do. When the whole house of cards collapsed everybody quickly pointed their fingers at Alan Mendelson. But did anything change ever since? We still believe that money can buy influence. Elected FMA officials still repeat the article of faith that " only money talks in Tallahassee."
Shouldn't we all take a step back from the political abyss and reconsider? Doesn't Alan Mendelson's behavior clearly demonstrate that money itself can corrode and corrupt anyone? Aren't we all susceptible to hybris? Shouldn't we reestablish core values of integrity, accountability and compassion instead? I hope that the leadership within organized medicine is listening because Alan's case is just the tip of the iceberg and the iceberg is entering hot water.
Happy Thanksgiving
Yours
Bernd


Broward power broker Mendelsohn set to plead guilty in federal case
32-count indictment included accusations of using fraudulent fundraising for his own gain
November 23, 2010|By Jon Burstein, Sun Sentinel

Broward political fundraiser and power broker Alan Mendelsohn is set to cut a plea deal in what federal authorities have described as a fraudulent political fundraising and lobbying scheme that he used to line his own pockets.

Mendelsohn, a Hollywood eye doctor whose influence opened doors at the state Capitol, is scheduled to go before U.S. District Judge William Zloch on Dec. 8 for a plea hearing, according to court papers filed Tuesday.

He is ready to plead guilty to a single conspiracy charge, which can carry no more than five years in prison, said Alvin Entin, one of Mendelsohn's attorneys.

We've reserved a plea date, and we're looking forward to resolving the matter satisfactorily for both sides," Entin said.

Mendelsohn, a member of Gov. Charlie Crist's 2006 gubernatorial transition team, built the Florida Medical Association into a political force as the chief fundraiser of its political action committee. He also helped pioneer the use in Florida of political organizations known as 527s, which are allowed to raise unlimited amounts of money to make statements about candidates and issues.

Federal prosecutors leveled a 32-count indictment against Mendelsohn in September 2009, accusing him of skimming more than $350,000 from the political action committees under his control. The money came from contributors who believed he was using the funds to advance their causes in Tallahassee.

Mendelsohn used some of that money to pay his mistress, buy her a house and a car and pay for his children's schooling, according to court documents.

Five criminal tax charges were tacked on Mendelsohn's corruption indictment in June.

In Mendelsohn's plea deal, the single conspiracy charge will be related to both the tax and political fundraising charges, Entin said. Court documents show that the judge will ask for "a full confession" at the hearing.

Mendelsohn, 52, first began lobbying lawmakers in 1999 on issues related to ophthalmologists, but within a few years, he was being hired to use his political muscle to help such entities as pari-mutuels and credit counseling companies.

In 2008, Mendelsohn demonstrated his might in Broward County by aggressively raising money for Eleanor Sobel in her winning bid in the Democratic primary for a state Senate seat. The Florida Medical Association's PAC and doctors largely funded a political organization that spent more than $600,000 in advertisements boosting Sobel and attacking her opponents

E-mails made public in a defamation lawsuit filed by one of Sobel's opponents portray Mendelsohn as a no-holds-barred fighter. Mendelsohn raised $51,000 for Sobel in a single day, according to the e-mails.

After Sobel's win, he wrote in an e-mail that he believed politicians would start coming to the Florida Medical Association and asking, "What can I start to do now to help you guys?"

He came on federal authorities' radar after he allegedly boasted he could use his influence and bribes to halt investigations into Mutual Benefits, a defunct investment company. Prosecutors say the Fort Lauderdale-based Mutual Benefits defrauded 30,000 investors worldwide of $837 million before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission shut it down in 2004.

Mendelsohn's claims helped set in motion a corruption investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice's Public Integrity Section. Mendelsohn is the only who has been arrested in it.

In Mendelsohn's indictment, though, federal authorities alleged that between 2003 and 2006, he funneled $87,000 to an unidentified then-public official.

Jon Burstein can be reached at jburstein@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4491.