Carter Wrenn posted on July 20, 2009 10:43
Politicians tend to be hum-drum until one of them lands in hot water then watching their antics can be, well, reminiscent of a trip to the county fair as a child and watching the contortions of the marvel known The Amazing Rubber Man.
State Senator Doug Berger landed himself in hot water by voting to cut home care for 20,000 elderly Medicaid patients, then, eight days later, voting to spend $25 million to build the Taj Mahal of fishing piers at Nag’s Head.
Naturally, Senator Berger’s constituents are asking, What kind of sense did that make? and he is going through some odd contortions (not unlike The Amazing Rubber Man) to get himself off the hook.
Except his first answer backfired.
Berger told the newspapers the elderly Medicaid patients (who each have at least two physical handicaps and were recommended for home care by their doctors) were welfare cheats. Then someone asked for proof – which led to Berger’s second contortion; he didn’t have any proof but must have figured he could slip by, by saying he had a report from Governor Perdue’s Administration that proved he was right.
Only he barely got the words out of his mouth when Perdue’s Administration said he was wrong.
On top of that, the Governor’s staff added, the report didn’t include a physical examination of a single patient – so it couldn’t say a patient didn’t need care.
That landed up in a video, too, and Berger landed in more hot water.
Then he came face to face with an even bigger problem: Caring for elderly Medicaid patients in their homes costs the state a lot less than putting them in Nursing Homes;—and Berger had just sent 20,000 patients heading straight for Nursing Homes – which was about to cost taxpayers four hundred million dollars.
So he started scrambling again and this time he tried an old tried and true political standard: He said he was the victim of a vicious smear by the ‘special interests’ and he wasn’t going to be intimidated for one second. So, here’s the record:
Senator Berger called twenty thousand elderly Medicaid patients’ welfare cheats.
Said he had proof they were cheating – but didn’t.
Introduced a bill that could cost taxpayers $400 million.
Branded twenty thousand elderly patients (and the nurses who help them) a ‘special interest’ – just a cut above oil companies.
Announced he was the victim.
And in the meantime – and this may be the height of folly – a pier with a sixteen thousand square foot clubhouse and a ballroom that seats 200 is being built at Nags Head.
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