Working on this new server in php7...
imc indymedia

Los Angeles Indymedia : Activist News

white themeblack themered themetheme help
About Us Contact Us Calendar Publish RSS
Features
latest news
best of news
syndication
commentary


KILLRADIO

VozMob

ABCF LA

A-Infos Radio

Indymedia On Air

Dope-X-Resistance-LA List

LAAMN List




IMC Network:

Original Cities

www.indymedia.org africa: ambazonia canarias estrecho / madiaq kenya nigeria south africa canada: hamilton london, ontario maritimes montreal ontario ottawa quebec thunder bay vancouver victoria windsor winnipeg east asia: burma jakarta japan korea manila qc europe: abruzzo alacant andorra antwerpen armenia athens austria barcelona belarus belgium belgrade bristol brussels bulgaria calabria croatia cyprus emilia-romagna estrecho / madiaq euskal herria galiza germany grenoble hungary ireland istanbul italy la plana liege liguria lille linksunten lombardia london madrid malta marseille nantes napoli netherlands nice northern england norway oost-vlaanderen paris/Île-de-france patras piemonte poland portugal roma romania russia saint-petersburg scotland sverige switzerland thessaloniki torun toscana toulouse ukraine united kingdom valencia latin america: argentina bolivia chiapas chile chile sur cmi brasil colombia ecuador mexico peru puerto rico qollasuyu rosario santiago tijuana uruguay valparaiso venezuela venezuela oceania: adelaide aotearoa brisbane burma darwin jakarta manila melbourne perth qc sydney south asia: india mumbai united states: arizona arkansas asheville atlanta austin baltimore big muddy binghamton boston buffalo charlottesville chicago cleveland colorado columbus dc hawaii houston hudson mohawk kansas city la madison maine miami michigan milwaukee minneapolis/st. paul new hampshire new jersey new mexico new orleans north carolina north texas nyc oklahoma philadelphia pittsburgh portland richmond rochester rogue valley saint louis san diego san francisco san francisco bay area santa barbara santa cruz, ca sarasota seattle tampa bay tennessee urbana-champaign vermont western mass worcester west asia: armenia beirut israel palestine process: fbi/legal updates mailing lists process & imc docs tech volunteer projects: print radio satellite tv video regions: oceania united states topics: biotech

Surviving Cities

www.indymedia.org africa: canada: quebec east asia: japan europe: athens barcelona belgium bristol brussels cyprus germany grenoble ireland istanbul lille linksunten nantes netherlands norway portugal united kingdom latin america: argentina cmi brasil rosario oceania: aotearoa united states: austin big muddy binghamton boston chicago columbus la michigan nyc portland rochester saint louis san diego san francisco bay area santa cruz, ca tennessee urbana-champaign worcester west asia: palestine process: fbi/legal updates process & imc docs projects: radio satellite tv
printable version - js reader version - view hidden posts - tags and related articles

jeb bush Joins the Tenet Gravy Train

by get jeb in d hed Wednesday, May. 16, 2007 at 6:13 AM

crime pays



By Brett Arends
Mutual Funds Columnist
5/9/2007 10:25 AM EDT

A senior member of the Bush dynasty is about to get a large sum of money
from a company with a history of ethical violations.

Stop me if you've heard this one before.

Jeb Bush, the president's brother and former governor of Florida, is up
for election Thursday as a director of troubled hospital chain Tenet
Healthcare (THC - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating). Assuming he's
waved through, his pay in his first year would come to nearly $37,000 a day.

This is the same Tenet that had to pay $900 million to Uncle Sam last
summer to settle charges that it had overbilled Medicare and Medicaid
over many years.

Nine hundred million dollars.

The U.S. attorneys announcing the settlement accused the company of
"fraud" and trying to "manipulate and cheat the system."

Mike Leavitt, the Health and Human Services Secretary appointed by Jeb's
brother George, said the company had "fraudulently abused the Medicare
program."

It's also the same Tenet that just paid $80 million to the IRS after an
audit found it owed back taxes going back as far as 1995.

The company recently had to restate nearly five years of earnings
statements after an investigation into its books.

And this is just the big stuff. Tenet's recent public filings read like
a police blotter. One of its clinics in South Carolina performed 436
open heart operations without certification. The company is being sued
in California by staff claiming they were systematically short-changed
on pay and overtime, in breach of the state's labor code. Three former
Tenet staff members, at a New Orleans hospital it owned, are under
investigation for allegedly euthanizing four patients following
Hurricane Katrina.

 All in all, it's hardly a surprise Tenet Healthcare stock has lost 85%
of its value over the past five years.

The company hadn't returned phone calls seeking a comment by press time;
neither had the former governor's representatives.

Tenet isn't partisan. Among its current directors is Bob Kerrey, the
former Democratic senator from Nebraska.

This will be Jeb Bush's first job since leaving the governor's office in
Tallahassee four months ago.

Of course, it's not quite the election he was hoping for. Once upon a
time, the dynasty was grooming him to run for president. But his older
brother got there first and has probably poisoned that well forever.

Chris Matthews and Wolf Blitzer won't be on hand for the vote at
Thursday's stockholders meeting. Do not expect to see many "Jeb '08"
badges around the Westin Hotel in Dallas. Somehow, the atmosphere won't
quite match the excitement of waiting for the returns from Ohio.

But Jeb, look on the bright side.

You've been complaining about your finances. Your last filings as
governor showed your net worth was down to just $1.4 million. Obviously,
that figure won't count any of the vast Bush family fortune. But still,
it's embarrassing. Who wants to ask mom and pop for extra cash every
Fourth of July? At your age, you should be buying your own yacht.

Sure, the Tenet job may look pretty tacky for someone of your standing,
but the pay isn't bad.

It's lucky the media aren't paying too much attention. Anyone reading
the public filings would have discovered that in your first year, you'll
earn $474,500 -- for 13 days' work.

That's $36,500 a day. And the "work" consists of sitting in a board
room, so it's not exactly heavy lifting.

If the board meetings last an average of four hours, you'll be pulling
in $9,125 an hour.

Not bad for a guy who could manage only a B.A. in Latin American Studies
from the University of Texas. Many of Tenet's 65,000 personnel are
qualified medical staff with years of experience. Yet according to
public filings, their average salary and benefits last year came to
around $69,000 for full-time work.

You get that in two days.

Who says all the good jobs are going to China?

I'm sure your family lawyer has already explained the details, Jeb, but
just to recap the terms: As a nonemployee director you'll get an
immediate golden handshake of $260,000 in "restricted stock units."
Nothing says "welcome aboard" quite like a quarter-million. Plus you'll
get another $130,000 in restricted stock units each year. That's on top
of your retainer of $65,000 a year.

And all that is before you turn up for a single board meeting. For each
one you attend, you get another $1,500. There's another $1,200 every
time you show up at a committee meeting.

A word of advice: Avoid the audit and compliance committees. There's too
much work and there's always the risk something will go wrong. For an
easy life, join the compensation committee. It meets only seven times a
year and you don't have to do anything. Just hire some consultants to
review executive pay, and agree to whatever they suggest. The executives
will be grateful, and that can pay real dividends down the road. See it
as using shareholder money to stock up the favor bank.

What a deal!

http://www.thestreet.com/_tsccom/funds/followmoney/10355637.html
Report this post as:
Share on: Twitter, Facebook, Google+

add your comments


© 2000-2018 Los Angeles Independent Media Center. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by the Los Angeles Independent Media Center. Running sf-active v0.9.4 Disclaimer | Privacy