Another Senate scandal brewing.
 

This is how they try to make sure you don't let a real job get in the way of being a politician.

Coburn's violation: Working as a doc
By: Martin Kady II
August 12, 2008 10:38 AM EST

The Senate Ethics Committee has told Republican Sen. Tom Coburn that he’ll be engaged in a “serious violation of Senate rules” if he continues delivering babies back home in Oklahoma.

Coburn’s response: So what?

“On my own time, I’m taking care of women who have a need, and I’m going to continue to deliver babies,” Coburn, an obstetrician, told Politico. “I’m not going to stop.”

Coburn would not say specifically whether he has actually delivered a baby since the June 22 deadline set by the Ethics Committee, but he made it clear that he could deliver one any day now — and thereby force the Ethics Committee to put up or shut up.

Coburn — an irascible Republican known as Dr. No — has been fighting with the Ethics Committee for years over whether he can continue to practice medicine.

As a member of the House, Coburn delivered approximately 400 babies under an arrangement with the House ethics committee that allowed him to provide medical services as long as the fees he collected allowed him to only break even on his costs.

When Coburn was elected to the Senate — and was told that his existing arrangement violated Senate rules on outside income — he stopped collecting money altogether, delivering babies for free so that he could keep up his medical skills and return to private practice after leaving elected office. All of Coburn’s work is pro bono, and he pays malpractice premiums and administrative fees out of his own pocket.

But in recent correspondence, the Senate Ethics Committee told Coburn that because his local facility — the Muskogee Regional Medical Center — is now owned by a for-profit entity, it’s a conflict of interest for him to provide services there for free.

Coburn says that’s nonsense.

“The hospital gets nothing from my services,” he said. “I don’t bill anything.”

The Ethics Committee does its work in secret, and its members are not allowed to comment on ongoing proceedings. Thus, neither the chairwoman, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), nor the ranking member, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), would discuss the Coburn situation.

But according to a series of letters obtained by Politico, the panel has repeatedly told Coburn that delivering babies — even pro bono — at a for-profit medical facility violates ethics rules. The panel gave Coburn the same advice when Republicans controlled the Senate, and both Boxer and Cornyn have signed letters telling him to stop delivering babies.

Coburn, known for tying up the Senate in procedural knots, thinks he has the upper hand.

If the Ethics Committee actually gets to the point where it calls for a public reprimand, Coburn can appeal to the full Senate for a vote, and he’s betting that he’d win a vote if 100 senators were asked whether he should be allowed to deliver babies for free — especially since most of his patients are “at risk,” meaning they could be drug users, uninsured or poor patients, or women with high-risk pregnancies.

Coburn also insists that, with all the high-profile ethics scandals facing Congress — leading off with Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens’ federal criminal trial this fall — the Senate would look petty by going after someone who is donating his money and medical services to help pregnant women.

Senate aides would not comment on the record, but ethics experts on and off Capitol Hill say the Senate Ethics Committee needs to be consistent in applying its conflict of interest rules, even if Coburn presents a sympathetic case.

Aides also point out that many senators have given up their professional lives when they were elected. Sen. John Ensign gave up his Nevada veterinary practice, Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia stopped selling real estate and former Sen. Bill Frist of Tennessee stopped performing heart and lung transplant work. All three are Republicans.

The committee’s case against Coburn is based on Senate rules that prohibit senators from being involved in professional affiliations that would create a conflict of interest.

Stanley Brand, a congressional ethics expert who has represented several legally troubled members of Congress, including Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), says the Ethics Committee is wasting its time.

“If he wants to deliver babies, and there’s no direct pecuniary conflict, why make this into a cause célèbre?” Brand said. “It’s so absurd to be squeezing this guy. It’s another example of leadership run amok.”

Not only should pols give up their private jobs/practices when in office, they shouldn't be allowed to run for office "B" while serving a term in office "A"

So Coburn actually helps the poor with his bare hands, and the powers that be (that control the purse strings) want him to stop?

The irony is of course the very same people who are attacking Coburn use poverty as a cause for getting votes and redistributing income...

Do you include volunteer work in that? Again, Coburn is volunteering his services.

Since he's term-limited himself and will go back to earning a real living after he's done two Senate terms, I don't see what the problem is with keeping up the chops.

Same diff. Altruism aside, I know my boss wouldn't think much if I spent a good part of my time out 'volunteering' and not at my desk working.

Agreed. Politicians should not be allowed to do anything good while in office.

You gotta be kidding me. Look up how many Senate votes Coburn has missed while doing volunteer work. I doubt he's missed a single one. Not much for a Senator to do in DC when the Senate is not in session. Do you feel the same way about Obama and McCain ignoring their gov't. jobs while campaigning?

God forbid Coburn provides free healthcare to his constituents. You should write an amicus brief to the ethics committee to make sure this criminal gets his due. It'd be so much better for those women to be left on the taxpayer dime or just forego prenatal care altogether.

+1

Coburn is a liar and a crook. If he is delivering the babies you know he is getting payment somewhere. Him getting elected just goes to show how stupid some of my fellow statesmen are.

The Senate has rules about outside income?????
How much does it pay to be a senator?
How do they afford the huge home, servants, boats, cars etc. on that pay?????
Why would you spend millions to get a job that only pays a fraction of that???
rules my a$$

No, book advances and royalties are just fine.

Please give just one example of your ridiculous charges.

Absolutely.

God forbid Coburn provides free healthcare to his constituents. [/QUOTE]

So, he's a pinko commie socialist?

That's impossible. He is an elected official.

Okay, well......if it's okay for Senators to moonlight pro bono, then I guess you guys would not have a problem with a liberal Senator on the Ethics committee who does volunteer work for the ACLU.

No, he provides the healthcare himself instead of taking some people's money and dictating that others do the work.

Coburn is doing nothing more than encouraging women to have children they can't afford. No healthcare, no way to pay for the hospital, no problem, Tom Coburn will deliver my child for free!

of course it doesn't matter that these women have no way to pay for or raise these kids after they are born and they will just drain the $ out of the taxes I pay. But hey, at least they got a free birthing.

Tom Coburn is single-handedly raising my taxes by saying it's OK to have kids you can't afford.

Yeah, I see your point! Much better to just run a coat hanger through the head of the fetus than to bring through birth! Gotcha! ;)

It's not like Coburn is the one who got these women pregnant!

Randy

The founding fathers all had jobs and ran the country in their spare time.

Most of their meeting were held in pubs and decisions were made while downing a few beers.

I say we go back to that system.

That is like saying all the people in the world who are poor and starving aren't still going to keep doffing no matter their plight. The just squat in the woods, weeds wherever. Like they can afford them. What about all the illegal Mexicans having kids her in the US? They go to the local hospital and have them. It is going to happen whether you like it or not. I don't like it any better than you but to slam this guy is kind of silly.

fixed it for you.

*now* we have a scandal :p