The Corner Report

By Gale Courey Toensing

SHARON, Conn. _ A Sharon Hospital fundraiser to support the re-election of U.S. Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-5th Dist.) was canceled after questions were raised about whether the event would violate a number of federal election campaign laws.

[More:]

A fundraising invitation was sent out by hospital CEO Charles Therrien on May 17 on hospital letterhead to physicians and selected hospital employees, asking them to attend a fundraising breakfast for Johnson on June 1 at 8 a.m. at Sharon Hospital.

“We are asking for donations of $500. You can donate up to $2,100 for this election, but only through a personal check,” Therrien wrote.

Therrien describes Johnson as "a true friend" of Sharon Hospital who has "been with us every step of the way, working with our staff to remove red tape and help us meet our shared vision."

He did not detail the "red tape" that Johnson had helped to remove.

A “paid for by” attribution at the bottom of the one-page letter said, “Paid for and Authorized by Nancy Johnson for Congress.”

Sharon Hospital was the first – and so far, the only – hospital in the state to have converted from a nonprofit community-owned facility to an private, investor-owned hospital four years ago when it was purchased by Essent Healthcare of Nashville, Tenn.

The letter may have violated several federal election laws: While a for profit corporation may hold fundraisers for politicians, they are prohibited from making donations as a corporate entity unless they register as a political action committee. A corporate PAC would be allowed to solicit campaign donations only from executives and stockholders, and a solicitation letter must include a statement that employees will not be punished if they don’t participate.

Therrien did not return a call seeking comment. However, in an interview with reporter Terry Cowgill, who broke the story in the June 1 edition of the Lakeville Journal, Therrien said the hospital was asked by the Johnson campaign to hold the fundraiser, and agreed to do it.

Therrien said he had rushed to get the letter out and mistakenly printed it on hospital letterhead. He said Essent’s CEO Hudson Connery had approved the fundraising appeal.

“In retrospect, I would have handled it differently,” Therrien is quoted as saying. He said the fundraising event had been canceled because of “scheduling conflicts.”

Johnson’s campaign manager David Boomer told the Lakeville Journal that campaign staff helped the hospital write the letter, but he said it should not have gone out on hospital letterhead.

"When we talked to Charlie about it, we made it clear it should have been sent out on his personal stationery. Otherwise, it looks like the hospital's initiative," Boomer told the Lakeville Journal.

Johnson, a Republican seeking a 13th term in Congress, is being challenged for the Fifth Congressional District seat by Democratic state Sen. Chris Murphy. The letter makes refereence to Murphy without naming him.

“You might be aware that Nancy’s seat in Congress has been targeted by some who don’t share Nancy’s vision on providing quality affordable health care. Her opponent has not been supportive of the type of care offered by Sharon Hospital and its employees,” Therrien wrote.

Murphy readily agreed about the “vision thing.”

“I don’t know what Nancy Johnson’s ‘vision of affordable quality health care’ is, but I think it’s probably very different from mine, “ Murphy said in response to a request for comment.

Murphy is serving his second term representing the state's 16th Senatorial District, which includes Waterbury, Southington, and Wolcott. The Northwest Corner is part of the Fifth Congressional District. Before his election to the senate where he is chair of the legislature’s Public Health Committee, Murphy served two terms as a state representative in the 81 district. He has a long record as a health care advocate in the legislature.

And he has called for sweeping reforms of Johnson's “reformed” Medicare Part D prescription drug program, which he said is expensive and confusing to seniors, while providing pharmaceutical and health insurance companies with billions in increased profits.

“I’ve offered a plan that would make the Medicare Part D program more affordable for everyone, and easier for seniors to use. This year, I successfully worked to permit Connecticut residents to safely import prescription drugs from Canada to lower their costs. I pioneered the State’s historic stem cell research act, stepping in to fund this vitally important work when Nancy Johnson and the Republican Congress failed to do so. And I am committed to working towards a system that provides universal coverage for all Americans. That’s my vision for the future of health care,” Murphy said.

Sarah Merriam, Murphy’s campaign manager, said it is “interesting” that the fundraising letter refers to “her seat” rather than the Fifth Congressional District seat.

“I think when someone has been in office for a quarter of a century, it’s probably natural for them to think that seat belongs to them. But it doesn’t. The seat that Nancy Johnson now holds belongs to the people of the Fifth Congressional District. The people have the right to fill that seat with whomever they want to have represent them in Washington – and to change their minds about it every two years. The seat is being ‘targeted’ by thousands of residents of the Fifth District who want to reclaim the right to have its holder speak for them, rather than the special interests,” Merriam said.

The news of the Sharon Hospital’s planned fundraiser spread quickly through the community Thursday. Cornwall resident Paul Baren posted a message about it on the town's community bulletin board. Baren is a member of Cornwall's Democratic Town Committee and the regional Democratic Committee of Northwest Connecticut, an alliance of people from the area's town committees.

“It’s a for profit hospital now that can do anything it wants. They only exist for their benefit now. That’s one of the reasons people didn’t want it to become a for profit hospital. What I think no one envisioned was that they’d go into politics. It’s outrageous, but that’s why people were fighting against it,” Baren said.

Most of the democratic town committees in the Northwest Corner, including Cornwall’s, have officially endorsed Murphy’s candidacy.

There has been a revival in Democratic activism among many of the area’s town committees and in grassroots organizing in the communities, Liz Piel, the chair of Sharon’s Democratic Town Committee.

“And we were able to sweep Democratic candidates into most of the local offices in last November’s elections,” Piel said.

That’s a good indicator of what will happen this coming November’s election, Piel said.

Related: Lakeville Journal