What
Was Indicted Doctor Hoping to Buy With $100k Donation to Harry Reid’s Super
PAC?
by
Michael Patrick Leahy4 Apr 2015
In
its indictment of Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Dr. Salomon Melgen,
a Florida opthalmologist, the Department of Justice cites Melgen’s $600,000
donation to Senator Harry Reid’s (D-NV)
Senate Majority PAC in 2012. That money, the feds charge, was earmarked for the
successful re-election of Menendez, and was part of “hundreds of thousands of
dollars and contributions to entities that benefitted MENENDEZ’s 2012 Senate
campaign, in exchange for specific requested exercises of MENENDEZ’s official
authority.”
The
indictment makes no mention of the additional $100,000 Melgen contributed to
the Senate Majority PAC a mere two weeks before Reid arranged an August 2, 2012
meeting among himself, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius,
and Menendez.
At
that meeting, Menendez advocated directly to Secretary Sebelius on behalf of
Melgen’s appeal of an HHS finding that he owed $8.9 million for overbilling
Medicare in 2007 and 2008. That advocacy, the indictment charges, was the
influence Melgen received from Menendez in return for his $600,000 contribution
to Reid’s Senate Majority PAC.
That
charge leads to an obvious question.
If
Melgen’s $600,000 contribution to Senate Majority PAC was an illegal
quid-pro-quo between Melgen and Menendez, does it not stand to reason that
Melgen’s $100,000 contribution to the same Senate Majority PAC was an illegal quid-pro-quo
between Melgen and Reid in which the influence Melgen received was Reid’s
arrangement of and participation in the August 2, 2012 meeting attended by
Reid, Sebelius, and Menendez?
Menendez
benefited from the $600,000 that was earmarked to his campaign because it
helped him sail to a 19-point re-election victory in deep-blue New Jersey.
Reid benefited from the $100,000 that was not earmarked because he was able to
allocate it as he wished to assist more vulnerable Democrat candidates in 2012.
Those efforts were successful, and Reid emerged from the general elections with
his position of Senate Majority Leader still intact.
Two
former federal prosecutors tell Breitbart News that the Department of Justice,
which indicted Menendez on Wednesday for his role “in the scheme to sell
influence for huge campaign contributions,” has chosen “to downplay or omit
salient details of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) participation in
[that] corruption scheme.”
“The
facts and circumstances outlined in the Menendez indictment clearly implicate
the current Democratic Senate Minority Leader in the scheme to sell influence
for huge campaign contributions,” former U.S. Attorney Joseph diGenova tells
Breitbart News.
“It
is obvious that the Justice Department chose to calibrate its charges so as to
skip Reid. The timing and size of the contributions to Reid’s PAC coupled with
his personal attendance at a meeting with Secretary Sebelius along with
Menendez on behalf of the Doctor demonstrate facts sufficient to warrant
further investigation,” di Genova adds.
“Having
worked for the Justice Department for many years, I was taken aback, upon
carefully reviewing the indictment, at the lengths to which prosecutors went to
downplay or omit salient details of Sen. Reid’s participation in a corruption
scheme for which they’ve charged Sen. Menendez,” former chief assistant US
Attorney for the Southern District of New York Andy McCarthy tells Breitbart
News.
“I
don’t understand, for example, how you go to the trouble of itemizing trivial
gifts like Melgen’s buying Menendez a $360 steakhouse dinner but leave out
Melgen’s giving $100,000 to a Reid-controlled super PAC just a few days before
Reid — not Menendez — arranged a meeting with the HHS secretary to intervene in
Melgen’s $8.9 million Medicare billing dispute,” McCarthy says.
A
spokesperson for Senate Majority PAC attempted to distance the organization
from the illegal activity described in the indictment.
“The
fundraiser referenced in the indictment as ‘Fundraiser 2′ and Dr. Melgen are
personal friends, and we were not aware of the full extent of their
communication until the indictment came out [Wednesday] night. While we are
confident that this was an isolated incident, the fundraiser in question is no
longer with Senate Majority PAC,” Stephanie Potter, executive director of
Senate Majority PAC, told Breitbart News in an email on Friday.
The
New York Times reported that
details about “Fundraiser 2″ in the indictment appear to describe Jake Perry, a close friend and former aide to
Senator Reid, who is currently an executive vice president with the Washington
lobbying firm Crossroads Strategies.
Breitbart
News has independently confirmed that Jake Perry is “Fundraiser 2.”
Potter’s
claim, however, that Perry and Melgen are personal friends is made without any
supporting evidence. What we know about the two men provides little information
to suggest they are “personal friends.” Melgen is a wealthy Miami doctor who
flies around the Caribbean on his private jet with a plethora of international
girlfriends (from the Ukraine, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic), while Perry
is a creature of Washington.
Perry
does have a very close personal friend in Washington, however, with whom he’s
been associated for decades: Senator Harry Reid.
As
Perry’s biography at Crossroads Strategy states:
Jake
Perry served as a senior political advisor and confidante to U.S. Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid for more than a decade. He began his service to the
Majority Leader during his 1998 campaign and later returned in 2007 to become
Executive Director of the Majority Leader’s Leadership PAC. He was a core
member of Team Reid 2010, a small group running Senator Reid’s hard-fought and
headline-making re-election to the U.S. Senate in 2010. For this, he received
the 2011 “Pollie Award for Best Fundraiser” from the American Association of
Political Consultants.
According
to the indictment, Perry’s pursuit of Melgen’s donations to Reid’s Senate
Majority PAC continued into October, 2012, when Melgen delivered the final
$300,000 of the $700,000 total contribution.
The
Senate was controlled by Democrats in the 112th Congress that met from January
2011 to January 2013: 51 Democrats, 2 Independents who caucused with the
Democrats, and 47 Republicans.
At
the time, it was far from certain that Democrats would retain their majority in
the Senate after the 2012 elections. As economist David Rothschild wrote on June 15,
2012:
Democrats
control 23 of the 33 Senate seats that are up this cycle, giving them much more
territory to defend and many fewer opportunities to pick up seats. Of those 23
races, seven are open seats (i.e., the Democratic caucusing member is leaving
the Senate), while four of the 10 Republican seats are open.
The
prediction markets are aware of this, of course, which is why the odds that
Democrats will retain their majority currently rest at 41.5 percent. That’s a
major improvement for them since the beginning of the year, when their odds
clocked in at 25 percent.
Some
time in early 2012, Perry began pursuing a potential donation to Reid’s Senate
Majority Super PAC.
On
June 8, 2012, Melgen contributed his
first $300,000, through his wholly owned company, Vitreo-Retinal Consultants.
On
June 18, 2012, Melgen sent his private plane from Florida to Washington, D.C.,
where it picked up Reid, flew him to Boston for a Senate Majority PAC
fundraiser, then flew him back to Washington, D.C. In July 2012, the Senate
Majority PAC reimbursed Melgen for that trip.
On
June 28, 2012, Melgen contributed another $100,000, through his wholly owned
company, Vitreo-Retinal Consultants.
On
July 10, 2012, Reid’s schedulers arranged the meeting among himself, Secretary
Sebelius, and Menendez.
On
August 2, 2012, the meeting attended by Reid, Sebelius, and Menendez was held
in Reid’s Capitol Hill office.
On
October 16, 2012, Melgen’s Vitreo-Retinal Consultants contributed an additional
$300,000 to Reid’s Senate Majority PAC.
“On
or about October 19,” one week after he sent the second check for $300,000 to
Senate Majority PAC, Melgen sent separate emails to Menendez, a key Menendez
staffer, and Jake Perry that contained the same information, according to the
indictment.
It
was a memo from his attorney, the indictment reads, “entitled ‘The Secretary’s
Authority’ asserting that ‘it would be appropriate for the Secretary of the
Department of Health and Human Services to intervene during the pendency of the
Practice’s [Melgen’s $8.9 Million Medicare overbilling] appeal before the MAC
[the HHS appeals board] to clarify that, as to the period prior to January 1,
2011, CMS policy permitted physicians physicians and providers to bill for
overfill.'”
In
February, 2013, as Politico reported, Perry opened
his own lobbying firm:
A
longtime aide to Harry Reid is opening up a lobbying firm — and he’s getting a
ringing endorsement from the Senate majority leader.
Jake
Perry, who has served as senior political adviser to Reid, has launched Jake
Perry + Partners. The public affairs and strategic advisory group will focus on
energy, gaming, commerce and financial services issues.
A
press release announcing the news Friday included an endorsement from Reid, who
said he will continue to look to Perry for advice.
“Jake
played a critical role in my 2010 election, and has been an important part of
the Democrats’ success in the Senate,” he said. “He is the very best at what he
does and I wish him all the best in his new endeavor. As a native Nevadan, I
know that he will remain a close friend and adviser.” . . .
Perry
said Friday that 2013 simply “seemed the right time” to make a career change
and that he plans to stay in close contact with his now-former boss as he
transitions over to the lobbying world.
“I’m
always going to be there for Sen. Reid whenever he needs me in any way. My
first job in policy was with Sen. Reid and I’ll always be a phone call away if
he ever needs me,” Perry told POLITICO. “He was very supportive, which made the
decision of starting this much easier.”
Breitbart
News contacted Crossroads Strategies by phone and email, requesting a comment
from Mr. Perry. No one answered the phone at Crossroads and Perry’s name was
not among the choices available on the voice mail system to leave an answer,
though his profile remains on the company’s website. Breitbart’s email to
Crossroads Strategies was not returned.
Salomon Melgen
Salomon Melgen
is a friend & supporter of Robert
Menendez.
Note:
Robert Menendez’s
friend & supporter is Salomon Melgen,
and a NJ congressional delegation
senator.
NJ
congressional delegation is the delegation for the State of New Jersey.
New
Jersey state government is the government for the State of New Jersey.
David T. Wilentz
was the attorney general for the State
of New Jersey, and Marlene Hess’s
grandfather.
Marlene Hess is David T. Wilentz’s granddaughter, and a
leader’s council member for the Breast
Cancer Research Foundation.
Daisy M. Soros is
a leader’s council member for the Breast
Cancer Research Foundation, and George
Soros’s sister-in-law.
George Soros is Daisy M. Soros’s brother-in-law, and
was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, and a
benefactor for the Harlem Children's
Zone.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Harlem Children's Zone, the Robin
Hood Foundation, the International Rescue Committee, and Human Rights First.
Michael R.
Bloomberg was a benefactor for the Harlem
Children's Zone, a donor for the Robin
Hood Foundation, and is an advocate for the ONE Campaign.
Robin Hood
Foundation raised money for the Hurricane
Sandy relief.
Hurricane
Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund is a relief organization for Hurricane Sandy.
Mary Pat
Christie is the chair for the Hurricane
Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund, and married to Christopher J. Christie.
Christopher
J. Christie is married to Mary Pat
Christie, the New Jersey state
government governor, a potential presidential candidate for the 2016 presidential election, and Henry A. Kissinger supported his 2012 presidential bid.
Henry A. Kissinger
supported Christopher J. Christie’s 2012 presidential bid, is an overseer
at the International Rescue Committee, a director at the American
Friends of Bilderberg (think tank),
and a 2008 Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).
International
Rescue Committee is a partner with the ONE
Campaign.
Susan
McCue was the founding president & CEO for the ONE Campaign, and Harry
Reid’s chief of staff.
Michelle
Obama is an advocate for the ONE
Campaign, and was a lawyer at Sidley
Austin LLP.
R.
Eden Martin is counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP, and the president of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
Newton
N. Minow is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP.
James
D. Zirin is a senior counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP, and was a director at Human
Rights First.
Mark
A. Angelson was a director at the Human
Rights First, and a partner at Sidley
Austin LLP.
Dora
Hughes is a senior policy adviser for Sidley
Austin LLP, and was a counselor at the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for Kathleen Sebelius.
Kathleen Sebelius’s
counselor at the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS) was Dora
Hughes, and the secretary at the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for the Barack Obama administration.
Howard K. Koh is
the assistant secretary at the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for the Barack Obama administration, and Harold H. Koh’s brother.
Harold H. Koh is Howard K. Koh’s brother, was the State
Department legal adviser for the Barack
Obama administration, and a director at the Human Rights First.
Richard R. Verma
was the assistant secretary of state for the for the Barack Obama administration, a director at the Human Rights First, and Harry
Reid’s senior national security adviser.
Harry Reid’s senior
national security adviser was Richard R.
Verma, and Susan McCue was his
chief of staff.
Susan McCue was Harry Reid’s chief of staff, and the
founding president & CEO for the ONE
Campaign.
International
Rescue Committee is a partner with the ONE
Campaign.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the International Rescue
Committee, and Human Rights First.
George Soros was
the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, William D. Zabel was his divorce lawyer,
and is Daisy M. Soros’s
brother-in-law.
William D. Zabel
was George Soros’s divorce lawyer, a
trustee at the Foundation to Promote Open Society, and is the chair for
the Human Rights First.
Mark A. Angelson
was a director at the Human Rights First,
and a partner at Sidley Austin LLP.
Dora Hughes is a
senior policy adviser for Sidley Austin
LLP, and was a counselor at the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for Kathleen Sebelius.
Kathleen Sebelius’s
counselor at the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS) was Dora
Hughes, and the secretary at the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for the Barack Obama administration.
Daisy M. Soros is
George Soros’s sister-in-law, and a
leader’s council member for the Breast
Cancer Research Foundation.
Marlene Hess is a
leader’s council member for the Breast
Cancer Research Foundation, and David
T. Wilentz’s granddaughter.
David T. Wilentz’s
granddaughter is Marlene Hess, and was
the attorney general for the State of
New Jersey.
New
Jersey state government is the government for the State of New Jersey.
NJ
congressional delegation is the delegation for the State of New Jersey.
Robert Menendez
is a NJ congressional delegation
senator, and a friend & supporter is Salomon
Melgen.
Salomon Melgen
is a friend & supporter of Robert
Menendez.
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