Monday, March 19, 2012

CD6: Rob Garagiola Accuses John Delaney of Neglecting Seniors // Delaney Says Garagiola Killed Bill to Lower Credit Card Rates

UPDATE: The Garagiola campaign is responding to Delaney's accusations regarding the credit card industry: 
In what has become a daily string of poorly researched or intentionally misleading assertions, John Delaney swings and misses yet again. Today, John Delaney falsely alleged that Rob Garagiola “sided with credit card companies”.  This morning, the Delaney campaign provided further evidence it’s the campaign that can’t shoot straight.

Delaney asserted that as State Senator, Rob Garagiola killed a bill that supposedly would have prevented credit card companies from retroactively increasing interest rates. Misleadingly, Delaney tried to cite Senator Garagiola as the sole individual who stopped the bill, but the facts show a very different story of the bill and the vote.

  • An overwhelming majority of Democrats  voted with Garagiola – six Democrats voted against the bill;
  • The vote wasn’t even close. In total, nine Senators voted against and only two voted for it;
  • The Department of Legislative Services even noted that the bill was in conflict with the US Constitution and existing case law, making it impossible to enact.
Senator Rob Garagiola has been a champion for working families. In 2010 and 2011, Senator Garagiola had a perfect vote from the Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition for floor votes. Senator Garagiola has voted to expand the scope of The Maryland Consumer Protection Act. He has also voted to require colleges to help protect their students from credit card companies....

In the latest round of back-and-forth attacks in the 6th Congressional District Democratic Primary, State Senator Rob Garagiola is accusing Businessman John Delaney of operating dangerous and neglectful nursing homes through his Capital Source business. See the press release and research document below.

Following the Garagiola campaign attacks below, we also print a counter-attack from the Delaney camp. They are now accusing Rob Garagiola of working to kill legislation that would protect consumers from unfair retroactive interest rate increases from their credit card companies.

For Immediate Release 

John Delaney and Capital Source Owned Nursing Homes
Cited by the Obama Administration for

Egregious Health and Safety Violations

GERMANTOWN, MD – According to a search of Medicare’s “Nursing Home Compare” database, John Delaney and CapitalSource owned nursing homes cited by the Obama Administration for egregious health and safety violations. Some of the nursing homes owned by Delaney and CapitalSource were even given the lowest possible rating from Medicare. Please see the attached document for Delaney and CapitalSource’s record.

Medicare admonished Delaney and CapitalSource’s nursing homes for hiring employees with a history of abusing residents, failing to meet the nutritional needs of residents, failing to protect residents from abuse, failing to properly administer medications, and numerous other egregious health and safety violations.

John Delaney and CapitalSource took control of these four nursing homes following the bankruptcy of a company it had financed – Haven Healthcare – per its acquisition model. Together, Delaney’s four nursing homes were cited for a total of 100 health deficiencies over a two year period under Delaney and CapitalSource’s leadership from September 2008 to August 2010.

“John Delaney has made his quarter of a billion dollar personal fortune in an absolutely disgusting fashion. It’s abhorrent that John Delaney and CapitalSource neglected the care of seniors living in the nursing homes they owned,” said Sean Rankin, Garagiola’s Campaign Manager. “Taking advantage of hard working people just to turn a quick buck is a trend with John Delaney and CapitalSource. John Delaney and CapitalSource used a backdoor process to foreclose on the homes of working families. And now, we learn that Delaney and his company owned nursing homes that have been cited by Medicare for hiring employees with a history of abuse and failing to meet the nutritional needs of residents. One can only wonder what we might learn next,” Rankin concluded.

The four nursing homes acquired by John Delaney and CapitalSource cited by Medicare for numerous egregious health safety violations were: Aurora Senior Living of East Hartford, Aurora Senior Living of Cromwell, Aurora Senior Living of Buck Hill, and Aurora Senior Living of Derry.


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PRESS RELEASE

Sen. Garagiola Put Special Interest Before Maryland Families

Garagiola sided with credit card companies by killing legislation to
 protect middle class families from retroactive rate hikes

Rob Garagiola and the special interests made sure credit card reform didn’t happen in Maryland. They did so despite the fact that President Obama, Sen. Cardin, Sen. Mikulski[1], and 136 members of the Maryland House of Delegates all agreed something had to be done. Credit card companies were retroactively raising interest rates on consumers who were paying their bills on time. Legislation was introduced at the state level to stop the practice, but Garagiola played a key role in ensuring that it never even came to a vote.

In 2009, after the Maryland House of Delegates voted136-1[2] on HB 1048, which would have prevented credit card companies from retroactively increasing interest rates, Rob Garagiola then killed the bill in the Senate Finance Committee, giving it an unfavorable rating.[3]

"Rob Garagiola had a chance to do the right thing by middle class families, instead he sided with the special interests and credit card companies," said Delaney campaign manager Justin Schall. “As a lobbyist turned political insider, it isn’t surprising that Garagiola killed common sense legislation, but it is still disappointing.”

Thanks to Garagiola’s efforts, the bill never advanced to a Senate floor vote. At the time, credit card companies were rapidly increasing interest rates on their customers – regardless of credit history – to accommodate for the economic crash in 2008.[4] Because this legislation failed Marylanders went an extra year without protection until federal legislation went into effect.[5]

Garagiola justified his anti-consumer vote using the arguments put forth by the Maryland Bankers Association.[6] Since 2004, the MBA has given Garagiola $11,500, making Garagiola their fourth-most donated-to candidate.[7]

No wonder the Washington Post noted in their endorsement of John Delaney that "Mr. Garagiola is widely regarded as in thrall to Maryland’s lobbyists, who have bankrolled his campaign."[8]


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[2] HB 1048, 2009.

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