Did nursing home company buy Schumer's help?
First of two parts
BY MICHAEL AMON AND RIDGELY OCHS
ridgely.ochs@newsday.com
September 23, 2007
Faced with a crisis over complaints about its treatment of Filipino
nurses, Long Island nursing home group SentosaCare turned for help
last year to a friendly politician it had supported in the past --
Sen. Charles Schumer.
<Excerpt>
Schumer's actions struck at least one expert in campaign finance as
unusual.
"Members of Congress certainly write letters for constituents all the
time. I think the difference here is they don't always write letters
to foreign governments, and they don't always try to intervene in the
way he did," said Bill Allison, a senior fellow at the Sunlight
Foundation, a Washington, D.C., group that pushes for open government.
"It's very difficult to say ... but whenever you have a big
contributor and a member working on their behalf, it does raise
questions. Members are supposed to be open to everyone. The question
is, is he going to these lengths for people who don't have money?"
http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/friday/longisland/ny-lisent0923%2C0%2C4767176.story
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