Durbin: Menendez should keep gavel despite ethics scandal

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin said on Sunday embattled Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) should keep his chairmanship of the Foreign Relations Committee despite an investigation into his dealings with a top donor.

"Sen. Menendez has given us an assurance that there is no substance to these charges," the Democratic senator from Illinois said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "It's being looked at by the Ethics Committee. Of course, I can't comment beyond that."

The Senate Ethics Committee is looking into Menendez's interaction with Salomon Melgen, a Florida eye surgeon who has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Menendez and other Democrats.

Menendez and Durbin were up all night writing the statement.

And when they finished, Durbin said, “Now what’s in it for me?”

Menendez replied, “If I keep the chairmanship, you get a piece of the Dominican port security action, a cut of all contraband transported to the US, a hacienda in the DR, and as many little girls as you can diddle.”

THIS JUST IN----Harvard, Yale Have No Record of Menendez pal, Dr. Salomon Melgen, Attending, Despite His Claims

Contrary to his website and resume, big-name institutions including Harvard, Yale and the Univ of Missouri have claimed they have no record of professional or educational history with Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen, MD, who is under two separate federal investigations for Medicare fraud and a political scandal involving a Democratic senator, according to a report by the Washington Free Beacon.

Dr. Melgen's biography (pdf link at web site) on his website claims he graduated from Harvard, was chief resident of ophthalmology at the Univ of Missouri, and held a Yale internship, but all three denied any record to support his credentials, according to the report.

Dr. Melgen, an active fundraiser for the Democratic Party, is under fire after it was discovered that he and US Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), improperly reported frequent trips to the Dominican Republic, and allegedly hired underage Dominican prostitutes for sex parties. © Copyright ASC COMMUNICATIONS 2012.

So. Fla. eye surgeon under scrutiny frequently prescribed expensive drugs---suspected of overbilling Medicare by treating patients who may not have needed his services.

Miama Herald, Jay Weaver, Marc Caputo and Amy Sherman / jweaver@MiamiHerald.com

A South Florida eye surgeon who’s a friend of a U.S. senator is under federal criminal investigation for billing Medicare millions of dollars to treat elderly patients for services they may not have needed, The Miami Herald has learned. Federal agents began investigating Dr. Salomon Melgen last year, sources say, after investigators suspected he overbilled the taxpayer-funded health program by overprescribing a high-priced drug called Lucentis, which is injected into patients’ eyes.

Several sources familiar with the doctor’s practice said he used the drug, which costs $2,000 a vial, to treat patients with macular degeneration more than any other ophthalmologist in Florida and possibly the country. His high patient volume also raised red flags for investigators, the sources said.

Under Medicare policies, a doctor may only prescribe treatment that is “reasonable” and “necessary.” To make a case, federal prosecutors would have to prove that Melgen needlessly treated patients simply to run up sky-high Medicare bills.

Melgen, whose lawyers have denied any wrongdoing, finds himself in the middle of two federal investigations: His Vitreo- Retinal eye clinics in West Palm Beach and two other South Florida sites were raided last week by agents with the FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services, who are investigating possible Medicare fraud.

A separate FBI investigation revolves around the doctor’s relationship with U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and the trips they took on his private plane to Melgen’s villa at a resort in the Dominican Republic.

--SNIP--

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/07/3222772/so-fla-eye-surgeon-under-scrutiny.html

Sen. Durbin can run in 2014, and I know a conservative Republican, Chad Koppie, who is running, in that race. If you know anyone, who lives in Illinois, please tell them that Chad, a member of the Kane Co. Regional Board of Schools, is pro-tax cuts, pro-spending cuts, pro-life, pro-gun rights, and anti-illegal alien. Chad needs to find more people, who will donate and/or volunteer for his campaign. His blog is chadkoppiescampaign.blogspot.com.

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