Health & Hospital Corporation Still Won't Release Audited Financial Statements

So the Marion Co. Health & Hospital Corporation begins its effort to gain public support to build a new $754 million hospital by getting one state lawmaker to slip into the state budget in the dark of night a provision to allow for a costly special election this November to consider a referendum that authorizes it to borrow the money needed to build the hospital. It prepares misleading referendum language that continues to keep people in the dark as to what is being proposed, such as the amount of money that is being borrowed, the annual cost of borrowing the money and where the money will come from to pay for the debt. And just to ensure complete darkness, the HHC refuses to make publicly available its past audited financial statements. Yet it can take the time to illegally use taxpayer resources to lobby for passage of this referendum, including a link from its own website (still absent of any audited financial statements) to a website promoting approval of the referendum that once again is long on propaganda and short on facts. Gee, if I didn't know better, I would think someone is trying to hide something very important from the public. That's pretty scary when you consider the HHC is a publicly-owned organization that is funded with taxpayer dollars. And these people expect you to believe they can borrow three quarters of a billion dollars without raising taxes one dime.

UPDATE: There audited financial statements for HHC from 2004 to 2007 can be found at this hidden link on their website. You would never find these if you weren't told that the link existed, notwithstanding the snarky remarks of the commenter who provided the link.