Friday, June 12, 2015

State's Top Budget Director Takes Executive Job At Main Street

Ethics questions swirled around former Indiana House Speaker Pro Tem Eric Turner, whose family nursing home business, Main Street Property appeared to benefit from actions he took as a former state lawmaker. Turner's company was sold to an Ohio-based company, Health Care REIT, last year as part of a $2.3 billion deal shortly after the former lawmaker successfully lobbied state lawmakers to kill a proposed moratorium on the construction of new nursing homes. Health Care REIT has ties to two prominent Indiana businessmen and large Republican contributors who serve on its board, Fred Klipsch and Scott Trumbull.

Now word has come that Gov. Mike Pence's Director of Office of Management and Budget, Chris Atkins, is leaving his top state job to become a senior vice president at Main Street. Atkins worked as general counsel and policy director for OMB under former Gov. Mitch Daniels before leaving the agency to serve as a senior policy director for Pence's 2012 gubernatorial campaign. The legislature sent a measure to Gov. Pence this year, which he signed into law, placing a moratorium on construction of new nursing homes for a 3-year period. That moratorium does not apply to assisted or independent living centers, a popular alternative to nursing homes.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The gravy train just keeps a-rollin'.... except for the honest, everyday Hoosier who must toil mighty hard to earn the few bucks that will be stolen by the Democrat and Republican politicians to support billionaire sports team owners, Turkish wannbe sports team big shots, and every other criminal deal like Vision Fleet.

Anonymous said...

Dig Deeper. Corruption exists with this deal and family going back to 2005 and more. All the family members have benefit from the deals. Call Centers, failed child abuse reporting, Daughter's role with FSSA and DCS and more. It involves many heads of state okaying the deals.
Time for the DOJ and Feds to step up and expose the multitude of players.

Anonymous said...

Indiana....the state that grafts.

Anonymous said...

This story is not dead.