Ron Kind said to require campaign cash to meet with doctors concerned about Obamacare

A couple of Eau Claire doctors are trying to shake up the sleepy congressional race in southwestern Wisconsin with their claim that they were told to come up with campaign cash before U.S. Rep. Ron Kind would meet with them to discuss a bill detrimental to their hospital.

The pay-to-play allegation has certainly roused the seven-term Democrat.

"Never in my time as a public servant have I asked or required people or organizations to make a contribution to my campaign in order to meet with me," Kind said in his written statement last week. "This claim is a lie and is an attack on my character."

Two doctors at OakLeaf Surgical Hospital contacted No Quarter last week with their three-year-old charge, which they detailed in affidavits provided to the paper. Kind's staff countered with their own set of affidavits challenging the doctors' story.

"I don't know the legalities," Michael Smith, one of the OakLeaf doctors, said in an interview. "But this is an official elected to represent us. What does this mean - if I don't have the money that he won't even meet with me to hear my side of an important issue for our district?"

Another surgeon at the physician-owned facility maintains in his sworn statement that an unnamed Kind aide in his Eau Claire office explained that the veteran politician "typically requires a contribution of $10,000 for a 1-2 hour personal meeting and $25,000 for a half day meeting."
 
The surgeon, who organized the event, asked that he not be named in exchange for providing the Journal Sentinel with his affidavit through his attorney, John Behling, a former aide to Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson. The surgeon declined to be interviewed, Behling said.

OakLeaf doctors wanted to talk to Kind about a bill, called the Champ Act, which would have banned the creation of any new physician-owned hospitals while prohibiting the existing ones from expanding their facilities. It also would have limited the percentage of a hospital that doctors could own individually and collectively.

Read the rest from Daniel Bice at JSOnline

HT Coulee Conservatives

Funny that the paper on the EAST side of the state has to break this story.  What does that say about the media in Western Wisconsin.  Makes a person wonder what else has been going on.