This not surprising in the least:
The Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association, in the middle of a pitched legislative battle over expansion of health insurance for the working poor, today named former Secretary of Transportation Sean T. Connaughton as its next president.
Connaughton, transportation secretary under former Gov. Bob McDonnell, will succeed Lauren Sartoris, who will retire as president after 26 years.
The appointment comes at a critical time for the hospital association, whose members are struggling under deep cuts in Medicare reimbursements without offsetting revenue from the expansion of Medicaid, which Republicans in the House of Delegates have blocked because of political opposition to the Affordable Care Act.
Connaughton, a former chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, was McDonnell’s point man for a sweeping transportation funding law enacted last year, but he also has come under heavy fire from key legislators for his role in public-private partnership deals to build a new tunnel across the Elizabeth River in Hampton Roads and a 55-mile toll expressway along U.S. 460. The administration of Gov. Terry McAuliffe halted work on the 460 project last month because the state had spent almost $300 million for a road that it doesn’t have federal environmental permits to build.
Let’s see…
1) Point man for the 2013 transportation tax increase.
2) Hand in the bungled money pits of the Elizabeth River Crossing and U.S. 460.
3) Now head of the group most vocally in favor of expanding Medicaid.
Give Mr. Connaughton a hand, folks. It takes genuine skill to win a trifecta like that.
