Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Herrera In, Lars Out?

Herrera is in:

Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera of Camas announced this morning that she plans to run to succeed outgoing Congressman Brian Baird next year.
...
Herrera, 31, was appointed to the Legislature in 2007. Last year, she won reelection to her seat by carrying 60 percent of the vote.
Does this mean that Lars is out?  Potentially so, according to a comment left on HA Seattle:

2. lars spews:

Hilarious. and flattering. and not the least bit valid. but kinda fun
first of all i do more good behind a mic
second it would be a hardship to take that kind of cut in pay
third…i’m under contract for two radio shows for the next five years and could not legally do that.
and i have never felt the least bit of desire to run for office. i once discussed running for Oregon Governor but only if i could campaign from behind the mic…and continue to do the radio show while serving
good luck to Brian’s Republican replacements and fat chance to the democrat wanna bes
Lars

Good times.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Newsflash: Pridemore in

onStepsSMYou heard it here 2nd, as HA Seattle has the scoop:

State Sen. Craig Pridemore, D-Vancouver(49th LD,) will announce his candidacy for Congress in WA-03 within the next 24 hours, sources close to Pridemore tell me.

The other announced Democrat is state Rep. Deb Wallace, D-Vancouver (17th LD,) who entered the race last week, after the decision by incumbent U.S. Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash., not to seek another term.

[…]

I suppose this will set off a predictable flurry of talk about who can win, and that discussion has happened over the last few days in phone calls and emails all over the district anyhow. Personally I believe either of them could win a general election, so I’m not going to cast any stones in that regard.

Pridemore has won both county wide and in his admittedly more liberal legislative district. Nothing wrong with that, and if Pridemore is willing to put his neck out there and fight for what he believes in, then more power to him. He’s also very, very bright, articulate and good with numbers, so anyone facing him in a general election will need to be on their game. Don’t let anyone from down here play games with you about his chances, he’s the real deal.

Still waiting on Lars baby.

Canopy Financial’s fraudulent bankruptcy filing

Thanks to the Wall Street Journal, I was able to track down Canopy Financial’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.  Canopy is seeing protection from their “creditors” including those who hold HSA accounts. 

In the bankruptcy filing, Canopy declares, under penalty of perjury, a very interesting answer to the following question in their filing:

Does the debtor own or have possession of any property that poses or is alleged to pose a threat of imminent and identifiable harm to public health or safety?

Canopy’s lawyer checked the No box.  Which is interesting since by freezing the accounts of HSA account holders, they are endangering those very same account holders the ability to obtain and pay for medical care in our private system.

So yes indeed, Canopy Financial is very much a threat to the public health.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Lifestyles of the fraudulent and infamous

Jeremy Blackburn, the former president of COO of Canopy Financial, who is under indictment by the Securities and Exchange Commission for investment fraud, is an Arabian horse enthusiast:

jeremy_blackburn

So kudos to the SEC for obtaining  an preemptive asset freeze against Blackburn.  Investors will be able to get some of their money back, since Arabian horses and pearl necklaces do have some value. For us lesser mortals dumb enough to designate Canopy Financial as our HSA custodian, we don’t have an SEC to preemptively seize assets, and Canopy is now shielding themselves through abuse of the bankruptcy code. 

After reading through the official SEC complaint, which alleges forged bank statements, forged audit results on KPMG letter head, and coordination by at least two of the three named Canopy Financial executives, it’s actually surprising that Canopy is not being sued under civil RICO, since they meet the “pattern of racketeering activities” test of having committed at least two instances of racketeering activity.  In Canopy’s case that would be the securities fraud plus the theft from custodial accounts.

Canopy 113009

So indeed, I’m still questioning whether or not the bankruptcy filing is even a legal avenue for Canopy Financial at this point.  Fraudulent activity should not be a pretext for using the bankruptcy code which prevents account holders from even contacting Canopy Financial directly.   The legal structure that allows a corporation to keep an arms length from the fraudulent activities of its executives needs to change.

Calling Canopy Financial’s customer information hotline at 1-877-288-0731, Canopy asks “for your patience as we work through this difficult period”.  That’s just not good enough.  Either the custodial accounts have FDIC insurance (which even my Wellfund statement indicates) which will allow an orderly windup of Canopy Financial, or they don’t.  So if the investors are protected by the SEC, why isn’t the FDIC stepping in and seizing Canopy? 

Saturday, December 12, 2009

The strange case of Canopy Financial

Wherein, I decide to take up the pitchfork after being a victim of financial fraud:

In a letter sent yesterday to its customers, Canopy said that it has reason to believe that former executives were skimming from the Health Savings Accounts that Canopy’s technology is designed to help administer. In other words, they were stealing from ordinary folks employed by companies like Fifth Third Bank and Sovereign Bank (Canopy also claimed many clients outside the financial services space, but we’ve been unable to confirm their validity).

I’m one of those outside the financial services space. In the letter, Canopy Financial indicated that they had commenced a chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.  Even better, the SEC is suing Canopy and its former president:

Yesterday, peHUB reported that Canopy had sent a letter to its customers saying it had reason to believe that its former executives were skimming money from the accounts. Canopy has not yet responded to our report. The company’s former president, Jeremy Blackburn, was indicted for wire fraud last week in Chicago federal court. Separately, Blackburn and Canopy were sued by the SEC.

Indicted for investment fraud:

Canopy raised approximately $75 million from investors and paid approximately $40 million in redemptions to existing investors, including Blackburn, who redeemed 250,000 shares in exchange for approximately $1.625 million. Blackburn also misappropriated at least $1.7 million from the offering into his personal bank accounts.

What’s strange about this is that FDIC insurance rules concerning HSAs should be operative here, as the FDIC designates HSA’s as revocable trusts, subject to the $100,000 insured limit.  So you’d think that Canopy Financial is just another bank failure, and subject to FDIC takeover and payout.  Instead, Canopy Financial’s filing automatically designates HSA account holders as “creditors”, unable to even contact Canopy, since that constitutes harassment under the bankruptcy code. 

Let’s ponder a moment those who might have a medical emergency in the near future and need to get access to funds in HSA.  They’re just out of luck. 

HSA’s were once touted as the market oriented solution to putting the consumer in charge of health care decisions.  You see, in libertarian-land, the consumer would have more skin in the game since it was their pre-tax dollars combined with a high deductible insurance policy, and would thus magically drive down prices.  And since the individual insurance market is broken anyway, why not get some tax benefit being self-employed? 

Instead, what we’re left with is the CEO class absconding with the funds, both from investors and HSA account holders.  In Canopy’s letter to me they “deeply regret this development”.  Well, they’re going to deeply regret messing with the thousands of HSA account holders after all is said and done.  Eventually, Canopy Financial’s insurance will have to foot the bill, but that’s probably months away.  In the meantime, it’s time to raise a ruckus, with a class action lawsuit. 

This is all part of the continuum that has landlords not disclosing that their building is about to be condemned, or the Native Americans in the Dakotas subject to utility disconnects in the winter, even though state law supposedly restricts that practice.  Once the middle-class figures out that the scams that typically target the poor are targeting them, then the jig is up.  As the peHUB article notes:

Gillen said Canopy’s problems have made people anxious about using Health Savings Accounts. “The industry has gotten a bit of a black eye from this thing already,” he said. “If (the skimming) is true, this is a body blow. It will really scare people. The assumption has been that your money is safe. Before, Canopy was accused of taking investors’ money, but now it’s John and Jane Doe.”

Alright, my first guess was wrong…

…but I promise to do a better job this time.

I’ve been following the Twitter account of a certain Liz Mair, who’s formerly an Online Communications Director at the RNC.  She’s now working for a social media outlet in DC called Hynes Communications.  Liz Mair let’s us know on Twitter:

Hmmm... looks like I may have a big update to my post re: WA-3 here http://bit.ly/6OUewU tomorrow... #wcot #tcot #politics #gopabout 11 hours ago from web

Mair’s summary of the state of the race (in the bit.ly link) is a pretty good explanation of the district.  She’s obviously well versed in 3rd Congressional District politics.  So I’ve been trying to guess who would be the big name jumping into the race on the Republican side to replace outgoing incumbent Brian Baird (WA-03).

Liz Mair’s bio at Hynes Communications has a tantalizing clue:

Liz is also a sought after guest speaker, having presented on a diversity of new media topics at conferences including CPAC 2008, BlogHer 2008, and the 2009 Personal Democracy Forum.  She has also guest-commentated on BBC radio, CNN, CNN.com, C-SPAN, FOX, MSNBC, NPR, the Lars Larson show and countless other radio shows across the country and around the world.

Lars Larson

Larson, while broadcasting from Portland, resides in Vancouver.  So this race just got even more interesting.  We should know more by 11 AM PST:

@Q13paulinakurtz Open seat... I think... depends on a conversation I'm going to attempt before about 2PM ET tomorrow.

If I’m wrong this time, I’ll gladly buy Just a Guy a beer. 

UPDATE: How could I forget the irony here of Brian Baird appearing on Lars to discuss the town halls, earning the criticism of Jack Bogdanski as “the Democrat from the Lars Larson Show”.

UPDATE 2: Lars really likes to get in the gutter:

On the October 31 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Lars Larson played a spoof "Barney Frank for President" advertisement, in which a person said: "Hi, everybody. I'm Barney Frank and I'm running for president of the United States. Why? Well, because Nancy Pelosi pissed me off. Harry Reid pissed me off, and so did ol' Barack. Ol' Barack himself pissed me off too. I'm pissed at the Repubicans and the Democraps, and I'm going to run as an independent sort of fellow." The ad concludes: "Now remember, this Erection Day -- Election Day, vote for Barney Frank for President. I'm Barney Fag -- uh, Frank and I approve this massage -- message."

UPDATE 3: Jon Russell is out, at least according to this blogger.  This, combined with Herrera’s “I’m in, oh wait, give me a week” announcement, feeds the theory of Lars Larson getting in.

Friday, December 11, 2009

The case for Zarelli

Talkingpoints Memo has one of the first mentions of State Senator Joe Zarelli (R-18) being in the race to replace outgoing incumbent Brain Baird (WA-03):

A Republican source said there are yet three more possible Republican candidates: state Sen. Don Benton, who lost to Baird in an open-seat race in 1998; state House Minority Leader Richard DeBolt; and state Sen. Joe Zarelli.

So that would explain Herrera’s apparent about face in jumping in, where she first announced she was in, only later to say she needed another week. 

Zarelli has already run before in an abbreviated race back in 2002, when Trent Matson dropped out on the Republican side, Zarelli jumped in.  It was during that cycle that the whole issue of Zarelli collecting unemployment checks from the state while being employed as a state senator came up.  Having that albatross around his neck pretty much guaranteed his lopsided loss to Baird that cycle.

Fast forward to 2009.  Enough time has passed for voters to forget about the unemployment checks story, and Zarelli has developed some very deep connections in the district.  But the main factor I believe in Zarelli launching a bid for congress is his wife’s Pro-Israeli work, ranging from the Convergence NW conference put on in 2007, to the travel tours of Israeli settlements that she organizes.  Simply put, Zarelli can do far more work on that front as a congressman than as a state senator. 

So you heard it here first, Zarelli is in.