A HOOT AND A HOLLER

the letter below is from robin nolan. robin is with a public relations firm in california and works with frank darras, attorney, specializing in elder care law. he believes conseco along with the pa commissioner snaked their way around legal loopholes, the net effect, creation of this trust. apparantly the commissioner doesn't give a hoot and holler about the ultimate fate of trusting seniors. this strongly illustrates an egrigeous turn to the right, into the matrix of cheating and slimy practices that cast a foul ordor on the current american system of values. one simply has to look at the senate hearing with the securities and exchange commission re the madoff affair. oversight of the terribly obvious scheme, repleat with whistleblowers, didn't spur the commission to do anything proactive. every s.e.c. official interviewed hemmed and hawed and passed the proverbial buck, pleading innocence. frankly, i feel, the real culprit in this matter is the commissioner. the following is a direct quote from one of the respondants during the comment period the commissioner ordered. it is dated sept. 29, 08, one day before the comment period officialy ended. i quote:

"THIS SIR WILL NOT BE A TRUST BUT A TRAVISTY ON THE JUSTICE FOR AGING AMERICA WHO HAVE SAVED AND PAID FOR YEARS ON LONG TERM CARE.

"IF YOU LET THIS HAPPEN IT WILL HAPPEN TO GENWORTH AND ALL THE REST....

"DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN TO THOSE OF US WHO HAVE LIVED THROUGH WORLD WARS, DEPRESSIONS AND INSULTS OF AGE AND ITS PLAGUES ON THE ELDERLY."

did the commissioner personally read this, and other, letters? does he have aging parents? is he like the u.s. congressmen who saw to it that their sons and daughters did not go to war, but voted for the invasion of iraq?

dear commissioner ario, i know in advance you will plead you simply had no choice; to inform would have created a big hoo-hah and might just have succeeded in stopping the creation of this trust, thereby letting conseco sink under its own greedy weight. and that would have sent a message to the ltc industry: "you good old boys might not have thought so but scruples now must be introduced into your game plans."

there is no excuse for the commissioner's less than moral decision, and for using pa law to avoid a public vetting, and informing policyholders of the existance of the trust that now holds their policies.

bill silverman