by James C. Sherlock
Real victims can be the result of scandals. This one does. Citizens believe and hope that Medicaid dollars will be used to care for people with disabilities.
A powerful senator from Virginia has been failing them in her private business for 20 years. Medicaid paid her business to keep the people in its care safe and healthy, and to integrate them as much as possible into society. The business is known for repeatedly breaking Virginia laws, and causing serious injuries to those in its care.
The same senator has been in direct authority for many years over:
- The laws that her business operates under
- Her business’ regulator is a
- The funding that her business receives.
This situation poses a moral dilemma and a political problem for the Senate of Virginia, and for us all. Virginia is also in a legal bind, since the Commonwealth has already been under federal injunctions for not properly serving this population.
The story is here. The Senator is about to make things worse.
Both the House and Senate in Virginia General Assembly – both under Democratic control – could not come to an agreement on a budget for this year. They will return for a budget special session on the 23rd of April.
Sen. L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth), Chair of the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations will be at the forefront in the next session. She will lead the Senate negotiators tasked with resolving the differences between the House and Senate in the biennial Budget Bill.
Lucas’s issue is a serious one for the Senate. Her close alignment between her private life and her public duties and authority raises questions of public perception and Senate Integrity.
She has been running Lucas Lodge LLC for 20 years. The business provides Medicaid-funded services for adults with intellectual and development disabilities.
She has been serving on two committees for many years that are directly related to her business.
- The Senate Committee on Education and Healthcare since 1994
- She is responsible for the Department of Behavioral Health and Disability Services, also known as Virginia Medicaid and the Department of Medical Assistance Services, which oversees her business.
- Write down the laws that Lucas Lodge must follow.
- As previously mentioned, Virginia Medicaid pays Lucas Lodge’s services. The Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations, of which she now chairs, funds both agencies.
Senate’s situation is at best awkward. The situation has only gotten worse.
Senator Lucas, who is currently the sponsor of the Senate Budget Bill, ( HB-30 ) which amends the baseline budget presented by Governor. Youngkin. The bill’s item 291 #4s, Developmental Disability waiver rates for Selected Services, will increase Lucas Lodge Medicaid payments over the baseline. The budget bill of Sen. Lucas passed both her committee and on the Senate floor.
She will lead the Senate to negotiate SB 30 in the Special Session that is coming up.
We’ll watch to see what happens.
The law and right, wrong
The timeline of Lucas’s career is aligned to the history Lucas Lodge and events in multi-domains. This shows issues that have been ongoing for a long time. The average citizen will see that Lucas was wrong to join these two committees when she started her business.
Her activities raise concerns under Code of Virginia Chapter 13, General Assembly Conflicts of Interests Act. The policy is very clear.
Recognizing that our system is representative government depends in part on (i) citizens representing the public fully in the legislative process, and (ii), citizens having the highest level of trust in public officials, the General Assembly finds and declares the citizens have the right to expect that their judgment will not be compromised by improper conflicts…
The members of the General Assembly shall be covered by this chapter.
The purpose of this chapter is to be achieved by a liberal interpretation.
Specific provisions of the law are more ambiguous. The law contains both basic provisions as well as escape clauses.
- Article 2. Unlawful and Generally Prohibited Conduct
- Article 3: Prohibited Conduct Related to Contracts. Lucas Lodge is operated under contracts with Medicaid, and the Portsmouth Community Services Board which operates as a department of the city.
- Article 4. Transactions
- Article 5 Disclosure statements required to be filed
- Article 6. Ethics Training
In Virginia, the Committee on Privileges and Elections is authorized to consider these issues under Rule 18.h). There is no time before the budget session and the process may be long.
Bottom Line
Here. Lucas Lodge is owned by Lucas and as its CEO, he is personally responsible for the repeated violations of Virginia Law and unsafe conditions. These are documented in public records.
She oversees Virginia Medicaid, the funding source for DBMDS and the Lucas Lodge regulator DBMDS, on behalf of the Senate Committee on Education and Health. She allocates funding to both Medicaid and the agencies as Chairman of Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee.
You can choose from several possible points of view or actions:
- The majority of citizens will agree that Lucas’s participation in these two committees since the founding of Lucas Lodge in 2005 has been objectively incorrect. There is a big difference between what’s right and what’s legal. This may be the case in this instance.
- Under Rule 18(h), the Senate can conduct an investigation with many options.
- The Attorney General and law enforcement are ultimately responsible for determining if the facts violate Virginia laws. General Jones may be asked to make a determination on this issue and provide it to the General Assembly.
Lucas may want to withdraw from budget negotiations without apologising to the General Assembly. This would save them a lot of embarrassment.
She has an opportunity to take action now, before the scandal becomes a sideshow.
