End This Guy's Political Career

Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy has  put a longtime Cigna lobbyist in, one Katharine Wade, charge of reviewing its proposed merger with Anthem. 

This would create the largest health insurer in the country, but hizzonner thinks it's fine to put a their own lobbyist in charge of creating a behemouth that would dictate healthcare to 53 million people.

Corruption doesn't begin to describe this:

The regulatory review of the largest health insurance merger in U.S. history has now become a major political battle, pitting a national Democratic leader against his own party. On Friday, Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy — a top Hillary Clinton surrogate who is the co-chair of the Democratic National Committee’s platform panel — faced pressure from his state’s Democratic House speaker to remove his appointed insurance commissioner from her role regulating Cigna’s controversial mega merger.

Connecticut House Speaker Brendan Sharkey's call on Friday came after Clinton and former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius raised concerns about the prospect of the merger harming the 53 million Americans who could be affected by the transaction. The deal is currently facing an antitrust review by state and federal regulators.

The political fight in Connecticut — which is leading states' regulatory review of the merger — follows an International Business Times investigation documenting Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Katharine Wade’s personal and familial ties to Cigna, as well as an increase in campaign contributions to Malloy-linked political groups from donors affiliated with the merging companies. Wade, Cigna’s longtime in-house lobbyist, was appointed to her state government position by Malloy in early 2015 — just as Cigna and Anthem were finalizing their merger proposal.

“At a minimum, the commissioner should recuse herself from further involvement in the Cigna-Anthem merger review,” said Sharkey, according to the Connecticut Post. “Whether a potential conflict crosses a legal ethical line should not be the only factor here. Perception of a conflict is also an important part of the equation, and most onlookers, including consumer and health-care advocates following this issue all have the same perception.”

This is pay to play bullsh%$ at it's worst.