WellCare and Blair
October 25, 2007 at 4:21 pm by Wayne GarciaAs the WellCare federal investigation just starts to unfold (WellCare CEO Todd Farha, in his best Kevin-Bacon-Animal-House-”All-is-well!” imitation, finally issued a statement) and its market value falls off the table, it is good to recall that WellCare is 
the No. 1 campaign contribution bundler at the county commission level in Tampa Bay.
My story last year detailed how the Medicare and Medicaid provider donated $32,000 to local candidates in the 2006 election cycle, mostly Hillsborough County Commission candidates, at the same time it is trying to break into the ranks of providers who feed at the county’s lucrative indigent health care plan.
Two years earlier, it bundled up $10,000 for Commissioner Brian Blair, who is running again in 2008 and has received $2,000 so far in this campaign from four different WellCare corporations. In 2005, Blair raised the issue of opening up bidding for the indigent health care bucks but denied that it had anything to do with all the greasing he’s had from WellCare.
