Shady Deal Showered Top Blue Dog With Cash

Rep. Mike Ross has been one of the leading opponents of health care reform in Congress. Guess who coincidentally sold property to a pharmacy chain for hundreds of thousands more than it was worth? Ka-ching!  —PS

ProPublica:

“You can buy half the town for $420,000,” said Adam Guthrie, chairman of the county Board of Equalization and the only licensed real estate appraiser in Prescott.

But the $420,000 was just the beginning of what Ross and his pharmacist wife, Holly, made from the sale of Holly’s Health Mart. The owner of USA Drug, Stephen L. LaFrance Sr., also paid the Rosses $500,000 to $1 million for the pharmacy’s assets and paid Holly Ross another $100,001 to $250,000 for signing a non-compete agreement. Those numbers, which Ross listed on the financial disclosure reports he files as a member of Congress, bring the total value of the transaction to between $1 million and $1.67 million.

And that’s not counting the $2,300 campaign contribution Ross received from LaFrance two weeks after the sale closed.

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Click here to see Rep. Ross’ response (beneath the photograph on the ProPublica page).

AP / Susan Walsh

Rep. Mike Ross, center, has reason to smile. His wife’s pharmacy in The Middle of Nowhere, Ark., somehow earned the family between $1 million and $1.67 million.