Sunday, May 2, 2010

Carlyle Group's State of Ethics


The Danbury NewsTimes reported the Connecticut Attorney General picked up my concerns about The Carlyle Group's ethics. Connecticut inked a 23 rest stop infrastructure deal with Carlyle. NewsTimes reported:

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is questioning whether the partnership selected to manage and renovate Connecticut's highway rest stops was truthful in its successful bid to gain the 35-year contract.

Blumenthal said The Carlyle Group, the parent company of a key partner in the rest stop deal, may have known it was under investigation in New York State when company representatives told state officials it had not been investigated by a government agency in the preceding five years.

Connecticut ignored their sordid pension bribe history with The Carlyle Group, which repeated in fractal-like formation in New York. Now, the parties argue as to what date Carlyle understood it was under investigation.

Carlyle is happy to claim affiliates as part of the corporate family until some dysfunction shows. They become black sheep when they implode, like Carlyle Capital Corporation. They are hidden away when legal cases arise, as in the case of LifeCare Hospitals which lost 25 patients in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath.

One thing's true, LifeCare was never investigated by the White House. Frances Townsend omitted the hospital with the highest patient death toll from her Lessons Learned report. That abysmal quality investigation may be replicated in Connecticut. How many other states will sign with ethically challenged Carlyle?