UPDATE: A reliable source in Washington, DC tells us that Haney is the Democrats’ choice to challenge Coffman. Because Coffman will be a prohibitive favorite, a challenger will struggle to raise cash. That is why a self-funder is the preferred choice of the Big D’s in Washington. And there you have it. Steny Hoyer and Nancy Pelosi have filled out their line-up. Pace in the 3rd. Shaffer in the 4th. Haney in the 6th. Thanks to Mr. Hoyer for letting Colorado know who would be on the ballot.
In yet another sign that national Democrats botched the roll out of 2012 Congressional candidates in Colorado, a simple Google search has yielded interesting revelations about potential CD3/CD6 candidate Perry Haney that Steny Hoyer mentioned to the Denver Post.
Haney is a wealthy spinal surgeon who, according to the Denver Post, lives in Greenwood village but also owns property in the current CD3. Originally a chiropractor in Iowa, he moved to Colorado in the 1980s. Turns out he has had some problems with his medical licenses in Iowa and Colorado.
From the Iowa Board of Medical Examiners press release in 2004:
Perry L. Haney, M.D., a 53 year-old physician practicing in Denver, Colorado, entered into a combined Statement of Charges and Settlement Agreement with the Board. The Iowa Board charged Dr. Haney with entering into a voluntary agreement with the Colorado Medical Board which restricted his Colorado medical license. On April 21, 2003, Dr. Haney entered into a Stipulation and Final Agency Order with the Colorado Board based on concerns regarding the excessive use of massage therapy services in Dr. Haney's practice and the amounts billed for procedures performed in his practice were excessive.
Heaven knows Congress needs another guy with an excessive penchant for massages.
You would think that Congressman Steny Hoyer would have mentioned to his former staff member and now CO Dem Chairman, Rick Palacio, that he was going to mention Haney's name to the Denver Post. But we guess no matter if he did or not Haney's less-than-stellar review by former patients, and medical license issues, were going to be public record anyway.
Vitals.com, a website that allows patients to review their doctors, shows Dr. Haney is not a very popular doctor with people who have seen him. He receives an average of 1.5/4 stars and some pretty awful reviews from a number of patients who felt he defrauded them.
Haney also seems to have an interesting political donation record:
He’s given even more to federal candidates, according to CampaignMoney.com.
Talk about grasping at straws. It seems that Hoyer likes the prospect of Perry Haney solely based on his apparently abundant personal wealth. Does that mean national Democrats have serious concerns about the viability of Sal Pace? Why else would they be name dropping wealthy candidates who have medical license issues, poor patient reviews, and an odd history of political donations?
If Mr. Haney is indeed a contemplating a run for Congress as his Washington-master suggests, let us be the first to welcome him to the public square. He can expect plenty of “massaging” on these pages in the coming months.
Personally, I have a bit of a problem with a guy who can’t decide whether he should run in the 3rd or the 6th. How is he going to pick? Based on which one he could easier win? That’s not the kind of guy I’d want representing me. Congressional seats are supposed to be representative of the district, not just because it’s convenient.
I agree… but with the redistricting nonsense no one knows where anybody’s district is going to be. Polis could be running in a district with Grand Junction, Shaffer could be taking on Cory or another Dem somewhere else. That means just about the whole Congressional delegation is going to have to see where the chips fall and make a decision.
the redistricting that both Shaffer and Sally Pace blew to smitherens? This isn’t just a partisan opinion–plenty of Dems hate Shaffer/Heath’s maps as much as the GOP. Here’s a question: What real job has “The Fist” ever held?
Those doctor rating websites are crap… when was the last time you took the time to rate a POSITIVE experience after visiting the doctor? I’m going to reserve judgement until I hear more about him, but I’d rather have a doctor in the 3rd looking out for seniors than someone like Tipton who wants to strip Medicare of all its funding!
the article, you’d have noticed it was from the Iowa Board of Medical Examiners, not some two-bit website.
So you’d rather have some fraud massage therapist who’s STEALING funds from Medicare?
That release says nothing about it being Medicare patients so let’s stick to truthful statements from the source document. And after reading it, it looks like he paid his dues and was cleared by a national medical chart review board over seven years ago.
He must be doing well now because he just won Medical Leader of the Year from a huge Colorado medical association:
http://www.surgistrategies.com…
Wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that Haney donated over $9,000 to medical political action committees last cycle? The post links to a site that shows all of the sudden Haney started giving BIG to Dems and medical PACs.
Just waiting on the “Sal Pace Newsletter” to weigh in on this. Who wants to bet A. Haney isn’t even mentioned B. (if he is) he is labeled a “Denver doctor”.
I can’t WAIT to see this race ramp up!
It could be that Hoyer doesn’t work well with others; especially when it comes to people he used to supervise. I’m betting Palacio is PISSED at this communication debacle.
Hopefully they do put this guy up to run in whatever rigged district the Dems eventually adopt.
This type of investigation is exactly why The Peak has become the king of Colorado political blogs!