An article in this today's North Platte Bulletin has caught my eye.  It seems that the Nebraska Department of Weights and Measures has caught several gas stations selling ethanol products as premium gasoline.  This sort of fraud may or not go undetected when the price of fuel is half what it is now, but in these troubled times there will be little tolerance shown for fraud.

 

Md AG Doug Gansler's threat to sue car rental companies for excessive per gallon charges - some "Don't Gas Up" charges were hitting $8 a gallon in Maryland - has brought some relief and an article about the practice in USA Today.   Gansler's move is generating discussion among his colleagues at this week's National Attorney General Association (NAAG) conference.  If the practice is not curtailed, I would expect other state AG's will act.

Now that the strains of "Pomp and Circumstances" have faded away, millions of young high school students and graduates will be out in the workforce.   Although often too young to vote, they are entitled to the protections of our labor laws.

Ma AG Martha Coaxley maintains a website - http://www.laborlowdown.com - and runs radio advertisements informing her state's young people that they are protected by the minuimum wage and other labor laws.  Her goal is to arm these young citizens with the knowlege that they are protected by the same laws and constitution as the rest of us.

My question is simple.  Why don't other AG's do the same thing?

From time to time I get to use this forum to brag about my own AG - Maine AG Steve Rowe - and today I do so because of his outstanding work with the Maine Hospice Council and Center for End of Life Care.   AG Rowe personnally moderated discussions about Maine "End of Life" care in a series of seven Town Meetings across the state.  The discussions drew several hundred particpants and transcripts have been created that will in turn become a report that should be out soon.   AG Rowe's efforts are part of an on going effort by state attorneys general to address this important area of concern.  

For more information, go to  http://www.naag.org  and  http://www.stateag.org in the section entitled "Pain and End of Life."  

As state AG's increasingly utilize their jurisdiction over non-profit organization governance they are having to face their responsibilities when hospitals find themself in trouble.  

The bold action recently taken by Ma AG Martha Coaxley when faced with a sobering report on the operation of six Catholic hospitals in eastern Massachusetts might serve as a harbinger of things to come.

The bottom line is that a report that the AG had commissioned reported that the Caritas Christi Health Care system had serious governance and financial problems.  Owned by the Archdiocese of Boston who had been unable to find a Catholic purchaser, AG Coakley announced on May 20 that the Archdiocese had agreed to give up control of the hospital system.

The Attorney General's office approved a plan that leaves the Archdiocese with "veto power over major strategic moves, including major transactions, Catholic identity, bylaw and charter changes as well as the hiring of the president and chief executive officer." The AG's office also reported that, "Under the amended Bylaws, Caritas will be governed by a 16-person Board of Governors, three of whom shall be appointed by the Archdiocese, one of whom shall be appointed by the Dominican Sisters of the Presentation, one of whom shall be the President and Chief Executive Officer of Caritas serving ex-officio and the balance shall be elected by the Board."   

AG Coakley had previously identified the need for the Archdiocese to release control over "over strategic, operational, and financial matters of Caritas while retaining influence only over matters of religious direction" as the most compelling priority. 

The number of hospitals that are in trouble is growing.  My prediction is that AG's will have to begin to turn their direction to what they are doing to do about it when it lands in their lap.