Corporations should be subject to consequences for crimes

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To the editor:

So far the only consequence to the biggest bribery scandal in OH has been to a few flesh & blood people — a couple from FirstEnergy/Energy Harbor, a lobbyist and former Republican party Chair, Householder. But, the company has gotten everything it wanted… including Ohio rate payers subsidizing a failing Indiana(?) plant. And, this recently renewed aggregation contract with Troy, Ohio.

Another example: a Cincinnati Enquirer article talked about a health care company Buckeye Health Plan — a subsidiary of Centene – agreed to pay $88 million after Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost sued it for charging taxpayers millions for duplicate pharmacy middleman services. But, then got a lucrative $20 billion Medicaid contract in Ohio.

Consequences for people = a fine, points on a driver’s license, community service, jail followed by parole, and death penalty.

So far consequences for companies = they MIGHT get fined.

If corporations are people (Citizens United – Supreme Court case), shouldn’t they be punished similarly to people? Since this is the biggest bribery scandal in OH, how about the jail-time equivalent be 10 years with no government contracts?

I want to see the “Get tough on crime” that politicians always talk about when campaigning applied to corporations!

When there’s no significant consequence, doesn’t that just encourage more companies to do the same thing…and when people see more and more corporations get away with doing illegal stuff, doesn’t that just encourage people to try?

Heather Sturgill

Troy

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