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Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) tells Meet the Press that there are “one or two people that are not team players” in the House Republican conference, and they may choose to vote to remove Speaker Johnson over a vote to support aid to Ukraine.March 31, 2024
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There’s one question both prosecutors and Republican hiring bosses want to know: “Do you believe the 2020 election was stolen?”
After a recent purge of the Republican National Committee, when the new leadership backed by former President Donald Trump fired more than 60 staffers, job applicants for positions in key states are being asked about their views of the 2020 election results, according to two Republican sources with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to CBS News. This line of questioning appears to be a test of their loyalty to Trump — and was described as “insane” by a Republican Party source with knowledge of the interviews.
The same question has been raised in Manhattan courtrooms. It was posed to jurors in a recent civil trial in which Trump was a defendant, and may be posed during jury selection in his upcoming criminal trial.
Trump’s first criminal trial, centering around “hush money” payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels, is set to begin in April. Prosecutors see asking potential jurors for their perspectives on the 2020 election results as a way to glean whether “they can be fair and impartial.”
Joshua Steinglass, a lawyer for the district attorney, argued during a Feb. 15 pretrial hearing that jurors should be asked if any of them believe the 2020 election was stolen since “an affirmative answer here demonstrates an unwillingness to follow the facts and blindly rely on statements” made by Trump and could indicate that a juror “may not be willing to follow” the judge’s instructions.
“Over half the population of this country believe the election was stolen,” responded Trump attorney Todd Blanche, citing no evidence to back up that claim, while disputing the need for the question. “This has nothing to do with the facts of this case.”
Trump has been charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records as part of an attempt to cover up the story of his alleged affair with Daniels from coming out before the 2016 election. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.
His allegations claiming election fraud during the 2020 presidential election have been proven baseless.
A prosecutor acknowledged copying the election question from jury selection in another recent trial. Left unsaid was that it was a case Trump had lost.
During jury selection in the January trial pitting Trump against the writer E. Jean Carroll, prospective jurors were asked if any of them thought the 2020 presidential election had been stolen. When a man and a woman stood up, Trump turned to look at each of them. His adviser, Boris Epshteyn, sat behind him and appeared to smile.
It was Trump’s first time in a courtroom with a jury for one of his trials. He carefully watched the potential jurors as they were asked a series of politics-related questions, including whether they had voted in the 2016 or 2020 elections, were registered with a political party or had attended a Trump rally. Neither person who thought the election had been stolen was selected for the jury.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office said that the jury questions in the Carroll case had enabled the “well-respected” judge, Lewis Kaplan, to narrow jurors down quickly.
Trump was ultimately ordered to pay Carroll $83.3 million. He is appealing the verdict.
The issue of what jurors should reveal about their political views is emerging throughout the former president’s trials. Special counsel Jack Smith has also proposed asking potential jurors for the Florida classified documents case about their beliefs on whether the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
Blanche summed up during the February hearing what lawyers on both sides are truly hoping to ascertain from prospective jurors.
“What we all want to know, and what they want to know is: Do they like President Trump?” he said.
Steamboat Springs, Colorado, has a problem that’s prevalent among all resort communities where housing costs far exceed local incomes: recruiting staff. That’s because job candidates say they can’t afford to live there.
While home prices and rents have soared across the country over the past year, rent and real estate prices in uber-wealthy enclaves are in a league of their own. The median listing price for homes currently available in Steamboat Springs, for example, is $2 million, according to Realtor.com. Median rent is roughly $4,000 a month according to Zillow.com. The high prices put area housing out of reach, even for those earning above-average salaries.
Steamboat Springs city manager Gary Suiter told CBS MoneyWatch that the city government has struggled to recruit a human resources director, a management-level position with a six-figure salary to match, NBC first reported.
“That’s the case for one position. In these higher-end resort communities, there are multiple positions at all layers of the organization that can be difficult to fill,” Suiter added.
The city, with a population of 13,000, previously made job offers to two candidates, both of whom declined.
“We had two recruitments previously and in both cases they couldn’t afford to live here,” Suiter said. The position’s salary? $167,000 per year.
Other local job openings pay far less, including a posting for a rodeo maintenance worker, which pays up to $29.62 an hour.
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Signing bonuses
Suiter said he’s all too familiar with the rising housing costs in communities like Steamboat Springs and how challenging they make it for local businesses to staff up. Wealthy individuals shell out millions for second homes in such areas and drive up housing costs, a trend that was exacerbated by the pandemic.
The particular difficulty the city has had filling the HR director role “tells the story of what’s happening in resort communities, and it’s been happening for a long time,” he explained. “The same thing is repeating itself in higher-end areas.”
Home prices in the country’s 20 biggest metro areas went up an average of 6.7% in 2023, according to the latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller data. Across the nation as a whole, housing prices rose more than 5% over the last year, pushing home ownership out of reach even for high-income earners.
To make the six-figure offer more palatable, Suiter said the city has added a signing bonus that — for the right candidate — is negotiable.
“We will provide a signing bonus within reason, if it’s necessary to recruit the most qualified person,” he said.
Dormitory-style housing
It is harder to house members of the city’s roughly 300-person government staff, many of whom earn far less than six figures annually, Suiter said. The city is in the process of building dormitory-style housing to accommodate some of them.
Housing challenges “permeate every level of the organization,” Suiter said.“It’s not only with management positions, it’s boots-on-the-ground jobs. Bus drivers have been difficult to recruit, especially during the pandemic with the mask mandate.”
The town’s world-class ski resort provides up to 800 beds for staff “at below market rate,” according to a resort spokesperson.
Megan Cerullo
Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News Streaming to discuss her reporting.
More than 70% of Americans say a rewarding career or job is extremely important for them to live a fulfilling life — more important than family, friends or wealth. CBS News interviewed a broad array of workers who chose unique jobs, for a series we call: Unique jobs, extraordinary lives.
Andrew Boese, a 38-year-old Arizona-based music enthusiast, isn’t a fan of travel. But online and for work, he might find himself impersonating an older Australian gentleman with wanderlust looking for love. He’s adopted several other different personas too, including a professional ice hockey player, advertising executive and 22-year-old heir to a family business fortune.
For the past decade, he has been a ghostwriter for Vida Select, a global company with 135 employees that does the legwork of online dating — including creating a profile, swiping and messaging with prospective dates — for people seeking new relationships.
It’s an emotionally fulfilling career and one that satisfies his creative instincts, Boese said.
“It gives you a chance to live vicariously through your clients. You may be terrified of heights, but typing the words ‘I love bungee jumping’ could be cathartic,” he said. “It’s a chance to try on new shoes and see myself in another life.”
Boese, who landed at Vida Select by answering a classified ad for a creative writer, takes pleasure in making love matches for others and enjoys the flexibility the job affords. He typically sets his own hours and works remotely.
Boese spends hours every day logged into dating apps, on behalf of a handful of the company’s 387 clients, inhabiting their communication styles and dating preferences, even if they’re a different gender or generation, or have interests vastly different from his own.
He is single himself — but logs on to dating apps strictly for work. “It’s like a car mechanic that drives a broken-down pickup truck. You don’t take your work home with you, I guess. There are other ways to meet people and I enjoy those,” he said.
Clients either don’t have time or aren’t skilled at navigating online dating so they hire Vida Select, whose employees — including Boese — say they’ve found a uniquely satisfying career path.
Outsourcing dating lives
The company was founded by owner Scott Valdez after he sent 47 messages to eligible prospects on dating apps without receiving a single reply. He told CBS News people outsourced many things in their lives such as dog walking or scheduling appointments so he thought – “why not online dating?”
He placed a job ad on Craigslist where he met a writer who Valdez, 39, said had “a knack for online dating.”
“He took my approach and improved upon what I was doing,” said Valdez, who ultimately ended up in a committed relationship.
Now there are over 100 employees at Vida Select, a multi-million dollar company. Matchmakers manage a client’s account, and scouts choices by swiping left and right on candidates. Valdez said Vida Select does not publicly disclose its exact revenue. Employees are compensated on an hourly basis, but Valdez did not disclose their pay rates. “Given our global reach, hourly rates are thoughtfully adjusted according to each team member’s experience and the cost of living in their respective locations,” Valdez said.
Boese, the ghostwriter, said that while he doesn’t make millions, having a viable career that gives him autonomy over when and where he works is worth the tradeoff. Being his own boss helps him relate to the higher-paid business tycoons he sometimes writes for, he added.
Andrew Boese, a 38-year-old dating site ghostwriter for Vida Select during his work day.
Andrew Boese
The matchmaking industry is estimated to be worth $1.2 to $1.5 billion globally, with nearly 40% of the market located in the United States, according to an estimate from Marketdata. Pricing is somewhat opaque, but high-end matchmakers can charge clients tens of thousands — or even hundreds of thousands — of dollars a year, with no guarantee of a happy ending.
Over five years, Cam Smith, who manages the company’s team of 36 ghostwriters, has become adept at adopting any given client’s particular tone and style, whether it be assertive and confident, or passive and empathetic, for example.
When Smith is “online dating” for someone whose personality is very different from their own, they use a particular technique. “I find a point of comparison in my life, whether it’s a friend, family member, or character on a show that has a similar archetype of personality. I’m implanting that in my mind as my anchor point,” they said.
Ultimately, the Vida Select team’s job is to distill clients’ core values and desires, and create sparks online that could ultimately lead to a satisfying offline relationship or even marriage.
“It’s about being able to embody who they would be if they had all the time and energy to put into it,” Smith said.
“I know what they’re looking for”
Ghostwriters like Boese, a former record producer and night club manager, fill out clients’ bios and write messages to prospects in the voice and style of a given individual. Boese says he spends up to four hours daily managing a single client’s different dating profiles on apps including Tinder, Bumble, Hinge and more.
In college, Boese dabbled in script writing and found that creating characters and writing their dialogue came naturally to him.
“I use the same skillset working for Vida Select, except I don’t have to create the characters. They’re real people, and when we conduct interviews with new clients, I get every ounce of information out of them I could possibly need to come off as them,” he said.
He still produces records as a hobby but found that doing so to pay the bills sucked the joy out of what remains a passion.
While Boese writes for clients of all ages, genders and backgrounds, he’s found a sweet spot in writing for divorced men in their 40s and 50s who are looking for love again.
“I still enjoy writing for all types — it’s fun — whether it’s men or women. It’s a challenge and I look forward to that,” he said. What’s perhaps most satisfying for Boese, he said, is that if he does his job right, all a client has to do is “be themselves.” It’s a fantastic feeling he said.
“The thrill that comes from knowing that one of our clients has gone on to live their happily ever after is unlike anything I’ve had the opportunity to experience in any other writing role I’ve held in my life.”
And judging a prospect’s physical attractiveness from someone else’s point of view isn’t as awkward as it might seem. “I have a list of client preferences and I know what they’re looking for, so I’m not putting my likes into it at all,” Boese said.
When the topic of travel comes up, he has to reconcile his desire to stay put with a client’s eagerness to roam.
“Almost every client we have loves to travel and right off the bat I’m matching with people whose first question is, ‘Where do you want to go?'” he said. “I answer as truthfully as I can from the client’s point of view.”
For Smith, the ultimate reward lies in making a match that lasts. “The thrill that comes from knowing that one of our clients has gone on to live their happily ever after is unlike anything I’ve had the opportunity to experience in any other writing role I’ve held in my life,” they said.
Megan Cerullo
Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News Streaming to discuss her reporting.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Thousands of Los Angeles city employees, including sanitation workers, lifeguards and traffic officers, walked off the job Tuesday for a 24-hour strike alleging unfair labor practices.
Picket lines went up before dawn at Los Angeles International Airport and other locations and a rally was planned for later in the day at City Hall. SEIU Local 721 said airport custodians, heavy duty mechanics and engineers are among the more than 11,000 LA city workers who are striking.
The union said its members voted to authorize the walkout because the city has failed to bargain in good faith and also engaged in labor practices that restricted employee and union rights.
“City workers are vital to the function of services for millions of Angelenos every day and to our local economy,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement Monday. “They deserve fair contracts and we have been bargaining in good faith with SEIU 721 since January. The city will always be available to make progress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”
It’s the latest strike to overtake the nation’s second largest city in recent months. Hollywood writers have been striking since May, and actors joined them last month. Los Angeles hotel workers have staged staggered walkouts all summer, and earlier this year school staff walked picket lines and there was also a contract dispute at Southern California ports.
“The City of Los Angeles is not going to shut down,” Bass insisted. But her office said some services would be affected, including parking enforcement and some traffic operations. This week’s trash pickup will be staggered by one day citywide until normal service resumes Monday, officials said.
Los Angeles International Airport officials urged travelers to allow for extra time for travel to and from LAX during the strike.
“LAX is working diligently with our airport partners to ensure that our operations will continue as close to normal as possible and to mitigate the impacts of the work action to our guests,” airport spokesperson Dae Levine said in an email Monday.
The union said it expects about 300 lifeguards working at dozens of city swimming pools would strike. Rose Watson, spokesperson for the Department of Recreation and Parks, said Monday afternoon that it wasn’t immediately clear whether pools would be closed.
Approximately 300 Port of Los Angeles employees were expected to participate in the walkout, according to port spokesperson Phillip Sanfield. “The Port of Los Angeles respects the fair bargaining rights of all employees,” Sanfield said in an email Monday. “With an anticipated job action, Port of Los Angeles operations will continue.”
The union approved a one-year deal with the city in November 2022 with the understanding that they would return to the bargaining table in January, said SEIU Local 721 Chief of Staff Gilda Valdez. With the broader agreement in place for the next year, the city and the union would then negotiate over a number of “specials,” or smaller specific proposals, Valdez told The Associated Press.
But the city reneged on the promise to negotiate on those issues and “only gave us some small agreements that basically amount to peanuts,” Valdez said. The union filed an unfair labor practice claim with the City of Los Angeles Employee Relations Board over this issue, along with previous claims filed over several other issues.
“This strike is a very strong message: ‘come to the table,'” Valdez said, noting that the union’s members had worked throughout the pandemic to keep the city running.
The union plans to return to the bargaining table with the city the week of August 14 to resume talks, she said.
In Northern California, two unions that represent nearly 4,500 San Jose city employees voted Monday to authorize a three-day strike for next week.
Young Mazino, the surprising standout talent in Netflix’s “Beef,” on Thursday shared a relatable tidbit about his past: He, too, once worked a 9-to-5 office job while trying to launch his acting career.
Critics and fans have lauded “Beef, also starring Ali Wong and Yeun, as a contender for best show of the year. And Mazino, who won over hearts and minds as the misfit but resourceful little brother, was nominated in July for an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor.
Young Mazino as Paul in episode 105 of “Beef.”Netflix
What fewer people know, however, is that before he landed the role of Paul Cho, he was a senior business intelligence analyst — meaning he was in charge of creating financial reports and analyses for the company’s global markets — for the beauty and skin care brand Fresh, Inc., according to his LinkedIn.
On Thursday, the beauty company posted a video to TikTok featuring Mazino sharing that for nearly six years – from 2014 to 2020 – he had worked for Fresh, Inc. in New York City, where he “crunched a lot of numbers.” Mazino, 32, said that while employed at Fresh, Inc. he was attending many auditions to try and kick-start his acting career.
“What I would do is print out my lines and have them on my lap. So then doing this,” Mazino said while pretending to be typing, “and then when no one was looking, I study my lines.”
“I had a little system going on,” he said. “Good times.”
In an interview with People magazine, he said, “It was serendipitous because I became friends with the HR manager when I was putting together hiring packets as a temp, and he knew I was an actor.”
He added that work at Fresh was a “survival job” that supported his creative pursuits, rent and long-distance relationship.
More recently, Fresh, Inc. partnered with Mazino for a series of videos posted to the company’s official TikTok. In a clip posted on July 12 commemorating his Emmy nomination, he shared his favorite story from his time at Fresh, Inc. involving a rat, Tupperware and a visit to HR.
“One time I caught a rat in my apartment and I had it in a Tupperware ‘cause I was going to let it go at Union Square, the park, but I was running late for a morning meeting, so I just brought it with me to the office,” he said.
Mazino said his favorite Fresh, Inc. product is the Crème Ancienne. He also shouted out his favorite co-workers, Amelia Peng, who he said “fought for me,” and Lam Tran, who he said encouraged him to pursue acting full time.
Emi Tuyetnhi Tran
Emi Tuyetnhi Tran is an intern for NBC News Digital.
Rudy Tomarchio has been looking for a job for three months — and says time is running out before he’ll deplete his savings.
The 37-year-old Miami resident is looking for a management-level role, and recognizes that it is likely limiting his results.
While Tomarchio is optimistic that his search is nearing an end as he enters the final stages of multiple interviews, he said he has been surprised at how many other workers are applying for the same jobs as him — and how stingy employers seem to have been when it comes to hiring.
“What’s making the job market so difficult for people including myself is, there’s a weird level of hyperspecialization that a lot of positions are now listing and looking for,” he said.
Even as the U.S. unemployment rate sits at historic lows, the job cuts of the past year, especially among firms that had taken to frenzied hiring as the pandemic began to lift, continue to reverberate.
An unwanted reversal
Case in point, there are now two job applicants for every role on average being advertised, according to data from LinkedIn. That’s a reversal from the post-pandemic peak seen at the end of 2022, when the ratio was about one applicant per role, according to Kory Kantenga, a senior economist at LinkedIn.
At several points last year, there were twice as many job openings per applicant, meaning at least two employment opportunities were available for each unemployed person looking for a job, the U.S. Labor Department said.
Of course, some roles advertised on LinkedIn are seeing many more applicants than what the current 2:1 ratio suggests.
“It’s starting to look more like 2019 and less like 2022,” Kantenga said.
Other LinkedIn findings
Higher intensity: In June, job search intensity was up 35% year on year, meaning job applicants are applying for more jobs, thus creating more competition for a given role.
Workers are staying in their roles longer: LinkedIn’s short tenure rate, which measures the number of positions that end after being held for less than a year, has declined 5.5% compared to June of last year.
Lower confidence: There has been an overall decrease in confidence American workers have in getting and keeping a job.
“A lot of air has been let out of the job market,” Kantenga said, suggesting workers are taking a more protective stance when it comes to their employment.
That may be motivated, at least in part, by recent rounds of layoffs that seemed to have happened in lockstep among many employers in an almost “herdlike” mentality, said Julia Sterner-Holden, a recruitment executive who works across a range of industries.
While there have been sporadic signs of a pickup in hiring recently, the year started off with a virtual hiring freeze that has largely continued, she said.
“Everyone was looking to see what everyone else was doing,” Sterner-Holde said. “It goes in waves. When someone starts hiring, everyone else will.”
The employment landscape is changing
Labor Department data released this week shows the number of job openings in the economy, at 9.6 million, remains at historic highs. But a larger share of those openings are now composed of roles in education and health services, compared with a year ago when business and professional services jobs dominated the number of openings.
Yet, even if they have available jobs, companies are now moving far slower to fill them than they did a year ago, said Michael Steinitz, senior executive director at Robert Half, a human resources consulting firm.
“The thought process is, ‘Are we in a recession?’ So companies are being far more cautious,” he said. “So they may not be moving forward with certain projects, or putting them to the side, and instead maxing out production from their current staff.”
For many economists, the weakening job market comes as welcome news. Over the past year, Federal Reserve officials have blamed a too-strong labor market as a key driver of inflation rates not seen in four decades.
“What we see is a labor market with a very strong demand for labor, which is really the engine of the economy, people are getting hired, many people going back to work, getting wages, spending money, and that’s really what’s driving the economy,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at his most recent press conference.
“But that is gradually slowing, it’s gradually cooling. That’s a good prescription for getting where we want to get,” he added, referring to the central bank’s effort to get the inflation rate back down to 2%.
But in the job market trenches, the slowdown has workers like Tomarchio on the verge of substantial lifestyle changes. He has already moved out of Miami’s tony Brickell neighborhood to a more reasonably priced rental apartment in nearby Wynwood, which has recently seen a glut of new apartment construction.
“I’m very urgently looking for a job, because I only have so many months of savings left before I cannot afford my rent or use my car,” he said.
Rob Wile
Rob Wile is a breaking business news reporter for NBC News Digital.
Tim Sheehy is running in one of the country’s most competitive U.S. Senate races while also running an aerial firefighting company that is heavily dependent on federal contracts.
Bridger Aerospace, which Sheehy founded in 2014, is featured prominently in his ads, with the company’s planes appearing in several shots. And Bridger’s board of directors has blessed the Republican’s campaign, wishing him “the best of luck” in a June statement that confirmed Sheehy would remain as CEO during his bid to oust Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana.
But the company, which issues publicly traded stock, also has explicit rules about political contributions and activities. Employees are not permitted to engage in politics while on company time, according to the company’s Code of Business Conduct and Ethics. There are also rules requiring legal reviews and approval before company funds can be spent on behalf of candidates or campaigns.
“Work time may be considered the equivalent of a contribution by the Company,” the code states. “Therefore, Company Personnel will not be paid by the Company for any time spent running for public office, serving as an elected official or campaigning for a political candidate.”
It’s not uncommon for political candidates — especially those seeking to move from one elected office to another — to have full-time or otherwise time-consuming day jobs. Sheehy’s candidacy presents the potential for unique conflicts with the policies of the company he runs full time. But officials with Bridger and the Sheehy campaign did not directly address questions about how, precisely, the CEO/Senate hopeful is complying with corporate accountability measures.
“Tim’s campaign is separate and distinct from his role as CEO of Bridger Aerospace, and he and the Company abide by the strictest interpretation of applicable ethical norms and federal campaign finance laws,” read an unsigned statement that a company spokesperson sent to NBC News in response to questions. “Further, Bridger has adopted additional internal protocols to ensure that the Company does not facilitate any activity that would violate Company policy and/or applicable federal campaign finance laws.”
Montana is a major Senate battleground in 2024 that could help tip control of the chamber to Republicans. Tester, who is seeking a fourth term, is among a trio of Democratic incumbents — Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Joe Manchin of West Virginia are the others — up for re-election next year in states that former President Donald Trump won handily.
Sheehy might first face a tough primary. Rep. Matt Rosendale, the Republican who lost to Tester in 2018, has not ruled out a run. Sheehy, though, has considerable establishment support, including from Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte and Sen. Steve Daines, a fellow Montanan who also chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate GOP’s campaign arm.
A former Navy SEAL, Sheehy is also a cattle rancher and an active firefighting pilot. Bridger, which specializes in fighting wildfires, began trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange this year, following a merger with a special purpose acquisition company.
It’s unclear how Sheehy balances his various jobs and duties with the demands of a Senate candidate in a key state. Social media posts show he has maintained a steady public campaign schedule. It’s also not clear what permission he’s received from the company to use its images and property in his ads. Some of the campaign’s ad footage is similar, if not identical, to footage that appears in videos that seem to have been produced for corporate marketing purposes.
“It takes a lot of helpers in all that we do,” Sheehy wrote this week on his personal Facebook page. “Whether it’s the over 180 employees at Bridger Aerospace or families getting together to care for cattle, I need your help to win this Senate Race.”
Bridger’s spokesperson did not respond to a list of follow-up questions seeking more details about permissions granted to Sheehy or the “internal protocols” the company says are in place to keep him from running afoul of ethics policies. After Sheehy launched his campaign in June, the company released a statement that he would “continue to serve as Chief Executive Officer with the continued support of Bridger’s experienced management team and Board of Directors.”
“Tim has assembled an experienced management team [composed] of former military, corporate and aviation experts, all of whom are accustomed to collaborating as a team to pursue and execute Bridger’s mission-specific objectives,” board Chairman Jeff Kelter said in the statement. “Bridger is confident that this group of professionals, constituting the finest management team in the business, will continue to successfully achieve our aerial firefighting objectives.”
Bridger is almost exclusively reliant on federal contracts — “accounting for approximately 96% of our total revenue in the year ended December 31, 2022,” according to a March filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Bloomberg Government reported in June on the potential conflicts of interest Sheehy would face as a senator deeply enmeshed with a major federal contractor.
“Tim Sheehy has been plagued by scandals, conflicts of interest and campaign stumbles since he entered the race,” said Amanda Sherman Baity, a spokesperson for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “Every day, more of his liabilities come to light.”
Katie Martin, a spokesperson for Sheehy’s campaign, told NBC News that he will step down from his roles with Bridger if elected.
“When Tim Sheehy is elected to the U.S. Senate,” Martin said, “he will fully comply with Senate ethics rules and standards of conduct, just like every other member of the Senate, and that would include stepping down as CEO and board member.”
Henry J. Gomez
Henry J. Gomez is a senior national political reporter for NBC News.
At the time, Temple declined NBC News’ request for an interview and a spokeswoman for the Level 2 trauma center said Bayonet Point was “appropriately staffed to ensure the safe care of our patients.” The spokeswoman also said, “We rely on feedback from our physicians, and when issues are validated we take necessary action.”
Jyric Sims, president since June 12 of HCA’s West Florida division, which oversees Bayonet Point, did not respond to a request for comment on Temple’s departure or on the continuing problems at the facility. A hospital spokeswoman said Temple “continues to be employed in an advisory capacity.” She declined to comment further or answer other questions about Bayonet Point.
Public records show that a few weeks after the NBC News report on Bayonet Point, Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration identified deficiencies in the hospital’s quality of care. In an “unannounced complaint survey” completed March 7, agency officials determined that “the facility failed to provide supervisory oversight” to ensure the immediate availability of a registered nurse in five of its 10 nursing care units. The report also noted an unidentified staff member characterizing the facility’s night shift nurses as having poor supervision, yet “they keep adding things for the nurses to do.” Another staffer noted that “When the Agency for Health Care Administration is in the building, they find staff but when AHCA leaves it goes to being understaffed.”
Even worse was a March 28 AHCA complaint that determined Bayonet Point had failed to provide a safe discharge for a Spanish-speaking patient who was left unattended in the hospital lobby. The patient was later found disoriented and sitting at a local bus stop, where he had been for over 24 hours, the report said. The president of quality at Bayonet Point, the report stated, disclosed to AHCA that “the facility does not have a policy for nursing staff on discharging patients.”
Subsequent visits by the agency found the deficiencies corrected and no additional shortcomings.
After the February NBC News report, two Republican members of Congress from Florida, Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Gus Bilirakis, sent a letter to HCA Healthcare requesting information about conditions and safety at Bayonet Point. It could not be determined how HCA responded — Congress is on summer hiatus and the hospital’s spokeswoman declined to provide its response to NBC News.
Two physicians said conditions at Bayonet Point have not improved significantly in recent months. The air conditioning system broke down in April, according to the physicians, and high humidity levels contaminated the surgical instrument trays. The hospital had to send the instruments and trays out to other facilities for sterilization, closing the operating room for a week.
Cockroaches remain a problem in the operating room, the doctors said. One said a staffer had recently placed two insects in specimen jars, labeled them, and left them on the main desk in the operating room.
On July 26, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid updated its hospital comparison website; it assigned HCA’s Bayonet Point facility one star out of five overall, well below average. Bayonet Point’s previous rating was also one-star, which the hospital’s spokeswoman said in February was based on old data from 2017 to 2019. The hospital had improved its quality since then, the spokeswoman said, a contention that CMS’s new rating does not confirm. The hospital spokeswoman declined to comment about the new one-star rating.
At the time of the February NBC News report, Bayonet Point was rated ‘A’ for patient safety by Leapfrog Group, an organization that ranks hospitals and describes itself as a health care watchdog. In Nov. 2021, when the facility received that ranking from Leapfrog, former CEO Temple said the grade “validates our commitment to safety.”
Now, according to new ratings issued by Leapfrog in May, Bayonet Point no longer receives a grade. The facility declined to participate in the survey, the Leapfrog website said. In the past, HCA has pointed to Leapfrog ratings as evidence of its high quality and patient safety. The hospital spokeswoman declined to say why Bayonet Point had not participated in the Leapfrog survey.
Gretchen Morgenson
Gretchen Morgenson is the senior financial reporter for the NBC News Investigative Unit. A former stockbroker, she won the Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for her “trenchant and incisive” reporting on Wall Street.
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