Bruce Lunsford

Infobox Congressional Candidate
honorific-prefix =
name = Bruce Lunsford
honorific-suffix =


nominee = U.S. Senator from Kentucky
election_date = November 4, 2008
opponent = Mitch McConnell (R)
incumbent = Mitch McConnell
state = Kentucky
party = Democratic
date of birth=birth date and age|1947|11|11
place of birth = Kenton County, Kentucky
date of death=
place of death=
alma_mater = University of Kentucky,
Salmon P. Chase College of Law
profession = attorney, businessman
spouse =
residence = Louisville, Kentucky
religion = Protestant
website = http://www.bruce2008.com//

William Bruce Lunsford (born November 11, 1947) is an American Democratic politician from Kentucky. He has served various roles in the Kentucky Democratic Party including, Party treasurer, Deputy Development Secretary, and Head of Commerce. Lunsford is currently the Democratic nominee for Kentucky's United States Senate seat, and he will face Mitch McConnell in the November election.

Early life and education

Bruce Lunsford was born in Kenton County, Kentucky on November 11, 1947 to Amos and Billie Lunsford; Lunsford's mother, Billie, was later killed in an automobile accident by a drunk driver. When Lunsford was a child, his father left his job as a union shop steward for General Electric Cincinnati and borrowed money to purchase a small farm in Piner, Kentucky, where Lunsford spent his childhood.

In high school, Lunsford became an all-conference basketball player at Simon Kenton High School, and was also a five-year starter on the baseball team.

When he enrolled at University of Kentucky in 1965, he worked as an intramural adviser on campus and joined the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. Lunsford graduated with a political science degree in 1969, with a minor in accounting.

After graduation, Lunsford went to work for a Cincinnati accounting firm, passed the CPA exam and became a Certified Public Accountant in 1970. That fall, he started taking evening classes at the Salmon P. Chase College of Law, and graduated in the top ten percent of his class in 1974.

Lunsford entered the National Guard during law school. After training at Fort Bragg and Fort Lee, he became a member of the U.S. Army Reserves at Fort Thomas, where he stayed for five and a half years.

Business career

Lunsford, along with two other partners founded Vencor in 1985. Initially, the company was called Vencare until an initial public offering under the name Vencor in 1989. Vencor later split into two companies Vencor and Ventas. During Lunsford’s tenure with Vencor and its spin-off Ventas, Vencor grew to employ over 62,000 employees in 42 states with over 300 facilities caring for 50,000 patients. Vencor also became a Fortune 500 company.

In 1998, the company that Lunsford founded, Vencor was split into two companies. One company, Ventas became a real estate investment trust (REIT) which owned all of the real-estate property, and leased space to the second company Vencor, which operated the facilities. At the time, Vencor was expanding rapidly, and nursing home companies were discovering that using a REIT provided a better financing structure to allow the companies to grow.

Lunsford served as the CEO of both companies until hiring replacements and resigning in 1999, and remained the Chairman of Ventas until 2003.

Vencor was later renamed Kindred healthcare in 2001. At the time of the split, all shareholders in Vencor were issued one share of Ventas for every share of Vencor that they held.

In 1997, the US Government drastically reduced Medicare reimbursement rates with the passage of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which had a significant impact on the nursing home industry. New York Times business writer Kenneth Gilpin wrote that “The drop in payments was so dramatic that the financial structures of many of these companies were not flexible enough to adjust.” He went on the mention that as of the summer of 1999, 12 percent of the 1.7 million nursing home beds were operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

As a result of the Medicare cuts, Vencor filed for Chapter 11 protection from bankruptcy in September of 1999. According to the Louisville Courier Journal, under Chapter 11 a company gets a federal court protecting it from creditors while it puts develops a plan finances in order. This is different from Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, in which a company goes out of business.

At the time, five of the top seven nursing homes filed for chapter 11 protection from bankruptcy, however Vencor (then Kindred) was the first to emerge.

During the Chapter 11 reorganization, Vencor shares lost their value, however when the companies split in 1998, Vencor shareholders were given shares in Ventas. Ventas shares improved from below $4 per share in 1999 to trading around $50 per share in April of 2008.

A civil claims suit in 2001 alleged that Vencor knowingly submitted false claims to Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE, the military's health care program. Vencor maintained that they had committed no wrongdoing and continued to dispute the claims until after Lunsford left the company, when Vencor settled the case for $104.5 million, including $54 million for alleged improper claims in Medicare cost reports, $24 million for alleged overbilling in respiratory care services, and $20 million for alleged failure of care claims. The company did not admit any wrongdoing in the settlement.

At the time, this case was announced as the largest settlement under the civil False Claims Act. The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 provided special funding for prosecutors to go after Medicare billing cases, and many other nursing home companies faced similar settlements at the time.

Political career

Roles in Brown administration

In the 1979 race for Governor of Kentucky, Lunsford became the Northern Kentucky representative for the campaign of John Y. Brown Jr. When Brown won the primary Lunsford became treasurer of the Kentucky Democratic Party.

When Brown won the general election, he made Lunsford the Deputy Development Secretary, then as his Legislative Liaison. In 1980 was named head of Kentucky’s first Commerce Cabinet. In that post, Lunsford marketed the state as a business destination, and helped land more than 55,000 new jobs and $4.6 billion in new manufacturing investment.

According to his campaign biography, some of the significant projects Lunsford negotiated included setting up the United Parcel Service hub in Louisville, the Delta Air Lines hub in northern Kentucky and downtown redevelopment projects in Ashland, Lexington and Louisville. Lunsford also led the effort to reach out to Japan by establishing a Kentucky office there, which still exists today and has been instrumental in attracting substantial Japanese investment to the state.

2003 campaign for governor

Lunsford ran for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Kentucky in 2003. The race was a contentious contest with then-Attorney General Ben Chandler and other candidates. Late in the primary, Chandler ran television ads alleging abuse at facilities operated by Lunsford's company. As a result of these ads, Lunsford dropped out of the race just days before the primary, endorsing Democratic candidate Jody Richards, who lost narrowly to Chandler.

Long after the primary, Lunsford endorsed Republican candidate Ernie Fletcher. After Fletcher won the election, Lunsford served on Ernie Fletcher's transition team. Lunsford has contributed thousands of dollars to both Democrats and Republicans over a period of twenty years.

2007 campaign for Governor of Kentucky

Lunsford was a Democratic candidate for Governor of Kentucky in 2007. His running mate was Greg Stumbo, Attorney General of Kentucky. Lunsford placed second in the primary to Steve Beshear. Lunsford won just over 74,000 votes (21%), beating former Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky Steve Henry and Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives Jody Richards, but finishing far behind winner Beshear's 142,000+ votes (41%). [4]

2008 campaign for United States Senate

On January 29 2008 Lunsford announced he would run in the Democratic Primary in hopes of facing Mitch McConnell in the general selection for the senate.cite web|url=http://www.wtvq.com/midatlantic/tvq/news.apx.-content-articles-TVQ-2008-01-29-0006.html|title=Lunsford Enters Senate Race|date=2008-01-29|publisher=WTVQ] He said he had been asked to run by Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear and that he did not expect to spend the millions he had spent on his campaign in previous elections. [cite news|publisher="Courier-Journal"|date=2008-01-30|title=Lunsford to challenge McConnell; Lewis is out|url=http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080130/NEWS0106/801300833|author=Gerth, Joseph]

On May 20, 2008, Lunsford won the Democratic nomination for US Senate. He had 316,763 (51%), followed by Greg Fisher’s 209,662 (34%).

Personal life

Lunsford has three daughters (Brandy, Cindy, and Amy) and three grandchildren (Noah, Liam, and Isabella).

Hart-Lunsford Pictures is a movie production company founded by Lunsford and partner Ed Hart. [http://www.lunsfordstumbo2007.com/articles_details.asp?id=138 Lunsford-Stumbo for Change ] ] In 2007, two films produced by the company were sold at the Sundance Film Festival. "Grace is Gone", starring John Cusack, won two awards there, including the Audience Award for Best Drama.

He is also a thoroughbred racehorse owner and breeder and a former member of the Churchill Downs Board of Directors.

References

External links

* [http://www.bruce2008.com/ Bruce Lunsford for U.S. Senate] official campaign website
* [http://www.opensecrets.org/races/summary.php?id=KYS1&cycle=2008 Campaign contributions] from OpenSecrets.org
*dmoz|Regional/North_America/United_States/Kentucky/Society_and_Culture/Politics/Candidates_and_Campaigns/US_Senate/Bruce_Lunsford_%5bD%5d
* [http://www.hlpictures.com/ Hart-Lunsford Pictures] official website of the film production company
* [http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/dissent/documents/health/vencor_market.html Vencor in the Marketplace] history of alleged corruption