Freedom Line Blog

There is a nasty fight brewing between Oregon’s governor and Oracle, the software company the state hired to create its doomed ObamaCare website.

Earlier this year Cover Oregon, the state board that contracted with Oracle, decided to scuttle the project after spending upwards of $300 million for a website that failed to enroll a single person.

When Oregon nixed the deal in April, Democratic Governor John Kitzhaber blamed the entire fiasco on Oracle, suggesting the state should consider suing the company to recover its losses.

But at a House Energy and Commerce hearing last week in Washington, D.C., Oracle hit back.

“The website was operational in February,” Oracle said, but “the state of Oregon pulled the plug on it for political reasons.”

The company had previously written to state officials that “Cover Oregon executives have stated to Oracle that application functionality is sufficient to support individual enrollment. However, Cover Oregon has not agreed to give individuals direct access to the application. Thus Cover Oregon, not Oracle, made the decision to keep the exchange closed to individuals even though the functionality has been delivered by Oracle.”

Kitzhaber may face a surprisingly difficult reelection campaign due to the spectacular failure of Cover Oregon. The governor embraced ObamaCare early, so any negative fallout from the law’s poor local performance could sink him.

To be fair, though, Oracle isn’t totally without blame. Saying that the website was functional in February when the enrollment period began in October – and ended in March – is hardly prompt performance. Does anyone seriously think that one of Oracle’s private sector clients wouldn’t be threatening legal action under the same circumstances?

Whatever the outcome of the ongoing investigation, Oregon’s ObamaCare debacle is sure to cost taxpayers even more money as lawyers, tech consultants and political strategists get their part of a never-ending spending spree.

As the worldwide economic downturn drags on, why are European regulators arbitrarily stifling Oracle’s acquisition of Sun Microsystems, causing harm to the latter’s business?  One would think we’d want to encourage beneficial mergers during these lean times. right?

Apparently not in the sclerotic European Commission (EC).  After notoriously blocking such other synergistic mergers as General Electric and Honeywell, EC bean-counters are formally objecting to the Oracle/Sun agreement.  Even the suddenly-activist Obama Justice Department had already approved the deal and said it wouldn’t harm competition, but it apparently troubles the European status quo too much for Euro tastes.  As a result, Sun’s sales have plummeted some 25%, and Oracle could ultimately be forced to abandon the deal and pay a $260 million breakup penalty. Oracle’s software focus doesn’t even compete with Sun in the consumer marketplace, and the agreement was reached back in April.

Meanwhile, EC bureaucrats navel-gaze, and consumers again pay the price.