He Sez: "Open, Honest and By-the-Books", I Say "Smells Like a Payoff"

It sure smells like a bribe:

Arkansas Rep. Mike Ross -- a Blue Dog Democrat playing a key role in the health care debate -- sold a piece of commercial property in 2007 for substantially more than a county assessment (PDF) and an independent appraisal (PDF) say it was worth.

The buyer: an Arkansas-based pharmacy chain with a keen interest in how the debate plays out.

Ross sold the real estate in Prescott, Ark., to USA Drug for $420,000 -- an eye-popping number for real estate in the tiny train and lumber town about 100 miles southwest of Little Rock.

"You can buy half the town for $420,000," said Adam Guthrie, chairman of the county Board of Equalization and the only licensed real estate appraiser in Prescott.

Now it turns out that the total price of the property and its business, including some intangibles, was about $1.25 million. Prescott, Arkansas has a population of 3,686 in the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Nevada County (pop. 9,955).

One might wonder if it was reasonable to pay $1.25 million for a property worth less than a sixth as much in order to take over a drugstore in a small town that has at least one other pharmacy. The drug store does about $1 million in sales a year. One might think that for an ongoing business of that volume, $500,000 would probably be on the high end of a sales price.

There used to be a trick some of the Chicago cops used to have when they pulled you over: They'd offer to sell you the pen that they would otherwise use for writing the ticket for what they thought was a fair bribe ($20-$100 back then).

This has the same odor.