Hospital Leaders’ Political Donations Raise Questions

A New York hospital’s trustees and executives have recently channeled gifts to Democratic politicians, leading The New York Sun to suggest that they are seeking to oust a Republican senator who has been raising tough questions about the operations of nonprofit health-care institutions.

Almost all of the 170 donations made to a political-action committee formed by a senior vice president of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital came from the hospital’s trustees, doctors, or employees, the newspaper said. However, a spokeswoman for the hospital said the political-action committee is not connected to the hospital.

The newspaper said many of the contributors usually give big money to Republicans. But it said that the hospital leaders’ political gifts might have been inspired by questions that have been raised by Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican who heads the Senate Finance Committee.

If the Democrats take over the Senate in the elections in November, Mr. Grassley would no longer chair the committee. A spokeswoman for Mr. Grassley said the political-action committee’s link to the hospital “raises questions.”