Offering frequent news and analysis from the majestic Evergreen State and beyond, The Cascadia Advocate is the Northwest Progressive Institute's unconventional perspective on world, national, and local politics.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Rob McKenna shows his true colors, says he'll join suit to block healthcare reform

Ever since Rob McKenna declared his candidacy for Attorney General in 2004, he has craftily and cunningly portrayed himself as a reasonable Republican who believes in progressive policy directions (like consumer protection).

Today, it appears that facade may finally be falling apart in the wake of McKenna's disgraceful announcement that he intends to join a lawsuit to block implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

The news comes as no surprise to us. Before he was attorney general, McKenna was a right wing King County Councilmember and a Tim Eyman collaborator (he actually coauthored Eyman's Initiative 747, which the Supreme Court later found to be unconstitutional). Longtime transit activists haven't forgotten his attempts to destroy Sound Transit from within, which were eventually thwarted when King County Executive Ron Sims refused to re-appoint him to the Board.

Now, five years after taking office as Attorney General, McKenna is banding together with other reactionary Republicans in an attempt to thwart legislation that would provide insurance to half a million Washingtonians.

And he has the gall to say he's doing it to "protect citizens".

What he really means is that he wants stop the big, bad federal government from picking on those poor insurance companies.

McKenna is deluded if he believes that the people of the Evergreen State are going to approve of him using our tax dollars in an effort to deny Washington's uninsured the healthcare coverage they need and deserve.

Democrats, naturally, are furious.

"I don't know who he represents. He doesn't represent me," Governor Gregoire told reporters before a bill signing ceremony this afternoon, adding that McKenna had not bothered to consult her office about his plan to join the suit. "I don't think he represents a million and a half Washingtonians that will be helped by this. I don't think he represents small business that will be helped by this."

"I will actively oppose this lawsuit if it moves forward," she promised.

Democratic Party Chair Dwight Pelz was swift to issue a condemnation. "Keep your hands off of our healthcare coverage, Mr. McKenna," he said in a news release sent to NPI. "You and your wife and your children can see a doctor when they are sick, but for over 400,000 people in Washington that is not the case. Each year around 1,000 residents of our state die because they do not have healthcare coverage."

Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown also made her displeasure with McKenna known during media availability with reporters. "I'm extremely disappointed. I think this bill is good news for Washington State. So I'm not sure why he would make a move like that. I'd like to make sure we meet with him and help him understand the fiscal implications for our state before he does that."

Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler echoed Brown's comments. "It’s my hope that we come together as a state to enact reform, rather than let families continue to suffer while lawyers battle in the courts," he said in a statement.

Representative Jay Inslee, one of the two hundred and nineteen Democrats whose votes were critical in passing H.R. 3590, was incensed. "We fought over 2,000 insurance industry lobbyists in Washington DC to protect Washingtonians health care. We shouldn’t have to fight our own Attorney General too," Inslee declared.

"Stripping families of their legal rights to insurance, may be the South Carolina way, may be the insurance company way, may be the Tea Party way, but it’s not the Washington way," Inslee continued in his news release.

"Rob McKenna does not know, or does not care that a significant part of this comprehensive reform includes the solution to decades of Medicare reimbursement disparity for Washington health care providers and hospitals."

Meanwhile, in the Other Washington, Robert Gibbs expressed optimism that the Republican lawsuit would fail when asked about it during the daily press briefing.
Q: What’s the White House’s reaction to the states that have threatened to sue over this legislation? Is that something that the President and the team are taking seriously?

MR. GIBBS: I heard Nancy-Ann talk a little bit about this, this morning on television I think. My sense is that a lot of big pieces of legislation are challenged in some ways. We certainly have -- you’ve seen the intent of some to do -- to challenge this legislation on grounds we don’t think will be very successful.

Q: You don’t think their suits will be very successful?

MR. GIBBS: We don’t.

Q: Okay. And is there any kind of a plan or a reaction to deal with that in the coming --

MR. GIBBS: Well, I assume there will be many things that we will deal with in the coming weeks, months, and years ahead as health care reform is implemented. But I think that -- you know, look, some of the states and some of the players might end up being kind of curious, but, again, I think there’s pretty long-standing precedent on the constitutionality of this.
It's our great hope that the courts will strike down this last ditch Republican scheme to obstruct the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The social safety net that we have built and are continuing to build to protect our most vulnerable is both moral and constitutional.

Comments:

Blogger VikingGirl said...

I certainly hope our state's progressive democrats organize some kind of campaign to let Ed McKenna know that we strongly oppose his efforts to obstruct our rights to the health care program. And does he have the right to do this on his own accord without buy in from others in our state government? I didn't vote for this man and I'm certainly willing to be part of any activities to stop him from taking our great state into this disgusting arena.

March 22, 2010 5:34 PM  
Blogger Jana said...

I just wrote Rob McKenna to let him know his view does not represent me or a vast number of my peers. We have been waiting for a very long time for this to pass. Just like we all have to buy auto insurance if we drive a car, we each need to buy health insurance if we want to live responsibly.

March 22, 2010 6:12 PM  
Blogger Scott said...

i applaud McKenna's effort. I believe this legislation will wreck our economomy and undermine the quality of our healthcare system. No legislation from any party should be enacted from using coercion and by blatently disregarding the opinion of a majority of americans. It only benefits a small group of citizens, the unions, drug companies, and bureaucrats. We all have access to healthcare. We should not all be obligated to buy a product (i.e. insurance)

March 22, 2010 6:43 PM  
Blogger Scott said...

Car insurance and health insurance is like comparing apples to oranges.. Car insurance is required to protect other people if you should get in a car accident while driving. you are not required to buy car insurance unless you make a choice to buy a car. The better analogy would be requiring everyone to buy a car. There is no harm to others if I elect not to have heath insurance. My idea of living responsibly is to be accountable for my own choices.

March 22, 2010 8:48 PM  
Blogger Sarajane46th said...

Health insurance is required, like car insurance, because if you get in an accident or become very ill without insurance, you will end up in the emergency room and the rest of us will have to pay. Right now, the uninsured are costing the rest of as an average of $1,000 each. This is one of the savings and why hospital expenses and therefore premiums should go down.

With regard to AG McKenna's suit, he is acting outside of his Constitutionally authorized role. His role is to advise the executive branch and to defend the state. He should be admonished by the Governor that he is not authorized to spend any state resources on this lawsuit. Flooding his office with calls and faxes is recommended. Calls and faxes from hoards of constituents is part of what turned Bart Stupak around on the health care reform bill.

March 23, 2010 12:13 AM  
Blogger Scott said...

what turned around Stupak was the federal grants he received out of nowhere last weekend..

health insurance is not required, nor should it be.. if I go to the emergency room, i get a bill, not you.. if my income is too low to pay for it, there are programs or I should already qualify for medicaid/medicare, two programs already in existance.. you are correct that our insurance is probably a little bit higher for a small percentage of people that go to the emergency room.. BUT.. we already absorb those costs now.. so forcing 30 million more people to buy heath insurance should theoretically reduce our costs.. but it will not.. if you know math at all, this bill has red ink all over it.. you cant take 10 years of income and 6 years of expenses and say its going to save money.. if you add the doctor fix and take out the student loans, this bill is a disaster for our economy.. look at the financial position of the country.. we need to cut our expenses.. anything the government tries to run bleeds red ink.. social security is broke, medicare is broke, and the post office is broke.. fedex and ups dont have a problem making money, but the government does.. everyone wants reform, but it needs to make economic sense.. i do not want the government controlling my healthcare...

i do not believe this is about healtcare.. we have great healthcare.. its about the government controlling more of our lives.. they will have access to every bit of your medical and financial information now.. this is not a good thing..

March 24, 2010 9:10 PM  

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