The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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August 11, 2009

Minn. Republicans to run TV ad

$10,000 ad to criticize Democratic attempts to reform health care

By Mark Fischenich

MANKATO — The Minnesota Republican Party will be running a TV ad beginning today and lasting for a week on KEYC mocking Democratic attempts to reform the nation’s health care system.

The ad is an attempt to pressure Mankato Democratic Congressman Tim Walz into opposing reform efforts when Congress returns to Washington, D.C., this fall.

“I think Tim Walz is influenceable,” said state Republican Chairman Tony Sutton during a visit to Mankato.

Sutton also said he thinks Walz — who shocked 12-year incumbent Republican Rep. Gil Gutknecht with a 5 percentage point victory in 2006 and followed that with a 30 percentage point win in 2008 — is vulnerable in 2010 because of health care reform and other controversial issues facing Congress.

“We believe the folks of southern Minnesota need new leadership,” Sutton said.

The ad — titled Reforma — is a parody of drug company ads that promise wonders for people who take a particular prescription but end with a rapid reading of a long list of scary side-effects. The ad ends with instructions to call Walz and tell him to oppose “a government takeover of health care.”

The Democratic proposals moving through the House and Senate don’t involve a government takeover of the health care system, but Sutton said the characterization is accurate because the reform bills could include a public health insurance option. If most Americans chose a subsidized public option because it was cheapest, it could drive insurance companies out of business, Sutton said.

“We think it’s a bad idea,” he said.

Democrats said the ad fails to address the serious problems with the present health care system.

“Obviously this is just another misleading partisan attack from folks who don’t have a plan,” said Richard Carlbom, political director for Walz. “... It just doesn’t add anything to the debate.”

Sutton couldn’t identify any area of the proposed reform where he thought Democrats were on the right track. Other than reforming malpractice laws, he didn’t offer any suggestions for reducing skyrocketing health care costs. As for the estimated 47 million Americans without insurance, Sutton said Republicans believe tax reductions for business owners would allow more workers to be covered.

Sutton said the Republican Party’s goal is not to prevent health care reform from happening — just to stop the Democratic plan.

“I would absolutely not be happy,” he said of the prospect of no plan coming out of Congress. “We think there needs to be reform.”

But Paul Marquardt, a Mankato-area union leader who slipped into the GOP press conference, wanted to hear more about Republicans’ ideas for improving the health care system.

“All I’m seeing is disruption. It’s just ‘No, no, no.’ And that’s all you’re getting from them,” Marquardt said.

The party spent more than $10,000 on the ad, which is scheduled to run for one week on Mankato and Rochester stations. A version of the Reforma ad aimed at Democratic Congressman Collin Peterson will be running in northwestern Minnesota.

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