Lieutenant Colonel Allen B West (US Army, Retired)

Candidate, Florida US Congressional District 22

30 Aug 2009

This year’s August heat has brought more than high temperatures and developing tropical storms to south Florida. Political discourse has reached a fever pitch over the proposed health care reforms Congress is proposing.

Our health care system needs reforms. We must make our system more affordable and accessible to all Americans. These reforms can be instituted within the classic conservative principles of limited government, liberty, individual responsibility and accountability, and free market solutions.

A true Conservative believes in the individual and setting the conditions for their success. I offer that the post-modern liberal approach feels the “collective� is more important than the individual. Our US Constitution plainly states that the preeminent purpose for Government is to protect the Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness of the citizen, we Americans.

Reducing costs of health care can begin by making changes to our legal system which often results in catastrophic litigation brought against medical professionals. How many “tests� are ordered by attending doctors for us only as a precaution against potential lawsuits?

These costs associated with unnecessary lawsuits are real and often have no basis in fact. A 2006 study by the Harvard School of Public Health found 40% of the lawsuits studied had no patient injury and/or no medical error. Mississippi and Texas recently passed legal reform and insurance premiums have decreased by as much as 70%. These are real savings that will be passed on to health care consumers.

However, as former DNC Chairman Howard Dean stated last week in Alexandria, Va at a townhall meeting, the trial lawyer lobby is more influential than doing what is right.

Why is it that healthcare insurance competition is restricted to individual States? Open this up across the country allowing Americans to receive the best possible plan for their needs. This will force insurance companies to compete for our interest, not us being slaves to them. Personal choice for health care coverage should be a hallmark of any reform.

We need government to provide tax incentives for covering of pre-existing conditions and warn the American people about companies that do not provide best coverage for our citizens. We must also provide tax credits for the working poor, who want health coverage but cannot afford. We can also explore the possibility of increasing child tax deductions for families based upon healthcare costs.

And Americans must have the freedom that portability affords them; they should never have to drop an insurance plan. We have to establish the relationship which is permanent and not that which places them at a disadvantage.

Guaranteed renewable individual insurance contracts are a means by which we can provide Americans the ability to purchase long term, future insurance. This initiative would create the individual relationship, promote portability, and preclude denial on pre-existing conditions. Americans who choose this option would be afforded a tax credit.

We should advocate individual Americans receiving the same tax benefits for individual healthcare plans as enjoyed by employer based plans.

Small businesses should be allowed to pool together in groups in order to have better competition with larger companies and corporations. Pooling small businesses together will create economies of scale and more employers will offer coverage to their workers. These associated health care plans can only be propelled forward by Congress taking action today to encourage more competition for our health care dollar.

Flexible health savings plans allow individuals to have money withheld from their paychecks by their employers. This non-taxed money is then refunded to the individual through a claims process. In effect, the government is losing the income tax and social security tax on the money and is setting a condition in which the individual analyzes their annual healthcare needs. In the case of a catastrophic or new condition, an individual’s medical insurance would kick in. Money not spent in a certain year rolls over to the next and the healthcare dollars continue to grow.

Any legal obstruction to this concept should be removed by Congress.

Those who support a single payer, public option plan should recognize this already exists in the form of Medicaid/Medicare/SCHIP. These are government medical programs which are funded by our taxpayer dollars. These programs are intended to cover those who fall within the respective cracks in the system. Just this past January, SCHIP was expanded to beyond the poverty income level to $83K and the definition of a child, according to new legislation was raised to 25 years of age. Those who are eligible for these programs should be encouraged to sign up for this coverage.

My Dad, who passed in 1986, older brother and I are veterans who interact with the VA Hospital system. I know what government run healthcare systems look like. Ask any Veteran, it is not pretty.

It is well recognized the government run systems are filled with waste and abuse. Any health care reform must ensure these pre-existing government medical programs are meeting their intended purposes; effectively and efficiently. I would offer this is one of the first lines of attack in healthcare reform for the government.

No discussion of health care reform would be complete without including the costs of covering illegal immigrants. An administrator at Martin Medical Center recently disclosed one patient who had stayed at the hospital for 760 days. Another patient had incurred over $1.5 million in health care charges.

Our system simply cannot sustain these costs. Stopping the flow of illegal immigration to our country will save all citizens money in our personal health care expenditures.

On Tuesday, August, 18 I hosted a health care town hall meeting in Deerfield Beach. Nearly seven hundred people attended from all walks of life. At the beginning of the meeting, we announced that all who wish to express their opinions would be given the opportunity to do so.

Many of the attendees expressed very passionate views on health care. But all were afforded the opportunity to speak their piece and were polite in listening to the views of others.

After listening to the varied views of those in attendance, I recognized there was a common thread running through many of their presentations:

• Opposition to any expansion of a government run health care system.
• Keeping government out of the relationship between the patient and their doctor.
• Expansion of personal choice in selecting health coverage.

I agree with these solutions. Those in Congress should listen to these citizens in drafting health care legislation.

I served in the military for 22 years and traveled to 13 countries across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. I can assure you we have one of the best health care systems in the world.

Let us never forget that the government is an entity that can run itself at a loss and raise capital by enacting taxation legislation. That is not fair competition between a public option and private sector.

Of course our system needs reforms. We must always strive to make our systems better. But I also believe we can reform our health care system while maintaining the conservative principles that have made our country great.

Before Republicans start rejoicing about a political environment that favors them in 2010, they should consider that their incumbents aren’t immune from the growing anti-incumbent sentiment.  Voters are certainly upset about government spending.  That can be interpreted as a growing distaste for cap and trade, Obama’s health care reform, and even the stimulus.  But, when voters are mad with their government, they have a tendency to blame all incumbents - not just Democrats.

Republicans must develop strategies that distance themselves from the aspects that voters are most upset about - spending.  However, longtime Republican incumbents should beware of setting themselves up for a hypocrisy charge.  Every vote for earmarks and bizarre spending bills can prevent the Republican from making strong arguments against Democratic opponents without being hit for doing the same.

Likewise, Republican challengers should be prepared to criticize both parties for the problems we are facing now.

While most of cable news and the political pundit class are talking Sen. Ted Kennedy and offing their two cents on his legacy, Democrats in Congress are talking about passing a healthcare bill to “win one for Teddy.”

 

Given that the American public opposition to the Democrats healthcare plan, rebranding ObamaCare as KennedyCare, does not improve the prospects of a government takeover of healthcare. Forgetting the practical implications of Democrats falling below the 60 vote filibuster-proof majority, Kennedy is not the figure to overcome over American’s concerns about government healthcare. Like it or not Kennedy, is viewed as a polarizing figure, with three quarters of Democrats viewing him favorably and two-thirds of Republicans holding a negative view, according to a recent CNN poll.

 

 

 

WRS is proud to have served as the pollster for the National Center for Public Policy Research’s study on the effects of climate change legislation.

Cap and Trade is Ball and Chain for Poor Americans

By DENEEN BORELLI
All Right Magazine
8/26/09

As Congress considered the Waxman-Markey “cap-and-trade� bill, President Obama rallied House Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats at the White House.  In making a point, he gestured to Abraham Lincoln’s portrait and said, “He had a chance to affect history.  You, too, have a chance to affect history.�

How ironic.

Lincoln is remembered for liberating blacks from slavery.  Cap-and-trade legislation supported by Obama, allied lawmakers and now the NAACP would, conversely, enslave all Americans.

Billed as a way to combat global warming, cap-and-trade legislation already passed by the House and now under consideration in the Senate is — at its most basic level — a tax that punishes those who rely on fossil fuels.  That unfortunately means virtually every American.

Higher energy costs, higher unemployment and slower economic growth expected from cap-and-trade would reduce living standards, increase dependency and likely chain Americans to government programs.

Back in 2007, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported that “most of the cost of meeting a cap on [carbon dioxide] emissions would be borne by consumers, who would face persistently higher prices for products such as electricity and gasoline… [and] poorer households would bear a larger burden relative to their income than wealthier households would.�

That makes it particularly troubling when the NAACP, at its recent convention, jumped on the cap-and-trade bandwagon.  Politicians are expected to be opportunistic, but a group founded to advance blacks should not promote energy policies preferentially harming those with the least.

Harry Alford, head of the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC), opposes cap-and-trade.  Alford testified before the Senate about this, and made national news when he objected to California Senator Barbara Boxer’s attempt to place a premium on the NAACP’s opinion over the facts presented by the NBCC president.

A NBCC-commissioned study of cap-and-trade by CRA International finds new regulations would:

* reduce national GDP roughly $350 billon below the baseline level;

* cut net employment by 2.5 million jobs per year (even with new “green jobs�);

* reduce earnings for the average U.S. worker by $390 per year.

Alford’s not alone.  His skepticism is shared by a majority of blacks.

For example, seventy-six percent of blacks want Congress to make economic recovery — and not climate change — its top priority.  This is a finding of a nationwide poll of blacks conducted for the National Center for Public Policy Research by Wilson Research Strategies.

Among other key findings:

* 38 percent of blacks believe job losses from climate change legislation such as Waxman-Markey would be felt most strongly in the black community.  Seven percent believe job losses would fall most on Hispanics and just two percent on whites;

* 56 percent of blacks believe economic and quality of life concerns of the black community are not considered when addressing climate issues;

* 52 percent of blacks don’t want to pay more for gasoline or electricity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  73 percent are unwilling to pay more than 50 cents more for a gallon of gas, and 76 percent are unwilling to pay more than $50 more per year for electricity.

Despite NAACP boosterism, it’s clear black America want a stable economy before any risky schemes with questionable environmental results are considered.

A new, punishing energy tax will be an economic burden for those least able to afford it.  Coincidentally, these are the individuals Obama claims to want to help most.  Additionally, if cap-and-trade passes, it would break Obama’s campaign pledge to not raise taxes on households earning less than $250,000 a year.

As slaves had no representation in early America, black Americans are now finding themselves adrift as the NAACP and President Obama promote cap-and-trade regulation.  Emancipation from such regulation, however, is the change all Americans can believe in and benefit from.

Deneen Borelli is a fellow for the Project 21 black leadership network.  Comments may be sent to DBorelli@nationalcenter.org.  The survey mentioned previously was conducted for The National Center for Public Policy Research by Wilson Research Strategies and has a margin of error of 3.4%. It can be viewed at: http://www.nationalcenter.org/BlackOpinion.html.

At the same moment the President predicts that the, “…recession will end in the second half of 2009,” the White House’s OMB puts its federal deficit projections at $2 billion more than previously expected.

This is exactly why we are seeing the President’s approval rating slipping.  Health care, bloated budgets, now increased deficits: more government, more government, more government. 

While it’s hard to say when exactly the recession will end, it’s obvious that the public increasingly believes that more government is NOT the answer to the recession.

 

 

Check out this Roll Call article highlighting WRS VP Tyler Harber…

There’s Nothing Bush League About Consultants’ Hobbies

By Shira Toeplitz

If campaigns are a gamble, then Republican pollster Tyler Harber is a true professional. During odd-numbered years, Harber uses his free time away from politics to play in professional poker tournaments.

“It’s like table-top warfare,â€� Harber said. “For campaign professionals or hacks, we’re attracted to the warfare aspects of the campaign … anything that is highly competitive that pits you against someone else is highly attractive.â€�

The vice president at Wilson Research Strategies said that while his poker playing is not very profitable, he makes enough to pay for his trips. What’s more, Harber said he has even procured some business playing poker in the same way that some professionals ink deals on the golf course.

“I’ve definitely gotten work from the felt top, if you will, and probably just as much work as some people get on the green,� Harber said. “It’s just a different kind of green.�

Harber is not the only consultant who is enjoying the off year in the campaign cycle. While campaigns are in low gear, consultants will often take advantage of the down time to pursue nonpolitical activities or investments.

“Back among the first and second generation of political consultants, there was almost a tradition of doing interesting stuff, particularly in the odd-numbered year,� longtime Democratic media consultant Gary Nordlinger said.

Nordlinger puts in between 750 and 1,250 hours each year as a volunteer in the Coast Guard, depending on whether he is in cycle. Nordlinger was on one of the many crews that manned the Potomac River in hypothermal gear during this year’s inauguration.

Some of the most successful political consultants have picked choice investments, such as buying a stake in a minor league baseball team or funding a pet documentary film project. Democratic media consultant David Heller jointly owns the Quad Cities River Bandits minor league baseball team along the Illinois-Iowa border.

“I spent a lot more time on it in the early part of an off than in an even year,� Heller said.

Fortunately for Heller, his client Rep. Phil Hare (D-Ill.), represents the Quad Cities, and he recently landed Chicago Urban League President Cheryle Jackson’s (D) bid for Illinois Senate this cycle.

“It was an attraction for Phil knowing that his media consultant is someone who reads the Rock Island Argus and the Quad City Times cover to cover,� Heller said. “It’s fair to say I know more about Phil’s district than any other media consultant ever would or ever could.�

Photo Courtesy Ken Aravelo

Democratic consultant David Heller jointly owns minor league baseball team the Quad City River Bandits, who play in this stadium in Davenport, Iowa.
Not surprisingly, Heller also produced award-winning advertisements for his team. And talk about a campaign gimmick: The franchise recently hosted a “mega candy drop� by releasing 100 pounds of candy from a helicopter over the baseball field for 1,000 children to collect and take home.

“In minor league baseball, you are selling a fan experience,� Heller said. “It is far less important about whether the team wins or loses than it is the experience the fan has at the game. In politics, you’re in part selling the idea that you’re going to make the experience better under one candidate than it is under another.�

What was supposed to be an off-year project for Duane Baughman has become a full-time obsession for the direct-mail firm president who is producing two controversial documentaries on events in Pakistan and Rwanda. Baughman started thinking about the film on his biannual post-election vacation in 2006, when he went “gorilla trekking in the highlands of Rwanda and Uganda.�

Baughman, who runs the San Francisco-based Democratic mail firm Baughman Co., has poured almost $2 million of his own funds into the two projects — an activity that he calls “film-an-thropy.�

“I work it in with my political business and because [the film projects are] international,� Baughman said. “When everybody is sleeping here, I’m working on their daytime schedule over there.�

Baughman could not talk about the specifics of his two films because, he said, negotiations with networks and distributors were still in the works. But he plans to have a theatrical release in order to be considered for the Academy Awards.

Other consultants have found a way to put their money where their mouth is. Brian Donahue and a couple of other consultants are partial investors in Hook, the high-end Georgetown seafood restaurant. Will Robinson, a veteran Democratic media consultant with the New Media Firm, has a stake in the wine bar Cork with a few other consultants.

Millions watched Philadelphia Democratic media consultant Neil Oxman caddy for professional golfer Tom Watson this year at the British Open. Oxman said he was not available to comment for this story, but the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the two men have known each other since 1972, when Oxman was caddying to pay his way through law school.

For Martin Hamburger and Kelly Gibson of the Hamburger Co., the campaign off season is, luckily, peak season for their moonlighting gigs. The two Democratic media consultants teach weekly ski lessons at Liberty Mountain in Pennsylvania from the end of December to the beginning of March.

Hamburger jokingly confessed to looking for candidates running in states with great ski slopes, such as current client Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.).

“I definitely make an effort. I say we should really try to pitch the cold pointy states and stay away from the warm flat ones,� Hamburger said. “I pitched a client skiing in Washington state, and we got the race.�

That’s probably a good thing, because Hamburger and Gibson aren’t in it for the money — they make a paltry $7 per hour teaching lessons on the slops. But Hamburger said he has run into Paul Begala and Doug Sosnick on the slopes, the latter of whom, he said, did a double-take before he recognized him in his full ski instructor uniform.

It’s a situation that Hamburger knows well. One quiet evening at his Bethesda, Md., home a few years ago, Hamburger’s partner on Sen. Benjamin Cardin’s (D-Md.) 2006 campaign knocked on his door: Pollster Eily Hayes was on her own fundraising campaign.

Hayes, a vice president for Global Strategy Group, was raising money for the all-volunteer Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad.

“I’d been working with Martin all year for Ben Cardin,� Hayes said. “And then I knocked on his door in full rescue squad uniform driving an ambulance.�

For the past five years, Hayes has responded to 911 medical emergencies such as car accidents on the Beltway, house fires and even driving an ambulance to the metro crash in June. But far from an off-year hobby, Hayes is required to work at least a dozen hours each week for the rescue crew.

In the off years, Bill Fletcher said he likes to do interesting side projects to “keep me fresh.� The CEO of the Democratic media firm Fletcher Rowley Riddle managed the Eric Hamilton Band for several years in the 1990s.

The band was signed to a record label and a talent agency, but the hallmark event for Fletcher was the campaign-style cross-country concert tour.

“The band played 50 states in 50 days, which was a logistical nightmare but earned us some pretty significant coverage in Billboard Magazine,� Fletcher said.

Nevertheless, Fletcher decided not to quit his day job.

“It cost me a lot of money and then the band didn’t make it, but I got a nice leather jacket out of it with the band’s logo on it,� he said.

It’s no secret that Obama’s falling job approval numbers are linked to the belief that government spending is out of control.  Voters have lost hope in the stimulus, and are worried that cap & trade and health care could drive spending higher.  Voters are also smart enough to realize that higher spending means higher taxes.

Pundits predicted that Obama could ursher in a new image of the Democratic party.  They were right, but I’m not sure that they had “tax and spend, spend, spend” in mind when they made that prediction.  The interesting aspect here is that the generation that will bear the cost for Obama’s progressive expansion of government still doesn’t realize it.

Check out Tyler Harber’s latest post at Politics Magazine’s Campaign Insider Blog about how Astroturfing is actually just good campaign tactics.

Astroturfing has quickly become a four-letter word used synonymously with cheating by creating a false perception. Accusations of astroturfing find their way into the news (especially here in D.C.) on a regular basis. However, if you examine the strategy and effect of astroturfing, you’ll quickly realize that it is actually just good campaigning and has been used by candidates and organizations for decades to grow actual bases of support.

Astroturfing is generally defined as the use of various tactics to create the perception of a grassroots movement or opinion. Tactics include pre-written letters to the editor, distance-signed direct mail, insider-written blog posts, patched-through phone calls and staged events using campaign insiders or close associates. But, astroturfing isn’t just for lobbying campaigns trying to pressure Congress on an issue of a piece of legislation. Astroturfing is used by political campaigns, too. It’s just rarely termed that way.

Building a legitimate grassroots movement of support for first time or unknown candidates means first creating the perception that there are people out there that are already supporting them. This means finding creative ways to build that perception by using a number of techniques, including events filled with friends and family to show a crowd, letters to the editor written by campaign operatives and signed by supporters, and even blog posts written by a son or daughter of a close friend. These are a few tactics, commonly referred to as astroturfing, that work to create the perception that people are backing this unknown candidate.

As I’ve pointed out before, “Americans love winners.� More importantly, voters have a tendency to back candidates that appear to have momentum and are perceived to be in front. In the campaign world we don’t call it astroturfing, we call it base building. But no matter what you term it, using astroturfing tactics to start the ball rolling in building a base of support is a critical part of creating a winning campaign from scratch.

 

This is a great piece on what we can expect if the government-run healthcare passes.  The author is a friend and said i could post the entire article here. 

Why Government Healthcare is a Bad Idea

By Gautham Nagesh

Things are slow in DC right now with Congress out of session, so I’m hoping to work on some more enterprise-type reporting. I’m fairly proud of my piece from Friday, it’s an updateon the (lack of) progress on GSA’s Networx contract:

Agencies likely to miss deadline to transition to Networx The General Services Administration is likely to miss the deadline to complete the transition to its new telecommunications contract, threatening to cost the government millions of dollars in missed savings, according to GSA officials and industry executives familiar with the contract.

Networx is the government’s largest telecommunications program to date, a 10-year pact worth up to $68 billion. It offers more advanced telecom technology and services than its predecessor, the expiring FTS 2001 contract. [link]

This is the type of procurement story that never gets any attention, but really portrays the inefficiency of government at its worst:

At her confirmation hearingin June, Martha Johnson, President Obama’s choice to lead GSA, told lawmakers she believed the transition to Networx was too slow and delays were costing taxpayers millions of dollars every month. Johnson is awaiting Senate confirmation.

The government currently is missing out on about $18 million a month in savings by not transitioning to Networx, Karl Krumbholz, director of network services programs at GSA’s information technology service, told Nextgov on Friday.

$18 million a month may not sound like a lot, especially in light of the billions our government has been tossing around for things like bank bailouts and stimulus projects. But that’s $18 million that’s being wasted every month because agencies have not been able to complete the transition to a new telecommunications contract.

Examples like this are precisely why I find it hard to believe that government involvement will somehow make healthcare cheaper. Whether or not you support a public option, I think it’s either impossibly naive or intellectually dishonest to argue that increasing the government’s role in healthcare will result in lower costs or greater efficiency. Really? Because they’re doing such a great job delivering the mail and counting the population? How about those stimulus funds, which were intended to kick-start the economy, but have mostly ended up in the hands of a few big corporations?

To:            Alfred Bonati, M.D.
                American Society of Medical Doctors

From:        Chris Perkins, Vice President

Subject:    Survey Results

 

Key Findings

 

§  An overwhelming number of specialty physicians oppose President Obama’s and the Democratic Congress’ health care plan.

o   We asked specialty physicians the following question

As you may have heard, President Obama and the Democrats in Congress have introduced legislation that would change our healthcare system.  Based on what you’ve heard about their proposals, do you support or oppose their proposals?

o   Seven-in-ten (70%) specialty physicians oppose the Democratic plan compared to just 30% who support it.

o   A majority (54%) of specialty physicians strongly oppose the plan.

 

§  Majorities of specialty physicians in all parts of the country oppose the plan.

o   Opposition is most intense in the Midwest with 61% of specialty physicians strongly opposed to the plan and a total of 70% opposed to the plan.

o   More than seven-in-ten specialty physicians oppose the plan in the Northeast (76%) and the West (72%).

o   Opposition is slightly lower in the South, but even in that region 60% of specialty physicians oppose the Obama/Democratic plan.

 

§  Specialty physicians believe a government-run insurance plan would hinder their ability to give their best advice and offer the best care to their patients.

o   Two-thirds (66%) of specialty physicians believe a government-run insurance plan would hinder patient care.

o   Specialty physicians in the Western U.S. are particularly concerned about the effects of a government-run insurance plan on their ability to care for their patients with 72% saying such a plan would hurt patient care.

 

§  Specialty physicians would not accept new patients who are part of a government-run insurance plan.

o   Three-in-five (60%) specialty physicians say they would not accept new patients who are part of a government-run insurance plan.

Methodology

On behalf of the American Society of Medical Doctors, Wilson Research Strategies conducted a research study of specialty physicians nationwide.

 

A random sample of physicians was drawn from a nationwide opt-in panel of doctors. The sample was stratified to ensure that it was representative of the geographic distribution of doctors in the U.S.

 

Respondents completed the survey by logging in to a secure internet site between August 6 and 9, 2009.  The study has a sample size of n=157 specialty physicians.

 

About Wilson Research Strategies

Since 1998, WRS has been a leading provider of political polling for campaigns from Mayor and City Council to Governor and U.S. Senate in 47 states and several foreign countries.  In 2007-2008 alone, WRS conducted polling in 252 races for campaigns, caucuses and independent expenditures efforts.

 

In addition to our political and policy research, WRS provides donor research to Christian and other not-for-profits and alumni research to colleges and universities.  More than 200 Christian and other not-for-profit organizations around the country and dozens of large and small colleges and universities have relied on WRS’s data and analysis.

 

WRS’s corporate research arm has provided market research to more than 100 of the Fortune 500 and to hundreds of small and medium businesses nationwide.