SCHIP brings out the 8th District
By Max Pizarro, PolitickerNJ.com ReporterAs 8th District state Senate candidate Assemblyman Fran Bodine and Assembly candidates Tracy Riley and Chris Fifis today called on U.S. Rep. Jim Saxton to protest his support for President George W. Bush’s veto of SCHIP legislation, Burlington County GOP spokesman Chris Russell reissued a press release on behalf of his 8th District Legislative team.
Russell wanted it known that his Senate candidate Phil Haines, and Assembly running mates Dawn Marie Addiego and Scott Rudder, had weeks ago called on Bush to reauthorize the children’s healthcare program.
Addiego rode point on the issue.
"If the President got his way on SCHIP, many of the so-called ‘working poor’ would be unable to afford health insurance for their families," said Addiego. "In New Jersey and nationwide, SCHIP has successfully helped to fund health care for families who make too much money to qualify for Medicaid, but too little to afford their own insurance. President Bush is wrong on this issue and I call on him to reconsider his position. We shouldn’t turn people’s health into a political football."
But the Democrats wanted a more localized punctuation point on their GOP counterparts' cry, specifically wanting them to make Saxton feel some intra-party outrage.
"Are our opponents going to stand with President Bush and Congressman Saxton, or are they going to support New Jersey’s uninsured children," said Riley. "We want to know where they stand."
Bodine, Riley and Fifis said it was unconscionable for Saxton to turn his back on Burlington County’s working families by voting "no" for the SCHIP legislation. "Congressman Saxton should be ashamed of himself for denying Burlington County’s uninsured children medical care," said Fifis. "The next thing you know, he will want to take away Christmas."
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Syndicate
Bodine, Riley and Fifis are right
The District 8 Republicans supposedly went on public record, according to Russell, concerning their opposition to SCHIPs, but their opposition seemingly starts there. Addiego's statement is not some genuine break from Bush on his SCHIP decision; it is instead politically convenient posturing by a flawed candidate who has only stood up for special interest groups and "insider" companies as freeholder.
If elected (and let's hope that none of the "Paulsen Three" are), the Republicans will only vote against Democratic plans to expand health care in the state, they refuse to criticize Saxton for his unconscionable vote against SCHIP, and they carry the water, so to speak, for companies who would resist any type of broad-scale health care reform.
Pardon me if I'm unconvinced by Addiego and the rest of the District 8 Republicans sudden conversion towards a health care policy that benefits working New Jerseyans.
SCHIP Demagoguery
I am grateful for and will continue to support my Representative Jim Saxton because he has the courage of his convictions to standup to the pandering the expansion of the SCHIP represents. The SCHIP serves a purpose up to 200% of poverty income level, but it is a benevolent benefit that the socialists amongst us now consider an entitlement. Funny I don’t remember studying the ‘entitlement’ clause of the U.S. Constitution in civics class. The ‘Affordable Health Insurance for Children’ i.e. the stated goal to “…provide every child under 18 with health insurance and expand prescription drug coverage for middle-class seniors…” is a primary reason I would not support Haines, Addiego and Rudder. Socialism and Hillary are one and the same as are Socialism and Nationalized Healthcare. Looks good on paper, but does not stand the test of reality when it is imposed. Pandering here is promising something for nothing and buying votes with a lie. It doesn’t matter if the deceit is Republican or Democrat a lie is a lie.