CONTRAST
By David Cox
Friday, April 08 2011
P’Pool pledges fight against Obamacare
Todd P’Pool has one of those names you can’t remember until you see it
in print and can’t pronounce when you do see it (it’s PEA-pool). But
between now and November that peculiar last name is sure to become a
household name in Kentucky.
The Republican candidate for state attorney general is incumbent
Democrat Jack Conway’s only challenger, which means you’ll be spared
the first round of annoying campaign ads, at least in this race. Though the
real campaign is months away, P’Pool is anxious to distinguish himself
from the man whose office he seeks.
It starts with Obamacare. P’Pool promises that in his first month in office
he will join 27 other state attorneys general in litigation against what he
calls the “government takeover of our health care system.”
“Our attorney general is absent from that fight,” he said.
Indeed, Conway supports the health reform act and said he would have
voted for it in the Senate. That would be the same legislation that is
causing such headaches for Gov. Steve Beshear, a fellow Democrat.
The governor sought an exemption from one of the act’s early, onerous
provisions — dictating to insurance companies what percentage of their
total premium revenue must be paid out in benefits. And Beshear admits
he has no idea how Kentucky will come up with the money to pay its share
of Medicaid under Obamacare’s mandated coverage.
P’Pool calls Obamacare a “reckless piece of legislation” that would
“devastate rural hospitals and kill small businesses.”
That’s not the only battle P’Pool promises to wage against the federal
government. He promises to “push back against the EPA” in its war on the
coal industry. The White House is using the agency’s regulatory authority
to accomplish administratively what it could not achieve through cap and
trade legislation.
P’Pool recalls President Obama’s pledge to bankrupt energy companies.
As a candidate in 2008, Obama said, “If somebody wants to build a coalpowered
plant, they can. It’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re
going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being
emitted.”
The candidate says the administration’s hostility toward coal threatens
thousands of jobs in Kentucky. It hits close to home; P’Pool is a lifelong
resident of Hopkins County, right in the middle of the western Kentucky
coal fields that he says provided a living for his family for four generations.
During Conway’s Senate race last year, Rand Paul accused him of flipflopping
on the issue of cap-and-trade, the administration’s scheme to
reduce emissions from coal plants. The plan would have driven up the cost
of energy production, raising the price of energy on consumers.
Conway denies that he ever supported cap-and-trade legislation. The
record of his comments raises doubt. But after public opposition killed capand-
trade, Conway came down solidly on the side of the public. He claims
to have “sued Obama’s EPA to protect Kentucky coal.”
However Conway arrived at his position, both candidates now pledge to
defend the coal industry against the EPA.
The rest of P’Pool’s agenda is boilerplate: fight the growing drug problem,
especially with prescription meds; hold public officials accountable,
regardless of political party; protect the safety of the people.
Important issues all, but not all that distinguishable from what every
candidate for attorney general, including Conway, in every state promises.
But on at least one issue — Obamacare — the candidates have taken
opposite positions. Expect that to be central in the campaign.
P’Pool calls Obamacare a “reckless piece of legislation” that would
“devastate rural hospitals and kill small businesses.”
