Tolbert: The Absurdity Of Moll’s Attacks On Westerman

The race to replace Cong. Tom Cotton down in the Fourth Congressional District has heated up in recent days.

The Republican primary pits Arkansas House 2013 Republican Minority Majority Leader Bruce Westerman against businessman Tommy Moll.  I will admit to being pretty apprehensive about Moll, primarily because he lived out of state for the last decade or so and just established residency in Arkansas last year in order to run for Congress – at least it seems that way to me.

I did have the occasion to meet him in person at a debate a few weeks ago and I admit to being more impressed than I expected. He strikes me as an intelligent guy with strong conservative views who could have a future in politics if he sticks around long enough.

However, I have to say his latest ads attacking Westerman for “supporting Obamacare in Arkansas” are so far in left field that it is almost laughable.

“Bruce Westerman added his name as a sponsor of the ‘private option’ bill that would implement Obamacare in Arkansas. He removed his name from this first bill in order to sponsor a second bill that would also implement Obamacare in Arkansas, and he stands by that second bill to this very day,” states the Moll for Congress campaign in a press release regarding the ad.  “Bruce Westerman sponsored two substantive bills, and each bill would implement Obamacare here in Arkansas. Both HB 1143 and HB 1965 implement Obamacare in Arkansas by using federal taxpayer money (authorized by Obamacare) to expand government-subsidized health insurance for those with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level (as specified by Obamacare).”

I can tell you as someone who supported the Private Option, that I have no doubt Westerman opposed it.

We did not agree on this issue.  That is why it is so absurd to attack him for supporting Obamacare.  I do disagree with the notion that support for the Private Option is the same as support for Obamacare, but even if it was, Westerman fought as hard as anyone in the House against it.

It is true that he was part of the original group who worked on crafting the first bill Moll mentions – HB 1143. But by the time the bill made it to committee, Westerman decided he no longer supported the bill.  I will allow him to tell you his reasons, but he was clear that he was in opposition.  In fact not only did he remove his name from the bill, but he made the unusual move to make a motion from the table to pull his name off the bill and explained  his opposition.  Here is a post I wrote about this at the time.

The other bill mentioned – HB 1965 – I  had to look up to even recall what this bill was.  It was a bill filed by Westerman that died in committee without even a hearing.  It did not even have an additional co-sponsor.  It basically was Westerman’s alternative to the Private Option.  In essence, it gave him something to point to that he supported rather than simply opposing HB 1143 – the bill that became law.

The accusation that Westerman supported implementing Obamacare is a re-write of how the events unfolded in the legislature.

The line of attack ignores the chronology of how the Private Option was ultimately passed and seeks to criticize Westerman for daring to be involved in the drafting of one of the most significant pieces of legislation during the 2013 session rather than opposing the bill before the final version was written.

To go even a step further, this line of reasoning should give voters pause as to the type of Congressman that Moll might be.  Would he oppose even the idea of working on legislation to improve it, add conservative input, and ensure that the best interest of his district was represented during the drafting process?  Or would he be more concerned with the political appearance of being associated with a bill that might later be unpopular?

The latest Talk Business/Hendrix College polls show that Westerman is in a comfortable lead with 47% of voters preferring him and only 10% supporting Moll.  We will find out next week if Moll’s ads — which appear to be a significant ad buy — have an effect on the large group of undecided voters and peel off any Westerman supporters.

It would certainly be an upset if they did.