Election Central: Pryor, Cotton Mix It Up On Health Care Rulings

From the Election Central campaign trail, here are today’s political headlines captured in our daily brief, courtesy of KATV’s Scott Inman.

ALCOHOL PETITION BATTLE
The Arkansas Beverage Retailer’s Association is behind a push to keep a proposal to legalize alcohol sales statewide off the November ballot. The association has formed a group called “Let Local Communities Decide For Themselves.”

That group has sent a letter asking the Secretary of State’s office to keep the disqualify the proposal because Arkansas law dictates that petitions for statewide measures should be filed not less than four months before the election. Exactly four months would have been July 4th, but instead the petition was submitted on July 7th since July 4th falls on a holiday.

A Secretary of State spokeswoman says it’s standard practice to roll the deadline to the following business day if the deadline falls on a holiday. She says the Secretary of State’s office is researching the matter in order to present the appropriate response. They said they are anticipating litigation and couldn’t comment any further about what their response will be.

HEALTH CARE LEGAL RULING
Some Republican candidates are jumping on the opportunity to comment on today’s rulings by two federal appeals courts that affect the nation’s healthcare law.

The rulings came within hours of each other. A divided court panel in Washington ruled that the subsidies that help millions of low- and middle-income people pay their premiums can only be paid in states that have set up their own insurance exchanges. But in Virginia, another appeals panel unanimously came to the opposite conclusion.

Republican Congressman Tom Cotton said in a statement about the first ruling – “Today’s ruling is just the latest example of why we must start over on healthcare reform.” Cotton has made his opposition to the federal healthcare law a cornerstone of his campaign against Senator Mark Pryor, who supports the law.

Pryor responded to the ruling too, taking after Cotton.

“Congressman Cotton isn’t leveling with Arkansans, and that’s because he has no solutions except kicking 180,000 working Arkansans off of their private health care plans, raising taxes on nearly 40,000 more, and returning to the days where insurance companies denied coverage to Arkansans with pre-existing conditions,” Pryor said.

State Representative Bruce Westerman – who is running for Cotton’s congressional seat – said in a statement that both rulings “highlight the fact that Obamacare was a poorly-written takeover of people’s healthcare and an ill-conceived law.” Westerman faces Democrat James Lee Witt in November.

The White House says policyholders will keep getting financial aid as the administration sorts out the legal implications.