The Huelskamp campaign launched the first TV ad in the first district with a reminder of Sen. Huelskamp's record on taxes and fiscal responsibility. The ad, titled “Tax Day,” runs 30 seconds in length and is a positive, issue-oriented profile of Senator Huelskamp and his record of fighting for lower taxes.
"Other candidates talk about opposing taxes, but Tim Huelskamp has a proven track record of fighting tax increases to prove it,” said Huelskamp spokesman David Ray. “That's why he won numerous awards for keeping taxes low and why the Club for growth has endorsed him.
Huelskamp has been building a war chest for some time now and it's refreshing to see him spending his campaign resources so wisely. Huelskamp is correct to size up this contest as a clash of records, mainly that he has a record of fighting for the taxpayer while Barnett has a record of fighting for more government control.
This ad nails the sentiment of so many voters in the first. There's a lot of politicians that talk the talk, but there's only one candidate in this race with a record of walking the walk.
Jim Barnett is ducking right this week in an attempt to convince First District voters that he's really against Obamacare and had nothing to do with that oh so similar plan he proposed in 2007.
As a gubernatorial candidate, Barnett advocated for "healthcare exchanges" which are eerily familiar to the Democrats plan to remake the American healthcare system. But after the election, Barnett went further, introducing a bill that would have mandated coverage for all Kansas citizens, regardless of their choice not to have coverage. Similar to the fines imposed by Washington Democrats, Barnett's plan would have authorized the state to garnish wages and tax refunds of those that refused to comply with the mandate. All of this coincided with a new, close friendship with his former opponent, Kathleen Sebelius. Barnett promoted and supported a plan with Sebelius that also would have also expanded state entitlement programs and imposed new mandates.
Surprisingly, Barnett denied he had anything to do with the 2007 bill, saying instead that the bill was introduced for "discussion" by the committee. Unfortunately for him, former State Senator Peggy Palmer, a member of the committee with Barnett and Huelskamp, recalls a different story. In a press release from the Huelskamp campaign today, Palmer stated, "I was there when Jim Barnett introduced SB 309 to mandate government approved health insurance on Kansans. His proposal would have created a quasi-state entity and added layer upon layer of massive new government mandates and bureaucracy."
During the state's last fiscal crisis, Jim Barnett voted in favor of the largest tax increase in the state's history. That was shortly after serving as President of the Emporia school board and not only voting in favor of, but crafting the strategy to sue the state of Kansas for more school funding. That was in the 1990's and the case would eventually become known as the Montoy case, resulting in over a billion dollars in court mandated state spending. And after having a conversion in 2006 to run for governor, Barnett quickly switched back to his liberal ways, patched things up with former opponent Kathleen Sebelius to advocate for his own little form of state run healthcare, and then stab his former running mate in the back to hand liberal leadership another four years in the state Senate.
Jim Barnett advocating for Obama style healthcare in Kansas is just the tip of the iceberg.
