Leonard's dance: 'I shoud have kept my mouth shut"

Leonard's Dance

by digby


Greg Sargent at the Washington Post has a great item today about Blue America's ongoing battle with health care hypocrite Leonard Lance over whether or not he refused government paid health care while denying it to others. Let's just say that Lance has been hoist by his own petard:
One of those GOPers is Rep. Leonard Lance of New Jersey, a fiscal hawk who opposes the health reform law out of opposition to big government. He is in the crosshairs of an ad by Blue America PAC accusing him of enjoying taxpayer-funded insurance.

After that ad started running, Lance's office protested that he is not enrolled in the plan enjoyed by members of Congress, and successfully got the ad pulled. But in response, New Jersey's Courier-Post did some digging and found that as a retired state government official, he and his family do enjoy taxpayer-funded health care on the state level:

Lance opposes the health care reform package on cost concerns -- he's a deficit hawk -- and on small-government principles.

But it turns out he receives medical care for practically nothing, thanks to the taxpayers of New Jersey. Lance receives family health coverage that is free except for co-pays, the state Department of Treasury confirmed Friday. The former state senator, assemblyman and Kean administration official qualified for retirement in 2006, his 25th year of service. He retired in January 2009, when he moved on to Washington, and enrolled in the state's free health plan for retirees.

The family plan Lance is enrolled in is the most expensive of the 10 options available. His coverage costs $1,906.42 per month, or $22,877.04 per year.

Whoops! Rep. Lance's chief of staff appears to realize that by protesting the ad attacking him, he's only created more problems. The aide told the Courier-Post: "I should have kept my mouth shut."

23k a year for health insurance? Paid for by the taxpayers of New Jersey. And this guy's out there screaming for repeal of the health care reform bill.

The citizens of New Jersey should be appalled that first of all that someone like this fellow has the option of taking the state cadillac plan or the federal cadillac plan while he votes against things like unemployment insurance. I guess he's got his priorities. He's certainly cot choices that very few people in this country have unless they are independently wealthy. must be nice being a government employee who isn't at the mercy of cruel hypocrites like Leonard Lance.

Howie has more here:

The station general manager suggested me re-do the ad. We're working on it. And we'd like to run it on some of the bigger stations in the district. Can you help us raise the money we need to do it at this ActBlue page? New Jersey is one of the most expensive media markets in the country. But this is a story that needs to get out so New Jersey voters get a better understanding of the character of the man is asking for their votes. (In 2010, in the midst of a GOP sweep, Lance only managed to win with a 30,000 vote margin, a district Obama took 51-48% 2 years earlier.)

If Lance's aide's little "whoops" is any indication, this is not something they want to raise among their constituents. But don't you think they deserve to know about it?

Donate here to keep the heat on Lance. He's vulnerable next time out and it's never to early to weaken him even more.

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