Right Wing Group To Honor Only Lawmaker To Vote Against Tearing Down Permanant Wall Keeping Kids Off CHIP
By Vince Leibowitz on Mar 16, 2007 in 80th Legislature
When the House Human Services Committee voted earlier this month to take some much-needed steps toward tearing down the “permanent wall” keeping kids from the state’s Child Health Insurance Program, only one person voted against the reforms. That was Fresman Tan Parker (R-Flower Mound).
Instead of making him the pariah he should be for voting to continue keeping children from quality healthcare, the right-wing Texans for Fiscal Responsibility is going to run ads praising his awful vote:
Texans for Fiscal Responsibility announced today it is runnin radio ads in the Dallas metroplex, praising State Rep. Tan Parker of Flower Mound for his vote “defending commonsense†reforms to the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
“It’s never easy standing up for what is right, and even more so when its necessary to be a lone voice,†said TFR’s president, Michael Quinn Sullivan. “But Rep. Parker demonstrated that he wants to make sure Texas’ taxpayers’ money is used to help people, not simply grow government.â€
That’s such a massive crock. Really—there is no better way to characterize it.
Of course, instead of calling the actions taken in 2003 that kept thousands of kids off CHIP the idiocy they truly were, TFR calls them “common sense reforms” and try to use faux Ronald-Regan-era-style welfare-queen-driving-a-Caddilac anti-welfare anecdotes:
“Rolling back those important reforms is the wrong course of action,†said Sullivan. “The only thing we know for sure is that the old system was susceptible to fraud and abuse. CHIP was designed to be a temporary safety net for Texas’ truly needy. For example, there was a family on the program with $150,000 in savings. And scores of people lingering on the program when they no longer needed the benefits – all locking up funds that could have been used to help families in need. Those were the bad old days. Bad old days to which the committee evidentially doesn’t mind returning.â€
What a bunch of garbage and lies.
Here’s the text of the ad:
Did you hear what our state representative, Tan Parker, just did in Austin?
He’s doing what we elected him to do! As a member of the Human Services Committee, Tan Parker is holding the line against liberal attempts to expand government and waste
taxpayer dollars.
In 2003, Texas conservatives said it was wrong for a family to own a new Cadillac SUV and still have taxpayers paying for their kids’ health insurance.
Last week, Tan Parker was the only committee member voting to keep the reforms in place.
Conservatives have said that if someone needs taxpayers to keep paying for their kids health insurance, they should demonstrate their need every six months – not get a free
ride. And our representative, Tan Parker, was the only legislator defending commonsense ideas, making sure these programs help people, not waste money.
Tan Parker has shown he’s willing to stand up for Texas taxpayers.
Now this battle goes to the floor of the Texas House. Will the other lawmakers follow Tan Parker’s lead, or simply give in to the liberal waste? Learn more at www.EmpowerTexans.com.
Paid for by Texans for Fiscal Responsibility.
“He’s doing what we elected him to do!” Sure, if you elected him help keep kids away from quality medical care.
And then, of course, the awful “Caddilac” comment:
In 2003, Texas conservatives said it was wrong for a family to own a new Cadillac SUV and still have taxpayers paying for their kids’ health insurance.
That’s total bullshit. Texas “conservatives,” decided to put tax cuts and faux “fiscal responsibility” over human needs. That’s what they did.
Sorry, but you’re barking up the wrong tree on this one. Rep. Parker’s opposition to this bill has to do with the change in enrollment period. In 2003, it was cut to 6 months from 12 months. Now they want to go back to 12 months. That’s ridiculous for a program that’s supposed to be “temporary help.” My wife works in the healthcare industry and she says she used to see a lot of people driving up in new cars with new clothes who still had their kids on CHIPS. It’s not that they didn’t need CHIPS in the beginning, it’s that they got a job and got back on their feet, yet still were getting help from the state because of the 12 month enrollment period.
Such problems were greatly reduced after the 2003 reforms. Why they want to undo that now is beyond me. I do know that I think Rep. Parker is right on the money about this situation. You are trying to mischaracterize it and for that you should be ashamed.
Funny thing: I’ll blog on this later, but I wanted to share with you that I spoke today with one of the leasing managers in the building where Parker’s predasessor Mary Denny kept her district office. I asked her if Tan Parker had taken over the modest office, and she told me that no, it was not enough square footage for this young freshman legislator. She told me that he wanted to move to “Parker Square” (an upscale retail and office complex down the road a way)
Now, when I was considering office space for my own business, I checked out Parker Square, and it’s a darn nice accomodation, but they wanted something like $1200 per month for a 200 square foot room with no windows on the 2nd floor. The equivalent sized first floor corner office in the Atrium, where Mary Denny’s office was goes for $600 per month, all utilities paid. (Note that Mary Denny’s office was larger than the office I looked at.)
So as to “Fiscal Responsibility?” I’d say Parker sounds like a hypocrite. I’ll investigate more fully and post something soon on http://www.whosplayin.com.
Vince and I have had this discussion before, but I’ll say it again. I think our Texas legislators need to be paid a good high wage commensurate with their responsibilities and the amount of trust we bestow on them. I think our current system of a “part-time” legislature is just outdated. If we pay higher wages, we’ll get better people who aren’t in it for the power, and don’t have to suppliment their incomes with jobs that may conflict with their legislative roles.
When legislators start taking an active role in hearing their consituents and working with people in their communities on things other than partisan fundraisers, I’ll be all for footing the bill for higher rent.
Why worry about CHIP? If the hildabeast gets elected, we’ll have national rationed health care.