By Tony Lystra / The Daily News | Posted: Monday, March 22, 2010 11:00 pm
Even after President Barack Obama signs off on Congress’s health care reform bill Tuesday, it appears the debate over the legislation will rage on in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District. Those close to the race to replace retiring Democratic Congressman Brian Baird this fall said the issue could play a key role in this year’s campaign. Republicans are expected to continue dismissing the reform bill as a failure and demonize Democrats for passing it, they said. Democrats, emboldened by a long-shot victory, will try to convince voters of the bill’s benefits.
“We’re proud of the bill and we’re going to campaign on it,” Dwight Pelz, the chairman of the Washington State Democratic Party, told The Daily News on Monday. “We welcome Republicans to run against it.” Most candidates said they wanted to focus mostly on job creation in a district where unemployment rates are hovering near 15 percent. Still, Republican candidates said health care is central to the country’s economic problems and that the Democratic bill won’t solve those problems.
Jaime Herrera, the 18th District state legislator running for Baird’s seat, called Baird’s vote in favor of the bill a “great disappointment” and said the bill is “disastrous.”
David Castillo, a 3rd District Republican candidate from Olympia, said the legislation is “a dangerous step away from personal responsibility and self-reliance.” “I will work to repeal this thing when I get elected,” he said in an interview Monday. Castillo also said he intends to replace the bill with one employing “free-market, capitalist solutions.” National polls show that 51 percent of voters oppose the bill, with 42 percent saying they support it. Castillo said he isn’t sure whether that opposition will hurt Democrats running for the 3rd District seat, but “we’re certainly going to talk about it.”
Yet, 53,000 people in the 3rd District don’t have health insurance, Pelz said. About 12,500 of those, he said, are barred from coverage because they have existing ailments — a practice that will be banned under the new legislation. Pelz said the bill, which expands coverage to 32 million people, will become increasingly popular as voters realize the financial security it brings them.
“If you like Social Security and you like Medicare, you’re going to like the bill that passed last night,” he said.
Democratic candidates to replace Baird also lined up to praise the bill. Denny Heck of Olympia, a former state legislator endorsed by Baird earlier this month, said in a statement that the bill, although imperfect, is “a strong step forward to address this major challenge to our economy.”
“I supported this effort with the sober understanding that significantly more work will be needed in the area of cost containment,” Heck’s statement said. “However, doing nothing was simply not an option.”
State Sen. Craig Pridemore, a Vancouver Democrat, released a statement applauding the bill’s passage. Pridemore also accused Heck of taking a vague stance on reform in the weeks leading up to the vote. “We need clear, straightforward and honest leadership on critical issues,” Pridemore said.
State Republican Party representatives did not immediately respond to an inquiry Monday. However, the National Republican Congressional Committee issued a statement Sunday saying “Baird’s decision to back a bill that fails to lower the cost of health care will likely come at a steep political cost in November for his hand-picked successor, Denny Heck.”