Earlier today I wrote a story about how hard the states Senate was working with the Obama administration to craft a law saving billions of dollars and helping Florida’s poor. It is good old fashioned hard working bi-partisan government at work, doing good things for citizens of the Sunshine State.
Well the ultra conservative Kansas business titans Charles and David Koch, have decided that Florida should not have something that is heaven forbid good for the citizens of the state. No, it does not meet with their vision of what Florida should be doing. So, they are sending mailers to voters in 23 Florida Senate districts in an effort to stop a Medicaid expansion plan that recently started gaining momentum.
Health News Florida, a partner of the KHI News Service, reports that Americans for Prosperity, a free-market advocacy group funded by the Koch brothers have targeted none other than Andy Gardiner, president of the Florida Senate, the main sponsor of the expansion bill, which is similar to plans recently advanced by several conservative Republican governors.
The AFP mailer sent to voters in Gardiner’s district criticizes him for supporting “Obama’s Medicaid expansion in Florida.” It says the plan would “give good people bad coverage.”
The group has waged similar campaigns against expansion proposals in several other Republican-dominated states. This type of irresponsible scare mongering has got to stop, the Koch brothers attempt to control the country one state at a time must stop.
Senate President Gardiner is doing what voters want him to do and that is crafting laws that help the people of his state. In an era when “gridlock,” is the new normal the Florida Senate is working with the federal government to come to a responsible solution on a complex issue – Medicaid. They should be commended, not knocked off track by outside interests.
It is easy for the Koch brothers to target Florida legislators because if things go wrong they are not on the hook for billions of dollars. As we reported earlier this Senate bill is no easy piece of legislation to pass but both sides of the isle are working hard to make it happen.
Once the Senate bill is passed it goes to the House and as we know they are hard enough to work without the Koch brothers doing all they can to mess things up. So, let’s do all we can to see the Senate and House in Florida get a Medicaid deal done.
As for the Koch brothers they can spend all the money want screwing things up in Kansas but do us a favor and leave Florida alone.
