There are plenty of distortions and inaccuracies finding their way into the public forum these days, so it is doubly important that our sterling roster of Democratic gubernatorial candidates remain scrupulous about their facts. If not, there may be hell to pay. This week, when the Shumlin campaign made certain questionable assertions of primacy in the area of single-payor healthcare advocacy, Matt Dunne’s campaign responded by crying “foul:”
In a mailing sent out to Vermonters this week, Shumlin writes,” “I am the only candidate in this race who has sponsored a single payer health care bill…”
Similarly, in a response to questions from the Burlington Free Press on Vermont’s social safety net, Shumlin writes “I am the only candidate who sponsored a single-payer health care bill.”However, in the 1993-1994 Legislative Session, House Bill 0763 titled, “Vermont Health Security Plan/Single-Payer Health Plan” was co-sponsored by several House Members including Matt Dunne. In fact, Dunne has had a long history supporting single payer health care legislation and his current health-care plan is based on a single payer system.
The Dunne campaign is asking the Shumlin campaign for a public apology. It is also demanding that a Dunne-approved correction from Shumlin be sent (at Shumlin’s expense) to all the voters who received the original mailer that contained the erroneous statement.
That when this was called to Shumlin’s attention he conceded the point.
From WCAX last night:
I didn’t hear Peter offer to send a new mailing to correct the original misstatement, though.
I missed that broadcast.
Matt Dunne has been in this campaign for several months. I never heard him announce that he co-sponsored a “single payer” bill. There has been plenty of time for him to get the word out that 17 years ago he co-sponsored this bill. But, he didn’t bring this up until a few days ago. And, in fact, I have not heard Matt Dunne use the term “single payer” but instead he has used the euphemism “self-insurance.”
Not to quabble about words, though, if Matt is enthusiastic about single payer, he should have been announcing the fact that he co-sponsored a single payer bill a long time ago.
As for Peter Shumlin’s campaign, it would not be easy to catch a bill that was written 17 years ago, which Matt Dunne was not the lead sponsor of, and which was never even considered in committee.
I think Peter Shumlin’s apology is fine if he missed this fact, and I don’t see why Matt Dunne didn’t advertise this fact long ago in any case if he is supporter of a single payer system.
As for questionning the character of a rival in a primary, I personally think we should stick to the issues. If your opponent misses a fact, then just correct the record.