Minnick Still Says 'No'

News came yesterday that Idaho Blue Dog Congressman Walt Minnick has not changed his mind on health care reform and will vote against it regardless what iteration of the legislation comes before the U.S. House again.  This after months of posturing that turns out to be just that.

Since first voting no on the legislation in November, Minnick indicated in town halls across the 1st District that he hadn't made up his mind how he would vote on a reconciliation package, saying he would have to see what was in the final draft.  He even touted his own "leaner, meaner" proposal that he admitted didn't do much but hey, on the bright side, didn't cost much either and looked remarkably similar to the House Republican plan.

Must be that allegiance to big business thing again.

In other Minnick news, word came Friday that spokesman John Foster was taking a leave of absence from the congressional office to work on the Minnick reelection campaign.  He made sure to emphasize that this was an unpaid leave of absence, which should be noted, is not to say that he's not being paid, just not by the taxpayers.  This is a bit of a change from his predecessor, Wayne Hoffman, lately of FreeDumb Foundation notoriety, who continued to work in both the campaign and the congressional offices of Bill Sali during the 2008 cycle.

Foster did not make clear whether he would continue receiving federal benefits, including health insurance, while on leave, however.   If not and the Minnick campaign operates as it did in the previous cycle, he won't be receiving health insurance through the campaign and his young family would join the hundreds of thousands of Idahoans without employer sponsored coverage or just going without.

My guess is he's keeping his federal benefits. 

Too bad his boss thinks 30 million people without health insurance is acceptable in the richest country on earth.

Comments

[thepoliticalgame]

I very much doubt that John Foster would be taking a pay cut at all moving to the campaign side of Minnick's operation. If he is losing his health insurance in this move (I'm like you and don't think he is), I hope he calls up his boss and tells him what it is like wondering if an accident or newly diagnosed illness might bankrupt him because his boss sure isn't listening to those of us that have these concerns every day of our lives.