Uses FCC Threat to Silence Conservative Ad critical of Obamacare
(Tea Party) – The Seattle-based legal firm that defended Barack Obama in lawsuits challenging the authenticity of his birth certificate has been hired to act as the new muscle for the Federal Communications Commission. Perkins Coie has emerged as the new attack dog, taking on media that run ads that criticize Obamacare and those Democrats running for reelection this coming November.
A letter on the law firm’s stationary that was sent to an unnamed television “Station Manager” has come to light and in it, the firm suggests “for the sake of both FCC licensing requirements and the public interest” an ad challenging Obamacare should be fact checked to determine if documentation can be provided for its claims. The advertisement is sponsored by the conservative Americans for Prosperity.
The letter also states that the ad may be detrimental to the Senate campaign of Detroit Rep. Gary Peters, D-Mich. according to a report provided by Communities Digital News (CDN).
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The ad shows a woman who is identified as Julie Boonstra of Dexter, Mich. who claims she is a cancer patient diagnosed five years ago with leukemia and has a 20% chance of surviving. It the ad’s interview she says that her insurance was canceled under Obamacare and she cannot afford to pay for her medications and medical treatment.
Titled “Julie’s Story: It’s Time to Listen” Boonstra puts forth damaging allegations that Peters’ decision to vote for Obamacare and “lies” told by President Obama that she could keep her current doctors and health insurance have jeopardized her health.
The CDN report noted the Perkins Coie letter referenced an article published in the Washington Post on Feb. 20 by Glenn Kessler in his “The Fact Checker” blog titled “A hard-hitting anti-Obamacare ad makes a claim that doesn’t add up.”
The article questioned Boonstra’s claims, indicating that Americans for Prosperity had confirmed Boonstra was able to find a plan that had her doctor in its network through Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Kessler also noted Boonstra was invited to attend President Obama’s State of the Union Address by her local member of Congress, Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich. In addition, she participated in a Republican National Committee news conference that highlighted problems with Obamacare’s launch.
Here is what Boonstra said at the RNC news conference:
Hi. Five years ago I was diagnosed chronic myelogenous leukemia. At that time I found out that my health insurance plan was not adequate. So I enrolled in a new plan that fully covered me. So life has been hard fighting leukemia but my insurance needs were met. In October, I received a letter telling me that my insurance plan was being dissolved. I tried to get on the website several times, and every time it was a failure. For me that means without having insurance I cannot receive my oral chemotherapy that I need every day in order to survive. So I ended up enrolling in a private plan where I can at least get my chemotherapy but of course I’m paying a higher cost now as far as out of pocket costs and the coverage is just not the same. Thank you.
According to Kessler, he found “the claim that the costs are now ‘unaffordable’ odd. Kessler contends that under Obamacare, the out-of-pocket is $6,350 for covered expenses under an individual plan and after that, the insurance plan pays 100 percent of covered benefits.
“The Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in Michigan that appear to match Boonstra’s plan, as described in local news reports, all have that limit,” he said.
He also pointed out that Boonstra told the Detroit News that her monthly payments were cut in half. She went from $1,100 a month to $571 a month. This should amount to a savings of $529 a month. That’s a savings of $6,348 over a year, only $2 less than the out-of-pocket maximum.
A spokesman for AFP, Levi Russell, told Kessler that he “would assume there is an OOP max, but this is the story of Julie, a real person suffering from blood cancer, not some neat and tidy White House PowerPoint about how the ACA is helping everyone.”
Russell also explained to Kessler that there is a possibility Boonstra’s specific chemotherapy medication will not be covered.
“Julie’s concerns about her new plan are ongoing and very personal. Since her out-of-pocket costs are so much higher now, her costs have quickly become unpredictable,” Russell added.
“Rather than knowing exactly what she would have to pay every month, she now is facing a roller coaster of expenses that vary with her health. She said she feels like a surprise is around every corner, since she keeps being hit with new out-of-pocket costs every time she needs treatment, or a test, or even an office visit.”
Russell ended his interview with Kessler by emphasizing: “Now her expenses are unpredictable, and that means unaffordable. It could be $600 one month, and three times that the next month. The reality of what she’s dealing with is much more involved and can’t be swept aside by saying ‘you have an OOP maximum, so quit complaining about your cancer.”
Broadcaster Threatened
The Perkins Coie letter to the unnamed station manager stated, “Ultimately, as the Washington Post concludes, ‘a fuller accounting is necessary if AFP is going to air ads like this.’ You have a duty to demand that AFP provide the factual support for its claims.”
In a threatening manner, the letter then referred to two Supreme Court cases: “Unlike federal candidates, independent political organizations like AFP do not have a ‘right to command the use of broadcast facilities.’ See CBS v. DNC, 412 U.S. 94, 113 (1973). Because you do not need to air this advertisement, your station bears responsibility for its content when you do grant access. See Felix v. Westinghouse Radio Stations, 186 F.2d 1,6 (3rd Cir. 1950), cert. denied, 314 U.S. 909 (1950).”
And the letter continued, highlighting two federal court cases, as follows: “Moreover, you have an obligation ‘to protect the public from false, misleading or deceptive advertising. Licensee Responsibility With Respect to the Broadcast of False, Misleading, or Deceptive Advertising, 74 F.C.C.2d 623 (1961). Failure to prevent the airing of ‘false and misleading advertising’ may be ‘probative of an underlying abdication of licensee responsibility’ that can be cause for the loss of a station’s license. See Cosmopolitan Broad Corp. v. FCC, 581 F.2d 917, 927 (D.C. Cir. 1978).”
In conclusion the letter listed two Perkins Coie attorneys as “Counsel to Peters for Michigan” with a phone number: “Please contact us regarding any evidence that AFP is able to provide regarding its advertisement on your station as soon as possible. Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
Defending Obama’s birth certificate
The Perkins Coie partner assigned to handle President Obama’s personal legal matters – Judith Corley – was the same attorney assigned to fly to Honolulu to pick up, from the Hawaii Department of Health Director Loretta Fuddy, the long-form birth certificate that Obama released to the public on April 27, 2011 in a White House address.
According to WND, Fuddy was the only fatality among nine people aboard a plane that crashed after takeoff from the Island of Molokai in December.
Robert Bauer, Senior Partner, Perkins Coie, resigned as White House council suddenly on June 2, 2011. WND has indicated that the resignation may have been an effort to deflect attention away from his role in defending Obama in eligibility challenges.
In another interesting twist, Bauer was married to Anita Dunn, the White House communications director who accused Fox News of being the propaganda arm of the Republican Party, calling the network “opinion journalism masquerading as news” and not a true, legitimate news agency.
And, before leaving the Fox Network, commentator Glen Beck showed a video of Dunn telling high-school students that her two favorite “political philosophers” were none other than Chinese leader Mao Zedong. Zedong’s policies have been blamed for the deaths of tens of millions of people.
Another Fox commentator, Andrea Tantaros reported that in an article where Dunn resigned her position at the White House Dunn said that while her title read communications director “at time” ‘Fox News basher’ seemed more appropriate as she seemingly and bizarrely began to publicly wage war on the network roughly a month ago.”
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