Texas Democrat State Representative Patrick Rose, in his run for reelection in District 45 against Republican small businessman Alan Askew, has been airing a television advertisement in which he touts his independence from the influence of insurance companies. But Texas campaign law, and Rose's own contribution reports, raise questions about the complete veracity of the spirit and the letter of these claims.
In the commercial, Rose says, "I don't take campaign contributions from insurance companies because next session we need to go back and finish the job. Pass real insurance reform, guarantee rate rollbacks, and pass the savings on to patients."
He reiterated and reinforced this assertion last week on Austin PBS' Austin Now, stating he has "not taken one penny" of insurance money, and that he has done this to exhibit "who's side (he's) on."
These assertions of his refusal of insurance money sound magnanimous but are in reality nothing more than Rose proclaiming his adherence to campaign finance law. Insurance companies are corporations, and Texas law prohibits any state candidate from accepting corporate donations.
That means his opponent, Askew, doesn't take insurance company money either. Nor did, or does, anyone else running for the statehouse anywhere in Texas.
And a perusal of his campaign contribution and expenditure reports for 2004 shows that while Rose may not be accepting insurance company money, he has received sizable portions of his campaign war chest from a litany of lobbyists and attorneys who do.
Rose's PAC, the Committee to Elect Patrick Rose, has as of the September 30th filing accepted $28,725 in contributions from lobbyists and law firms that represent insurance companies in the state house and the court house.
All told, these Rose campaign contributors have been or will be paid somewhere between $1.27 and $2.42 million dollars by insurance companies this year.
When asked about Rose's claim in the advertisement, Rose Campaign Manager Mark Littlefield said Rose stated he "didn't take insurance PAC money", which is not what the transcript indicated Rose said. When read the text, Littlefield acknowledged this and amended his comment.
When asked about the millions of dollars Rose's contributors had received from insurance companies, Mister Littlefield said he would have to defer to campaign Press Secretary Mireya Zapata.
Several calls to Miss Zapata were not returned.
"This is just one more example of Patrick Rose saying one thing and doing another," Askew Campaign Manager Jerod Patterson said today. "To repeatedly say he is not taking insurance money while at the same time accepting tens of thousands of dollars from the insurance lobby is dishonest and hypocritical."
We will continue to try to reach Miss Zapata for additional comment.
