Passing it forward

Because not only I should be inundated with a gazillion Senate campaign emails in the past 48 hours, I figured I'd share snippets from today's inbox.

Here's one from Coakley's campaign,

Brown says: “Never Voted for a Tax Increase”, but supported hundreds of millions of dollars in fee hikes, a gas tax increase, and over $7 billion in increased spending

Boston, MA - In tonight’s Senate debate, Republican Scott Brown continued to misrepresent his position on taxes. At the debate, Brown said:

“I’ve never voted for a tax increase while in elective office. In fact, I’m proud of fighting the line on taxes.”

But facts are stubborn things.

While a State Representative, Brown voted for a 2004 budget that contained hundreds of millions of dollars in fee hikes. On May 8, 2003, Brown voted for passage of the FY 2004 state budget. Media estimates placed the total number of fee hikes placed on Massachusetts families and businesses that were contained in that budget ranging from $390 million to $700 million a year. The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation linked the fees to tax increases at the time, saying “It's been disingenuous to say there's no new taxes, in the sense that there's very little connection to the fee increases and the cost of services that the fees are supposed to represent.”

Here's another from her campaign,

Scott Brown Denies That He Would Deny Rape Victims Emergency Contraception

Brown Wanted to Provide Religious Exemption to Bill Allowing Doctors to Distribute Emergency Contraceptives to Rape Victims. During debate on a 2005 bill to allow doctors to dispense emergency contraceptives to rape victims, Brown sponsored an amendment to the bill allowing hospital personnel to be exempted on religious grounds from a requirement to inform victims of the availability of the morning-after pill, and dispense it to those who request it. Brown’s amendment was rejected and he voted in favor of the bill to require emergency rooms provide emergency contraceptives to rape victims. [Senate, No. 2073, 6/16/05; Telegram & Gazette, 6/17/05]

Brown Recently Reiterated His Belief That Hospitals Have The Right To Refuse Emergency Contraception To Rape Victims Based On Hospital Personnel’s Religious Beliefs. During the WTKK debate Margery Eagan pressed Brown on his sponsorship of an amendment to an emergency contraception bill that would allow emergency room personnel to turn away rape victims based on their religious beliefs. Eagan asked, “Should if a woman come to the hospital in that situation should she get the emergency contraceptive or if there are people that for religious reasons oppose, she should have to go, and get back in her car and go to another hospital?” Brown replied, “That’s really up to the hospitals.” [WTKK Debate 1/5/09]

As a final blog-forward, Coakley finally goes after Scott Brown's record in her latest ad. It was a somewhat generic ad, but ithighlighted the biggest issue that has emerged in the final days, Brown's support for policy that would allow hospitals to deny emergency contraceptive treatment to raped women.

That's just a very small sampling, but things I think are imperative people know before they go into the voting booth. Not only would Brown allow hospitals to deny coverage to rape victims, but he's also Scott Brown lying when he says he's never voted for a tax increase -- and he's lying when he says he wouldn't raise your taxes. He'll just raise all your fees and pretend as if those aren't taxes.

I find it hard not to express my frustration with the way Coakley and her people have campaigned since almost the beginning, but they're finally starting to get the picture. It can be tough to be favored in a race by overwhelming odds, but the recipe for success there is not to rest on your laurels or run a wishy-washy campaign, where you're afraid to go out there and engage on the issues. The way to go about a campaign like that is to, as they'd say in sports, "run up the score." Don't just try to win, try to win by 30. Brown's record was always an eyesore; it's Martha Coakley's job to make sure the populace knows that.