Collins’ record distorted by AFL-CIO

It’s hard to ignore the AFL-CIO’s attacks against Sen. Susan Collins. Their unfounded criticisms and condemnations of the senator can regularly be seen on TV and read in the paper. All of their attacks against Collins have one thing in common – their charges are false.

The AFL-CIO, in response to an Aug. 24-25 Bangor Daily News editorial which said their advertisement made an error by “wrongly” stating that “Collins supported a plan favored by the pharmaceutical companies,” continues to dig itself into a deeper hole. Usually, when an organization is taken to task by a major daily newspaper for getting its facts wrong, they typically (and perhaps sheepishly) admit they might have stretched the truth a little and call a truce. But the AFL-CIO is not a typical organization, particularly when it comes to joining Senate candidate Chellie Pingree’s allies in running a negative campaign against Sen. Susan Collins.

Consider the facts: The most recent AFL-CIO ad falsely claims that “Collins supported a plan favored by the pharmaceutical companies.” In reality, the pharmaceutical industry didn’t even take a position on the bill. Jeff Trewitt, a lobbyist for the drug association Phrma, said the companies “had not taken a position on any one Medicare bill in the Congress.”

You would think the AFL-CIO would be embarrassed for its gross distortion of the facts.

Think again.

Ned McCann, the secretary-treasurer of the Maine Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO refuses to admit defeat in a Sept. 4 oped to the Bangor Daily News, in which he repeatedly chastises Collins for voting for a drug plan that was “written by drug companies.” If the drug companies didn’t even take a position on “any one Medicare bill in Congress,” what plan is McCann referring to? Since the drug companies didn’t support any of the bills, the AFL-CIO’s mysterious plan doesn’t seem to exist.

But the AFL-CIO doesn’t stop there. They also criticize Collins for voting against the prescription drug plan “endorsed by the Democratic leadership.” Collins did vote against this plan and here are two big reasons why: 1) The Democratic plan would have terminated after six years, leaving seniors with no prescription drug benefit after 2010. 2) The Democratic plan limited coverage to – at most- two brand-name drugs in each drug class. The plan would have left out coverage for 90 percent of brand-name drugs, including some of the most innovative drugs on the market.

It’s easy to see why this proposal failed to pass the Senate.

Collins did support a bipartisan plan, which was endorsed by the AARP, that would have targeted those most in need of assistance: he lowest-income seniors and those bearing the highest drug costs. In addition, this proposal would have ensured that for just $25 a year, every senior would have been insured against catastrophic costs. Unfortunately, this proposal failed.

The Senate has passed legislation, authored by Sen. Collins, to make prescription drugs more affordable for all consumers by speeding the entry of lower-cost generic drugs into the market. Estimates conclude that the Collins legislation would save consumers at least $60 billion over the next 10 years.

While Collins continues to work toward passing a prescription drug benefit under Medicare and to lower the cost of prescription drugs for everyone, we should remind ourselves why the AFL-CIO continues to launch its erroneous attacks – to benefit the candidacy of Chellie Pingree. How long is Pingree, who took the oath of the Margaret Chase Smith code of election ethics pledge to disavow third-party negative ads, going to hide behind the blatantly false attacks sponsored by the AFL-CIO and her other allies?

Their strategy of running the most negative campaign in recent Maine political history will succeed in one respect only: These nasty attacks against Sen. Collins are certain to backfire against Chellie Pingree.

Cynthia Bergman is the communications director for the Maine Republican Party.