Jolt
Afternoon Jolt: Author of Insurance Privatization Initiative, Opposes It
Over on the pro-I-1082 site, the campaign takes on opponents' claims that the insurance industry wrote the initiative. (1082 opens up the workers' comp system to private insurers).
The I-1082 site disputes the claim—a claim loaded with the implication that the insurance industry (a big funder of I-1082) is buying an election to serve its own ends—by pointing out that insurance companies didn't write the initiative.
From the pro-1082 web site :
PubliCola just spoke with Talmadge, who confirms that he helped write the initiative. He says he was hired by the BIAW, also a major financial backer of the initiative, to do so. (Talmadge works at his own firm, Talmadge/Fitzpatrick.)
However, he added, "I oppose the initiative."
He noted that he voted against a three-tier system when he was a state legislator. "I've always been against three-way industrial insurance." (Currently, there are two tiers: Businesses and business associations get coverage through the state fund or bigger companies can run their own systems—as long as they meet the state's standards.)
Talmadge says, however, that he doesn't agree with claims that the initiative is "poorly written."
Asked for their take on the ironic news that the author of their initiative doesn't support their initiative, I-1082 spokeswoman (and BIAW spokeswoman) Erin Shannon says "As a voter he has every right to oppose or support the initiative, I have no take on that."
She says the campaign hired him for his "advice and counsel" and has never implied that Talmadge supports the measure. Indeed, an asterisk on the the 1082 website notes: "This does not mean Talmadge favors privatizing the workers' compensation system as a matter of public policy or has endorsed I-1082."
"We put that out there [Talmadges involvement] to counter the lie from the opposition that the insurance industry wrote the initiative," Shannon concludes.
The I-1082 site disputes the claim—a claim loaded with the implication that the insurance industry (a big funder of I-1082) is buying an election to serve its own ends—by pointing out that insurance companies didn't write the initiative.
From the pro-1082 web site :
The insurance industry “wrote 1082 themselves to grant the industry a market with virtually no oversight…”
I-1082 was written by respected constitutional attorney Phil Talmadge, a former Democratic state senator and Washington Supreme Court justice, whose counsel was retained and paid for by a coalition of small businesses without any insurance industry involvement.
PubliCola just spoke with Talmadge, who confirms that he helped write the initiative. He says he was hired by the BIAW, also a major financial backer of the initiative, to do so. (Talmadge works at his own firm, Talmadge/Fitzpatrick.)
However, he added, "I oppose the initiative."
He noted that he voted against a three-tier system when he was a state legislator. "I've always been against three-way industrial insurance." (Currently, there are two tiers: Businesses and business associations get coverage through the state fund or bigger companies can run their own systems—as long as they meet the state's standards.)
Talmadge says, however, that he doesn't agree with claims that the initiative is "poorly written."
Asked for their take on the ironic news that the author of their initiative doesn't support their initiative, I-1082 spokeswoman (and BIAW spokeswoman) Erin Shannon says "As a voter he has every right to oppose or support the initiative, I have no take on that."
She says the campaign hired him for his "advice and counsel" and has never implied that Talmadge supports the measure. Indeed, an asterisk on the the 1082 website notes: "This does not mean Talmadge favors privatizing the workers' compensation system as a matter of public policy or has endorsed I-1082."
"We put that out there [Talmadges involvement] to counter the lie from the opposition that the insurance industry wrote the initiative," Shannon concludes.
