Our radio ads in NJ-7 and FL-24, exposing the gross hypocrisy of Leonard Lance and Sandy Adams-- each of whom tried to deceive their constituents by claiming to not be taking government-subsidized healthcare while getting it from their respective state's programs-- have stopped running... at least for now. We have some more plans for these two liars.

As Jim Rosen pointed out for the McClatchy newspapers a few days ago, Norman Ornstein, an analyst with the conservative American Enterprise Institute, notes a significant gap between the talk and the walk of lawmakers who oppose "the federal takeover of health care" while accepting taxpayer funded medical benefits for themselves and their families. Ornstein points out that "The amount of hypocrisy here is obviously very high for people who talk about how we all have to make sacrifices, but don't make any sacrifices themselves. They talk about how the health care system is out of control, but then they take these very generous benefits they get as members of Congress."

One or two of the Republicans-- but literally only one or two-- actually sound almost like progressive Democrats when they refuse the healthcare package. Florida freshman Richard Nugent, in turning down the federal medical benefits to which he was entitled, seemed to indict the vast majority of the other GOP freshmen as hypocrites. "When you have Americans that are struggling, why should I get a cost savings because I've just got elected to the United States House of Representatives?" Sounds great, right? Except... does the former sheriff get taxpayer-funded healthcare through his old job, the way Lance does?

Seventeen new Republican lawmakers, almost one-fifth of the large House GOP freshman class, have rejected federal medical coverage for themselves and their families to highlight their opposition to President Barack Obama's showcase health insurance law.

South Carolina's four rookie congressmen aren't following their lead.

Reps. Tim Scott, Mick Mulvaney, Trey Gowdy and Jeff Duncan all voted last month to repeal what they and their Republican colleagues scathingly call "ObamaCare," the landmark bill the president signed into law last March to provide federally mandated coverage to 32 million uninsured Americans.

Yet the state's four freshman representatives aren't repealing their own new memberships in the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program, a heavily taxpayer-subsidized plan with broad choices, generous provisions and low premiums thanks to discounted rates for its 8 million policyholders nationwide [72% of whose costs are paid by taxpayers].

...Rep. Trey Gowdy, a Spartanburg Republican who defeated incumbent Rep. Bob Inglis last year in the Upstate's GOP primary, said he now has the same health coverage he had from 1994 to 2000 when he was a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Greenville.

"The way our health insurance is set up in this country is-- you receive health insurance from your employer," Gowdy said.

Gowdy said he chose to go on the federal health plan instead of using state government coverage provided to his wife and their two children through her job as a Spartanburg public schools teacher's aide.

"It may have scored political points for me to tell everyone I turned down my federal health insurance, but it seems disingenuous and would have added to the South Carolina rolls someone who has employment elsewhere," he said.

However solid it may be, that kind of reasoning could extract a political price.

Only one-third of Americans believe that new House members who campaigned against Obama's health insurance law should accept their federal medical coverage, according to a survey in November by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic-affiliated firm in Raleigh, N.C.

Fifty-two percent of Americans think the GOP freshmen lawmakers should reject the federal benefits, while 15 percent have no opinion.

Republican and independent voters had even stronger feelings, with 58 percent of them saying their party's new House members should turn down the medical coverage.

We're trying to raise the funds to put our ad on more New Jersey radio stations. If you haven't heard it or would like to donate to that effort, you can do both here. And if you'd like to read a guest post from Ed Potosnak, the progressive Democrat who ran against Lance in 2010 and plans on doing the same in 2012, here's a link.

Last night Forbes Magazine summed up our dilemma: because technically our first ad was inaccurate-- we didn't mention that Lance was still taking government-subsidized healthcare paid for by New Jersey taxpayers through the state plan instead of the far less costly federal congressional plan-- we had to stop running it on WCTC, 1450AM in Somerset. "[T]he reason Rep. Lance turned down the federal benefits," explains Forbes "is because he’s already getting a better policy at a much better deal from the State of New Jersey. As a retiree from the state senate, he qualified for a free Cadillac style health care plan the state provides for retirees and their families (he does have to pay co-pays but no premiums) for life."

That would be one of the programs that have come under attack by conservative Governor Chris Christie in his battle with public employee unions over the unusually lucrative benefits paid to retiring public servants.

Oops. So much for sacrificing to make a point.

...What is important here is that Rep. Lance and his family are in great shape when it comes to their own health care thanks to the generosity of the taxpayers of New Jersey. As for the Americans who would be denied health coverage by Lance’s repeal vote-- coverage that does not even begin to approach the quality of what the good Congressman is receiving for free-- well, I guess that’s a personal problem for Americans that Rep. Lance cannot be bothered about.

So... our new ad (above) is ready to go and we're getting it up on WCTC this week. And we'd like to get it on some other stations as well. Can you help us do that through our ActBlue page?

Ed Potosnak, the Blue America-endorsed candidate from 2010, who is looking like Lance's likely challenger in 2012 as well, is demanding that Lance "come clean with New Jerseyans and admit the radio ads run on WCTC were essentially correct." We agree.

Lance claimed ads educating listeners to the fact that he voted to deny everyday Americans the benefits, protections, and security he gets through Government provided healthcare for him and his family were false. After Congressman Lance requested the ad be pulled because he forwent federal insurance, what Mr. Lance was attempting to conceal was then uncovered. Congressman Lance’s family health insurance is being paid for by New Jersey taxpayers, to the tune of $1,906.42 per month, or $22,877.04 per year, more than twice the cost of the federal plan.

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“If we are going to get our edge back in America we need to change the people in Washington because our families are taxed enough and deserve some honesty,” Potosnak added. “I am committed to creating jobs for unemployed Americans by simulating innovation, research and development and improving education,” he concluded.

When Lance's clueless bully of a Chief of Staff, Todd Mitchell, insisted WCTC stop running the ad because of the technicality, he stepped in it big time. "I should've kept my mouth shut," he moaned to the Cherry Hill Post-Courier when Lance was exposed trying to mislead his own constituents by making them believe he was paying for his own healthcare without any government subsidies, the way he insists they do.

We'll look forward to helping Democrats win back this seat, one that President Obama won in 2010, next year and replacing a hypocritical and dishonest career politician with a forward-thinking progressive, hopefully Ed Potosnak. Somehow I have a feeling New Jersey residents are sick and tired of being represented by Snooki and Leonard Lance. Again, give us a hand if you can with the ad here and... listen to it again:

John Amato: Here's my quote from Blue America's press release:

"Governor Christie," said Amato, "claims he's opposed to these Cadillac style plans for state retirees. Well Lance's plan is a Rolls Royce, not a Caddy and he didn't need to be burdening New Jersey taxpayers with his family healthcare. He could have done what almost every other member of Congress did-- including all the other Republicans in the New Jersey delegation-- and accepted the federal plan. Or is Christie's opposition just for public employee unions-- teachers, firefighters and policemen-- and not for career politicians like Lance?"