Linkletter says the darndest things

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				THE
Column Archive				VIRGINIA GAZETTE
				WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA
Linkletter says the darndest things				March 6, 2004

Some people just never give up. First it was the Hatfields and the McCoys and now it’s the Josts and Sen. Tommy Norment (R-3^rd).

Unable to accept the fact that he was overwhelmingly defeated by Norment in the June primary, Paul Jost has sharpened his fangs. Through his somewhat ironically named Virginia for Growth organization, he is poised to strike at Norment’s jugular.

What the highly irked Jost assumes is that Norment and an unlikely cabal that includes, of all people, Melanie Rapp (R-96^th), have become entranced by a budget plan of Sen. John Chichester (R-28^th) that would raise sales and gas taxes in an effort to get Virginia out of the swampy doldrums of debt and stimulate growth.

In reality, Norment, along with Senator John Warner (R-VA) and other Republican moderates, has checked the numbers and is convinced that the state’s economy is about to implode unless bold moves are taken to secure additional revenue.

Yet, for all his statesmanship, Norment has become the object of a Godfather-like vendetta on the part of the Josts, who are either waiting to ambush him at the toll plaza or plant a dead horse in his bed.

The tactics being used in this smarmy onslaught consist primarily of rubbing Norment’s nose in some of the unfortunate rhetorical campaign garbage for which he later apologized. For instance, Laura Jost has culled from forums and fliers various anti-tax quotes attributed to Norment and sent them to all the Republican legislators in the House. And under the aegis of Virginia for Growth, ads have appeared impugning the integrity of Melanie Rapp and H. Russell Potts, Jr. (R-27^th) – both members of the deceit-ridden Norment claque.

Though one can perhaps understand the psychological motivations behind the Jost attacks, there is no explaining the appearance this week of full-page ads in the Gazette and other papers paid for by a group known as the United Seniors Association and featuring no less a patriarch than 92 year old Art Linkletter.

Strangely concurrent, and using the same modus operandi as the Jost letters, USA and a smiling, younger Linkletter dredge up quotes from Norment’s fliers and similarly bash him for his stand on the budget. Linkletter then implores us to tell Norment to “stop working to create high taxes on seniors.”

The idea that nonagenarian Linkletter knows Norment or cares what he’s up to in the Virginia legislature is specious enough. That he cares about seniors may well be understandable, though the Web site run by USA indicates this extreme right wing organization is working closely with the Bush administration to dilute Social Security with personal retirement accounts and eventually replace Medicare with private health care plans.

USA is a product of Richard Viguerie, who, after his Retired Americans Legislative Lobby went belly-up, moved all its assets and liabilities into the non-profit USA. According to the July, 2002 edition of “Public Citizen,” Viguerie continued to funnel the majority of USA’s income into direct mailings and his own business.

More recently, USA has become what “Public Citizen” calls a “hired gun” for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. In 2002 the primary thrust of its issue ads was for the GOP Medicare/prescription drug plan, the Bush energy plan and the now-enacted tax cuts. In the summer/fall of 2002 the PhRMA gave USA $4 million for an Internet and direct mail campaign, and in that same spring another $4.6 million for a TV ad urging the approval of the House Republican drug bill.

In the ‘90s, however, USA had its share of setbacks because of the scare tactics used in its mailings. In 1992, for instance, it sent out millions of letters to seniors, maintaining that the Social Security Trust Fund was bankrupt. In response, the House Ways and Means Committee on Social Security censured USA for “particularly egregious misleading claims.”

Later, in 1998, another misleading missive claimed that seniors could not use private funds to pay for health care if they were eligible for Medicare. This raised the hackles of the General Accounting Office, which refuted their claim, and led to a Senate rebuke for intentionally misleading seniors. Other difficulties are fully discussed and annotated on the “Public Citizen” Web site, as well as in the AARP Bulletin from Feb. 2003.

Now it seems that USA has taken up the latest money-making issue and joined the anti-tax crowd. And if the latest Linkletter ad is any indication, the claims being made are again rather suspect. In fact, there is no evidence whatsoever that Norment, Chichester or any other moderate Republicans are out to fleece anyone, to say nothing of seniors.

The fact is that seniors in Virginia are treated fairly well, in that Social Security is not taxed by the state, and folks 65 and over receive a hefty $12,000 state tax deduction.

While the Josts have every right to wage their war against Norment, their attacks will inevitably be associated with those of USA in terms of methodology and intent. It would be in their own interests for the Josts to tell USA and Art Linkletter, wherever he may be, to butt out.