Fulton Joins Governor Pataki Against Obamacare

KOLN/KGIN 10/11 News | By Christie Bett on April 19th, 2010

Government officials against the health care reform bill gathered in downtown Lincoln Monday morning with former New York Governor George Pataki to kick-off a petition campaign in Nebraska.

Pataki is leading Revere America, an effort to get one million signatures on a petition to repeal the health care reform bill.

About 50 people packed the conference room in the Cornhusker Hotel to participate in the rally and sign the petition, taking their stand against the health care legislation. And although the bill has already passed, Pataki says the movement can still have an effect.

“We started in front of the Old North Church, where Paul Revere began his ride and we wanted to stop in Nebraska because the Cornhusker Kickback is an example of how corrupt the process was to pass this bill,” Pataki said.

Every level of government was represented locally, including Lieutenant Governor Rick Sheehy, and State Senator Tony Fulton.

“He started this in Nebraska probably because of Senator Nelson being the 60th vote to pass this. And so Nebraska can be the first to repeal it,” Fulton said.

Lincoln City Council Member Adam Hornung also showed his support of the repeal.

“An overwhelming majority of Americans are saying, we don’t want this, this is not something we want. This a perfect example of that,” said Hornung.

But protesters outside the Cornhusker disagreed. State Director of Organizing for America Timothy Anderson brought community members out with signs, sticking up for the president’s bill.

“We are celebrating the passage of the historic health insurance reform legislation, which extends coverage to 33 million Americans. But we’re also standing together for health insurance reform,” said Anderson.

Zach Smith, a student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is a community organizer for Organizing for America. He also supports Obama’s health care reform.

“It allows me to stay on my parents’ insurance until age 26. There’s just benefit upon benefit in this bill, and what’s more, it’s moderate. It preserves the private insurance system. And that’s something that people like George Pataki don’t seem to understand,” Smith said.

Pataki told the protesters he appreciated their involvement, but says if you disagree with the health care bill, it’s up to you to make reform happen.

“We’ve seen that we have a government that won’t listen to the people. And if we let this stand, it’s just going to continue. They’re going to continue to ignore the voters, to ignore the wishes of the people,” Pataki said.