Off Beat: Wally vs. AARP
Just when you thought your man in Washington, Wally Herger, wasn't doing much, he comes up with a doozy.
Now that Republicans can flex their muscles in the House of Representatives, they're taking on the big issues and big targets.
Like senior citizens.
Actually, Herger and few other like-minded Republicans are taking on AARP, the organization that purports to represent senior citizens.
They released their findings to much fanfare. Well, the Associated Press covered it. And Herger was quoted. For your long-serving Mid-Valley representative, that's a lot of coverage.
A Herger press release announced the report, "Behind the Veil: The AARP America Doesn't Know," a product of the congressman's Ways and Means Health Subcommittee.
"The report, which is the culmination of more than a year-long investigation, concludes that AARP stands to make upwards of $1 billion over the next 10 years as a result of the new health care law through the sale of their endorsed-Medicare insurance products," the release said.
The congressmen said they were going to forward their ground-breaking study to the IRS to determine if AARP's tax-exempt status should be revoked.
Heady stuff, indeed.
But attacks on AARP aren't new.
The day after Herger and friends unveiled the results of their stunning investigation, the National Legal and Policy Center tried to remind everybody (or at least everybody who looks at its website or Twitter feed) that it was on to AARP four years ago.
NLPC, which says it "promotes ethics in public life through research, investigation, education and legal action," says it released a report four years ago — "How the Federal Government Subsidizes AARP: Billion-Dollar Nonprofit Gets Tens of Millions of Dollars in Taxpayer Money Each Year" — that cried out for action.
What happened?
In February 2007, NLPC fired off a letter to then-Speaker Dennis Hastert, demanding that the feds end all subsidies to AARP.
"Speaker Hastert took no action on the request," NLPC said on its website. "In fact, his office did not even acknowledge our request, despite media coverage that included an Associated Press story."
NLPC said the new report Herger issued was "welcome," but apparently misses the mark.
"At the same time, AARP's tax status is determined by the IRS, not Congress. We ask Congress to take an action that is within its own authority — ending the federal subsidy for AARP," NLPC said.
What will the IRS do? What will Congress do? What will Herger do?
Blogger blows it
You can't believe everything you read on the Internet. Take this blog post last week on the California Independent Voter Network site, for example.
The blogger was pontificating about California's high jobless rate and lowly standing among national metro areas. Yuba-Sutter ranked fourth highest in the nation.
"Yuba City is north of Sacramento between I-5 and I-80 and in the county seat of Yuba County," the blogger noted.
