Kagen requests ad be pulled

UPDATED - see below

The new ad targeting Steve Kagen and his vote on health care has elicited this response from the Kagen camp:

A campaign lawyer for Rep. Steve Kagen asked four Green Bay-area television stations Tuesday to stop airing what he called false advertisement aimed at his client.

The ad by the conservative League of American Voters states that Kagen “voted for Obama and Pelosi’s health care takeover” that imposes “big taxes on good insurance plans.” [E.A]

This is from the JS Online All Politics Blog, which is quick to remind us that the plan Kagen voted for was the House healthcare plan, which did not have the tax on high-cost 'cadillac' health plans. This tax was in the Senate version of health care.

It's possible Kagen is simply responding to what he sees as an inaccurate representation of his voting record, but it is also possible that the cadillac tax is an especially sensitive issue for him.

The main opposition to the tax on cadillac plans comes from organized labor and Kagen is a major recipient of campaign cash from organized labor.

According to Open Secrets, here are some highlights of the fundrasing by the Kagen Campaign Committee in 2009-2010:

• Three of the top five industries in terms of total dollar contributions were labor groups
• PAC's from these three groups (Building Trade Unions, Transportation Unions, and Public Sector Unions) have contributed $123,250
• Total contributions from the labor sector were $156,000, all from PAC's, the health sector was second at $132,000

If you go to the comments of this post, there is a link to the ad in question provided by Jo Egelhoff of Fox Politics.

3/3 - Update from WisPolitics:

LAV executive director Bob Adams acknowledged that Maistelman was correct, saying the House plan included an income tax surcharge rather than a tax on so-called Cadillac health plans. He said all four stations have been sent a new version of the ad.