New law sparks spirited reaction from candidates

There have been few pieces of legislation more debated and divisive, in recent times, than those related to the national health care reform bill that President Obama signed into law Tuesday.
And while Democrats rejoice after the hard-faught political battle it took to usher it through, Congressional Republicans -- who were unanimous in their voting against it -- view the passage of the bill in the House of Representatives on Sunday night as an act of wrongheadedness.
That may be particularly true of Republicans in Iredell County.
"Over a thousand people turned out for my town hall meetings in Iredell County last summer," said U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry, whose 10th District includes Iredell's southern third. "Almost everyone I listened to there opposed President Obama's health care bill. I heard them and I'm not giving up the fight."
McHenry was referring to two town hall gatherings he held in Mooresville last August. The first of them -- on Aug. 10 -- was so well attended that more than 1,000 people had to be turned away.
"The battle against government-run health care is one of the most important I have ever fought and I am not about to give up now," McHenry added in a press release. "I will work with like-minded Americans across our nation to repeal or challenge this unconstitutional government takeover."
McHenry said the plan now is one of "replace and repeal." He said the onus for implementing the plan is on the shoulders of the electorate.
"We've got to replace these folks that voted for this horrible bill," MChenry said. "And then we'll have the votes we need to repeal Obamacare."
McHenry also said the law can be defeated in the courts throughout the country. The attorneys general of about a dozen states are already at work on ways to fight it.
McHenry's two top opponents in the GOP primary he faces in June both agree with him that the new health care reform bill is a step in the wrong direction.
But Mooresville dentist and Iredell County Commissioner Scott Keadle said McHenry had a chance to defeat the bill and he failed.
"My job is dentistry, his job was to take care of the Democrats," Keadle said. "I did my job, he didn't take care of the Democrats."
Keadle is not one for excuses or half-measures either.
"They said they tried," Keadle said. "When you come into my dentist office, do you want me to try to pull your tooth or do you want me to actually pull it? If all people did was try at their jobs, they'd be fired."
Keadle, a Mooresville dentist and Iredell County commissioner, said that if he was elected he would work on repealing the entire bill and sponsor "free-market reforms to stop the government interference that caused the trouble in the first place."
Keadle said the new law "violates the U.S. Constition and infringes on each state's sovereignty."
Burke County businessman Vance Patterson agrees.
"I believe the health reform bill is an assault on our Constitution, and a direct attempt to socialize our health care system," Patterson said in an e-mail to the R&L. "If elected I will move in a number of ways to repeal the bill in part and as a whole."
Patterson said one way to turn the bill around could by way of the 10th Amendment, "which declares any powers not expressly given to the federal government are retained by the states and the people."
Patterson said challanges to the law's legitimacy can also be made on the grounds that the federal government is "requiring individuals to purchase something they may not want: health insurance."
Patterson adds, "There is nothing in the constitution to say the government has this power."
He said "outright appeal" would be the best avenue to persue but, as McHenry noted, that would not be possible with the current makeup of the Congress.
"It's never too late," Patterson said. "What Congress has written, Congress can change. We just need the leaders to make it happen."
The other 10th District GOP candidate, Maiden's David M. Boldon, could not be reached for comment.
Fifth District Rep. Virginia Foxx was among the most outspoken members of Congress against he health care reform bill.
She said some Democrats were misled into supporting the bill, which only needed four votes going the other way to have gone down in defeat.
"I have no doubt that more Democrats would have voted against it if they had a better understanding of what an executive order can do," Foxx said.
Foxx was referring to a handful of anti-abortion Democrats whom, she believes, were swayed to vote for the bill by a promise from Obama to rid the legislation of abortion funding by virtue of executive order.
"The Democrats believe that executive order is good for something," Foxx said. "We don't believe it's good for anything."
Foxx said she is still certain that "the most egregious" parts of the legislation will be excised from it.
"And that those parts will be replaced by the right way to do this," Foxx said. "We do have a plan and a policy that is good for everyone."
Foxx's Democratic opponent Billy Kennedy said Foxx should leave well enough alone.
"I'm disappointed Rep. Foxx has announced she will back attempts to repeal the new health care reform bill, but this is nothing new," Kennedy said in an e-mail. "Every major piece of legislation that's ever been passed in America (including Medicare and Social Security) has brought on lawsuits by those whose special interests are on the line."
Kennedy pondered what would happen if Foxx and the other of the new law's opponents are succesful in beating it back.
"What will happen to the 30 million people who will now have access for the first time to affordable insurance?" Kennedy asked. "What will happen to those who can no longer be denied insurance coverage because they have pre-existing conditions? What will happen to the seniors of our district who are about to get more help in affording prescription medicine?"
Kennedy answered those questions and others like it by concluding, "We'll be right back where we started, only worse."