Hoeffel Says Lawsuit is Political

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Joe Hoeffel is attacking Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett for using an anti-health care lawsuit to score political points.
Hoeffel, a Montgomery County Commissioner who’s positioning himself as the most liberal candidate in the governor’s race, says Corbett’s lawsuit is nothing more than political posturing.

"He’s always struck me as a moderate Republican, and I think he’s desperately afraid of not satisfying the tea-bagging tea partiers. He looks at Sam Rohrer, who’s very sincere in his conservative views, and sees a threat."

Hoeffel thinks the legal challenge will fail....."The courts have repeatedly upheld the commerce clause, which gives Congress to regulate commerce in the state. And they’ve repeatedly upheld the right of the national government to tax American citizens."

However, the 13 attorneys general, who are filing suit, say it's unconstitutional to require Americans to buy anything including health insurance.

Hoeffel criticized the Corbett campaign for using the lawsuit as the basis for a fundraising mailer.
The letter says, “Tom is working to stop the federal government from threatening individual liberties by imposing this mandate…”
It asks for donations of 100, 50 or 25 dollars.
Corbett’s campaign manager, Brian Nutt, defends both the mailing and the lawsuit.
Nutt says Hoeffel, and not Corbett, is the one making a partisan political attack.

"I haven’t seen anywhere where Mr. Hoeffel has challenged Tim Holden, Congressman Tim Holden, or Congressman Jason Altmire, who voted against this bill. But I suppose he hasn’t done that because they’re Democrats and that doesn’t fit his MO of going after a Republican."