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16 | FEBRUARY 25, 2015
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makers had refused to sign the blanket pledges – not in an effort to skewer the politicians, he said, but to “educate vot- ers” in hopes they would contact their legislators and encourage them to vote against Medicaid expansion.
“This is not a dig at Frank Garner. This is not and will not be a crusade against any legislator,” Lahn explained. “This is a crusade against bad policy.”
That explanation fell on deaf ears, and while no one in the room gushed over Medicaid expansion, and some spoke out in firm opposition to Obam- acare, the crowd, with few exceptions, was uniformly dubious of AFP’s purpose in Montana, a state characterized by its streak of rugged individualism, a safe- harbor from the overreach of Washing- ton politics and its climate of outside in- fluence.
Still, the failure of AFP’s effort to lambast Garner and Medicaid expan- sion at the Kalispell rally has not de- terred the group from conducting a full-court press in Montana, where it has expanded its reach and continues to organize town hall meetings across the state. The group recently announced the launch of a “major new initiative educat- ing voters on why Medicaid expansion is wrong for Montana,” taking to the radio, mailing more flyers – the mailers picture a legislator’s visage superimposed over an image of President Barack Obama – and holding “teletownhalls” to promote its agenda.
Though the election season is over, a new kind of campaign is well underway in Montana over issues like Medicaid ex- pansion, which has endured a torrent of outside influence.
And just as AFP ramps up its issue- advocacy based ground campaign to influence voters on the pitfalls of Med- icaid expansion and the merits of a brand of health care that would apply to fewer low-income residents, it is also gaining traction within the halls of the statehouse, where some lawmakers are adopting its model legislation in lockstep and introducing the measures verbatim.
“I think they are running one of the best voter-outreach programs I have ever seen without ever revealing who is actually running their agenda,” Rep. Rob Cook, R-Conrad, said. “There is a duplicity in their behavior. On the one hand they want to pretend they are for the betterment of Montana, but on the other hand they are not from Montana and neither is their money. The level at which they are trying to deploy their ground-game is unprecedented, and it’s clear that there is an abundance of ex- ternal money funding these folks. And because it’s AFP, we have a good idea who is funding this thing.”
AFP-Montana is a branch of the national conservative organization founded by the billionaire Koch broth- ers, David and Charles, who own Koch Industries, of Wichita, Kansas, and are prominent opponents of Medicaid ex- pansion. An examination by the Center for Responsive Politics and the Wash- ington Post found that the Kochs’ po- litical groups raised more than $400 million for various political causes dur-
Americans for Prosperity State Director Zach Lahn listens to a presentation from Kristina Ribali during a health care town hall meeting, hosted by Americans for Prosperity, in Kalispell on Feb. 5.GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
ing the 2012 election, and efforts to kill Medicaid expansion have risen to the fore of their agenda.
The Kochs’ labyrinthine network of political groups and funding sources include innocuous names like the Free- dom Partners Chamber of Commerce, the Center to Protect Patient Rights, Generation Opportunity, and Ameri- cans for Prosperity.
“They could call it ‘Americans for Babies’ and still push the same agenda,” Cook said. “If they had to disclose to Montanans the sources of their money they would be instantly relegated to the dustpan of history.”
Last summer, AFP built up its pres- ence in Montana, expanding from two to 11 paid staffers, according to the group – nearly three times the size of the state’s most influential lobbying groups – and opened three new field offices in Billings, Bozeman and Missoula.
In Montana and elsewhere, AFP has partnered with the Florida-based conservative think tank Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA), an affiliate of the State Policy Network (SPN), a web of right-wing think tanks, to push a host of anti-Medicaid expan- sion bills, formulating and exporting policies to states without the level of dis- closure typically required of lobbying. At the AFP event in Kalispell and other Montana districts, Kristina Ribali, se- nior coalitions director at the FGA, laid out the AFP’s case against Medicaid ex- pansion in a Power Point presentation by drawing parallels to Obamacare and detailing its drawbacks.
The success of AFP’s efforts to mount a campaign in Montana, and that the FGA has found purchase with some lawmakers in the Treasure State, is re-
flective of the Republican majority’s dis- dain for Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock’s proposal to use $683 million in federal funds over the next biennium to pro- vide health insurance to an additional 70,000 low-income Montana residents.
Architects of the GOP’s Medicaid reform proposal, a package of nearly 20 measures, have been working alongside the FGA to craft legislation as part of the Big Sky Health Plan, the GOP alter- native to Medicaid expansion. The plan would expand government coverage for some poor Montanans, fund more local mental-health programs, limit liability for medical providers, and encourage market-based solutions for health cov- erage.
Emails between Republican legis- lators sponsoring the plan, legislative bill drafters and senior fellows with the FGA show the lawmakers taking direc- tion from FGA on a number of proposals, including concepts and principles the group has promoted in other states like Florida, Maine, Kansas, and Georgia.
Sen. Fred Thomas, R-Stevensville, a sponsor of one of the major proposals, said FGA’s counsel on Medicaid reform has been immensely helpful for citizen legislators hammering out a complex is- sue, and he sees no impropriety in incor- porating their ideas and expertise into Montana initiatives.
“It has been extremely helpful to have their assistance and data to edu- cate us on Medicaid, food stamps, and other public projects,” Thomas said. “They might be headquartered some- where else, but their expertise is rele- vant here.”
Some of the bills introduced as part of the GOP plan are the result of model legislation circulated by the FGA, in-
cluding measures to limit eligibility to federally assisted welfare programs and to reform Medicaid by turning to “man- aged care,” like Florida has done.
In at least one instance, portions of a bill introduced in the Montana Leg- islature, SB 148, which aims to prevent welfare fraud, are taken nearly verbatim from a piece of model legislation by the American Legislative Exchange Coun- cil, a nonprofit organization of conserva- tive state legislators and private sector representatives that drafts and shares model state-level legislation for broad distribution.
Meanwhile, moderate Republicans in the House and Senate are working on a compromise bill that would expand health insurance coverage to low income Montanans, but would also include tort reform and other measures important to Republicans.
But AFP is opposed to any plan that accepts any federal dollars to extend health care coverage to what Lahn re- fers to as “a brand new entitlement class of able-bodied, childless adults,” and the group has targeted lawmakers like Gar- ner because of their willingness to even consider a compromise bill.
Garner said his allegiance is to the Montana voters who elected him, not AFP, and refuses to make up his mind on any measure until it’s fully developed and ready for consideration.
“Sure, I have problems with full ex- pansion, but you can’t know what a bill looks like and does until it’s in front of you,” Garner said. “I won’t sign a pledge card for or against any issue.”
And in the 64th session of the Mon- tana Legislature, there is no shortage of issues receiving support or opposition from groups with ties to outside funding