Is a public official supposed to engage in partisan politics?

[proud2BlibKansan]

Help me out here. This LTTE is in my local paper today. Is this okay? It sure sounds like Fred Schuster has partisan views about health care. Am I wrong?

Children’s health program

Press reports may be raising fears that American children will lose their health insurance because of a debate in Washington over renewing the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (7/24, A-1, “Congress struggles with kids’ insurance; A boost in health coverage is the goal, but Republicans fear a move toward more control by government”).

The president supports reauthorizing this important program for low-income children with enough new funds to ensure that no one currently enrolled loses coverage. His budget also calls for enough funds so that eligible children not already enrolled can be covered.

But the Senate and House are each proposing bills calling for a massive expansion of the program to those in higher-income families, moving them from private insurance onto public assistance.

The president does not support those proposals, which would more than double spending in the insurance program and extend eligibility to millions of children who already have private insurance or whose parents earn enough to afford private insurance.

The bills proposed by Congress are not about helping low-income children. They’re about using the insurance program to stage a gradual government takeover of American health care.

Some members of Congress have said publicly that this is what they intend, but neither the president nor the American people will stand for it.

Fred Schuster

Regional director, U.S. Department

of Health and Human Services

Kansas City


http://www.kansascity.com/309/story/208450.html