A group of 33 House Democrats on Thursday asked Colorado Attorney General John Suthers to remove the state from a “misguided and politically motivated” lawsuit challenging the national health care reform law.
The letter came the same day that a liberal group delivered what it said were more than 8,000 signatures opposing the lawsuit to Suthers, a Republican.
Suthers in March said he was joining with a dozen attorneys general from around the nation in suing over the health care bill. Only one of the attorneys general suing is a Democrat.
A key point in the lawsuit is its challenge of the mandate that all individuals have health insurance, which Suthers and other attorneys general contend is a violation of the 10th Amendment to the Constitution that gives states powers not delegated to the federal government.
“While we respect your autonomy to file a lawsuit independent of the legislature, we believe this particular action is misguided and is politically motivated,” said the letter, signed by House Speaker Terrance Carroll, D-Denver, and 32 other members of the 37-member Democratic majority in the House.
Those Democrats not signing the letter were Reps. Beth McCann of Denver, Joe Rice of Littleton, Wes McKinley of Walsh and Buffie McFadyen of Pueblo West.
Suthers’ spokesman, Mike Saccone, said the attorney general’s “participation in the lawsuit is based solely on matters of the law and the 10th Amendment.
Saccone added, “We did not enter this lawsuit because of polls, popularity or politics.”
The letter also challenged Suthers’ contention about the individual insurance mandate.
“You state that the ‘mandate is an unprecedented expansion of the power of the federal government that could undermine the rights of the states and their citizens for generations to come,’ ” the letter said. “Dozens of constitutional lawyers disagree.
“Many would argue that Congress has the power to legislate a coverage requirement because the federal government has a significant role in regulating health insurance. Many constitutional scholars agree that Congress does have this power under the Commerce Clause.”
Suthers disputes that argument, saying that people who choose not to buy health care are not engaging in commerce.
But the letter also reminded him that the individual mandate came from his party.
“It is ironic that you, a Republican, now oppose the individual mandate, given this provision was originally a Republican idea. Republicans introduced the individual mandate in President George H.W. Bush’s Health Equity and Access Reform Today Act of 1993. The leading GOP alternative plan during President Clinton’s health reform effort, the 1994 Consumer Choice Health Security Act, also included an individual mandate.”
Separately Thursday, ProgressNow, the state’s largest online liberal group, delivered to Suthers’ office petitions containing more than 8,400 signatures from 57 counties gathered in just five days opposing the lawsuit.
Executive Director Bobby Clark said it was appropriate that the signatures were delivered on April Fool’s Day because the AG needs to “stop wasting our state’s precious taxpayer dollars on his political windmill tipping.”
Reporter Lynn Bartels contributed to this story.
Tim Hoover: 303-954-1626 or thoover@denverpost.com
