Whitman May Not Sue Over Healthcare Law
A new piece in the San Francisco Chronicle suggests that Meg Whitman may not actually join a lawsuit against the federal government over the new healthcare law:
If elected governor, Republican Meg Whitman plans to add California to the list of states suing to overturn the new federal health care law. Or maybe she won't.
The most recent statements by Whitman's campaign are much more equivocal than the position she took in March, during the Republican primary. When supporters at a campaign event asked her whether she would "force (her) attorney general" to join the health care suit, she said yes.
Questioned by reporters later that day, Whitman acknowledged that a governor couldn't order the independently elected attorney general to sue, but said she would "strongly encourage" a suit.
Last week, however, campaign spokesman Darrel Ng said Whitman might not take either of those actions, even though she still objects to parts of the new law.
"Whether she does a new (legal) effort, encourages the new AG (attorney general) to join an effort or not is really irrelevant," Ng said by e-mail. He said a pending lawsuit by Virginia's attorney general "will decide the issue." With the future of that case unknown, he said, "it would be premature to make a decision."
The Virginia suit and a separate lawsuit by more than a dozen states in a Florida federal court challenge both aspects of the health law that Whitman opposes: its requirement that all Americans buy insurance by 2014 or pay a tax penalty, and the costs that it allegedly shifts to the states.
Whitman's Democratic opponent, Attorney General Jerry Brown, supports the federal law and has criticized Whitman for threatening to sue.
The candidates for attorney general also are divided: San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, favors the federal law, while Republican Steve Cooley, the Los Angeles district attorney, has "some concerns" but is undecided about a suit, according to a campaign spokesman.
Whitman's migration from yes to maybe on a health care suit is the latest of several apparent turnabouts on major issues.
