Posted on 06/29/2002 6:55:39 PM PDT by chance33_98
Blue Cross Polls Voters About Race For Governor Research Firm Calls Candidate's Husband By Political Reporter Bill Rappleye
POSTED: 6:24 p.m. EDT June 28, 2002 UPDATED: 11:51 p.m. EDT June 28, 2002
CRANSTON, R.I. -- News Channel 10 reported Friday that Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island is paying Alpha Research to question voters about who they'd support for governor, and whether Blue Cross should run commercials.
Blue Cross & Blue Shield has a multimillion dollar contract to insure state employees. The contract has come under fire from gubernatorial candidate Myrth York. She has raised the issue in her campaign ads.
Now, Blue Cross is conducting a poll. One person they called is David Green -- who happens to be York's husband.
The first questions were about candidates, but then it switched to different subject.
"Did I feel that Blue Cross had an obligation to defend itself," Green said he was asked. "Then the second question: If Blue Cross did run ads defending itself, would I think more or less about Blue Cross for doing that?"
Green said he got the sense that Blue Cross was asking if it should run ads to counter-attack his wife's ads.
Blue Cross's response?
Spokesman Dale Huff told News Channel 10 it was only to "respond in an accurate and professional manner" to any statements made during a political campaign.
Huff said the poll is to "serve as guidance to what course of action we might want to take."
He didn't explain why there are questions about which candidate the respondents are supporting.
"We're not going to be drawn into a political race," he said.
York, a Democrat, has been leading the charge to get records from Blue Cross. She said the poll shows its priorities are wrong.
York had a quick answer to the notion Blue Cross needed to find the best way to respond.
"How about the truth," she said.
"How about in the Blue Cross settlement, releasing the documents and letting us know why the state settled for what it did. Because, it's a state contract that is paid for by taxpayers' dollars ... every Rhode Islanders' dollars. Because it's state money that pays those premiums," York said.
The company said it will not be buying any commercial time to counter the political spots.
This has led to the problems you can now read about in the Tennessee Locale Message Board. I don't like Dems but I despise BC/BS even more as they have many Republicans support representing their best interest and not ours.
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