<p>In his quest for the governorship, Independence Party candidate Tim Penny has said that he would "keep pressure on Washington" to add a prescription drug benefit to Medicare; that the federal government should pay its "fair share" of special education costs, and that light rail is a must-have -- all positions he says reflect his "sensible center" politics. But three years ago, when Penny was employed as a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, he helped write a federal budget proposal that called Medicare a "Cadillac health plan" that was "unjustifiably generous." On education, the proposal recommended eliminating funding for everything from HeadStart and school-to-work programs to college work study grants and the Direct Student Loan Program.</p>
