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Bus brings controversy to N.C. State Fair
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This poster marks the 'Hands off my Helath Car'e
Bus, which makes controversial claims.
Photo courtesy of WRAL TV
The theme of this year’s N.C. State Fair is “a whole lotta happy,” but one exhibit is about a whole lotta politics.
The "Hands Off My Health Care” Bus sponsored by Americans for Prosperity sat near the Gate 9 seeking signatures for petitions opposing Pres. Barack Obama’s healthcare plan. Speakers at the trailer use a megaphone to make arguments that the Obama administration has characterized as false: That the president wants to “nationalize” healthcare, and that the government wants to “take away” citizens’ right to choose health care plans.
The administration has repeatedly stressed that their healthcare plan would not force anyone to give up their doctor, and that the plan contains no national takeover. The public option portion of the plan, a proposal designed to keep healthcare costs down by providing competition to health insurance companies, is optional.
Dallas Woodhouse, the state director for Americans for Prosperity, acknowledged that the group’s claims contradict what the president has said about his healthcare proposals.
“We feel that the end result of a public option is that eventually it would become the only option because the government will incentivize private insurers to dump healthcare coverage,” Woodhouse said.
The group’s claims about Americans losing their right to make healthcare decisions is based on the same reasoning, he said.
Woodhouse said the group gathered 10,000 signatures at the state fair over four days. “These are grassroots people who want to speak out on the issue,” he said.
Americans for Prosperity (AFP) describes itself as is “an organization of grassroots leaders who engage citizens in the name of limited government and free markets on the local, state and federal levels,” according to its web site. But, according to Source Watch, an independent web site that bills itself as an “encyclopedia of people, issues, and groups shaping the public agenda,” AFP began as largely industry-funded.
The group “was established in late 2003 as a successor to Citizens for a Sound Economy Foundation, an “industry-funded think tank,” Source Watch says. Citing a study of the group, Source Watch states that AFP was the third largest recipient of funding from the Koch Family Foundations. Before 2003, when the organization was still named the Citizens for a Sound Economy Foundation, 70 percent of its funding came from the Koch Family Foundations, according to Source Watch.
AFP is connected to Art Pope, a local conservative activist.
The web site stated that Koch Family Foundations is funded by Koch Industries which, according to Forbes Magazine, is the largest privately owned energy company in the United States. Source Watch’s web site states: “Koch industries has made its money in the oil business, primarily oil refining. Presently, it holds stakes in pipelines, refineries, fertilizer, forest products, and chemical technology. Americans for Prosperity is also connected to oil giant ExxonMobil. According to ExxonSecrets, between the years 1998-2001, Citizens for A Sound Economy and Citizens for a Sound Economy Foundation received $380,250 from ExxonMobil.”
AFP “advocates pro-tobacco industry positions on issues like cigarette taxes and clean indoor air laws,” Source Watch states. It began crusading against healthcare in mid 2009, Source Watch says.
Woodhouse did not offer details but said the mix of supporters has changed and is no longer mostly industry-funded.
“We have a variety of funders,” he said. “Most of them are individual donors but we do get corporate funding.” He said a lot of funding for healthcare reform also comes from industry, especially the pharmaceutical industry.
Though most booths are dedicated to food or games, political booths are not unheard of at the state fair. In 1966, the Ku Klux Klan rented a booth.
There's nothing to prevent it.
"I don't see anything in the exhibitor regulations that specifically addresses controversial exhibits," said Brian Long, Public Affairs Director for the state Agriculture Department, which runs the fair.
