PORT ANGELES — Rob McKenna told Clallam County Republicans last week that he and other state attorneys general will keep fighting the provision in the health care law that requires everyone to buy health insurance.
“We’re going to take this case all the way to the United States Supreme Court,” McKenna told a sellout crowd of about 150 at the Clallam County Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner at the Port Angeles CrabHouse Restaurant on Friday.
U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson ruled in January that the individual mandate in the Obama administration’s health care overhaul is unconstitutional, siding with 26 attorneys general who sued to block it, including McKenna.
Often mentioned as a GOP candidate for governor, McKenna is serving his second term as the state’s top legal officer. He provides legal services to state agencies, the governor and the Legislature.
In June, McKenna will become president of the National Association of Attorneys General.
Clallam County GOP Chairman Dick Pilling hinted of a possible Mc-Kenna candidacy to replace Gov. Chris Gregoire, whose term will expire in January 2013.
Although McKenna never addressed a potential candidacy during his 28-minute speech, he was asked directly after the event if he intends to run.
McKenna said: “I have to decide that, of course, but I haven’t made the decision, and I won’t until this summer.
“But certainly, it’s nice to have so much support.”
McKenna received a standing ovation before and after his highly political remarks.
“Obamacare is going to drive more and more employers out of and away from their ability to buy health care insurance and drive more and more of their employees into the market for health insurance they can’t afford,” McKenna said.
“That means more and more of them will end up on Medicaid. That’s exactly where this is headed. By the time they’re done, two out of three Americans will be on Medicaid or Medicare at the rate they’re going.”
Olympic Medical Center is already getting more than 70 percent of its business from Medicare or Medicaid, Chief Executive Office Eric Lewis has said.
“It’s the slow but sure nationalization, socialization of our health care system,” McKenna said.
“That’s what this is about.”
Attendees of the Lincoln Day Dinner paid $50 each or $95 per couple for the choice of prime rib or cheddar chive chicken.
An auction was held after McKenna spoke. Handguns and a Sarah Palin poster were among the items sold.
McKenna is expected to appear at the Jefferson County GOP Lincoln Lunch on Feb. 26. The luncheon will be held at the Elks Lodge at 555 Otto St., Port Townsend.
Most of McKenna’s remarks focused on the health care lawsuit. At its core, he said, the lawsuit is about the U.S. Constitution.
“We can all agree that health care reform is needed in this country,” McKenna said.
“There’s a lot with our health care system that we can improve, but this suit is about federalism.
“It’s about the role of the federal government under our Constitution. It’s about the fundamental question of whether or not there will be any limits left on the power of Congress and on the power of the federal government.”
McKenna cited Republican ideas for health care reform:
• Tort reform to reduce frivolous lawsuits.
• Tax credits for individual consumers to buy health insurance.
• Health care savings accounts.
• Creating a national market for health insurance.
Without change, Mc-Kenna predicted, employers will be “begging” the federal government to take over the health care insurance system in five to 10 years.
“And the step after that will be a national takeover of the health care system itself, where everyone in health care will work for the national government and of course be unionized in the process.
“That’s where people like Obama are aiming to take us.”
McKenna described his health care lawsuit as “the biggest case on the question of federalism and on the issue of whether there’s limits on federal power of our lifetimes.”
Turning his attention to Clallam County, McKenna said he was “deeply proud of the outstanding Republican elected officials” who won in November. He praised Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly and Sheriff Bill Benedict in particular.
“You ought to be proud being Republicans in the only county in the 6th Congressional District in which the Republican candidate won and won big,” Mc-Kenna said, referring to Doug Cloud’s 53.29 percent support against longtime incumbent Norm Dicks for the 6th Congressional District seat.
Dicks, D-Belfair, carried the district and is now the top Democrat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee.
McKenna criticized newspapers and the “alphabet networks” for saying the tea party movement has divided conservatives.
“When 2,000 people showed up on the steps of the state Capitol a little under a year ago to show their support for our health care lawsuit, I didn’t see any division,” he said. “I saw unity.”
What distinguishes the GOP is a “vigorous competition of ideas,” said Mc-Kenna, who was voted the most conservative member of his ninth-grade class in San Francisco.
McKenna drew more applause when he said the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights “is still worth defending 222 years after the fact.”
“That, of course, is why I was one of the first AGs to propose and sign onto the health care lawsuit,” he said.
“When I signed onto that lawsuit, some college professors and law school academics and political pundits said our lawsuit was frivolous. They’re not calling it frivolous anymore.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
