NEWS RELEASE - Lt. Governor Kinder Announces Hearne as Attorney for Federal Health Care Challenge

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 21, 2010

Lt. Governor Kinder Announces Hearne as Attorney for Federal Health Care Challenge

JEFFERSON CITY – Lt. Governor Peter Kinder today announced that prominent constitutional attorney Thor Hearne will advise him on the constitutionality of the recently signed federal health care law.

“I am grateful to have Thor representing the voices of the citizens of Missouri in this case,” Lt. Governor Kinder said. “Thor’s vast experience and background will assure Missourians’ interests receive some of the most sound and vigorous representation in the country.”

Hearne is a partner with the Washington, D.C. based firm Arent Fox LLP. He is one of the nation’s preeminent constitutional and election law attorneys. Hearne successfully represented the leadership of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House appearing as amicus curiae before the U.S. Supreme Court. Hearne routinely handles complex constitutional and civil rights litigation against the federal government. He has appeared and argued significant federal and state constitutional issues before various U.S. Courts of Appeal as well as the Missouri, Michigan and Kansas state Supreme Courts. In 2004, he served as President Bush’s national election counsel in the presidential re-election campaign.

“I consider it an honor and a privilege to represent the Lt. Governor and advise him in his role as an advocate for Missouri’s elderly and in his defense of all Missouri citizens’ constitutional rights,” Hearne said. “We are considering the unique constitutional concerns the federal health care bill raises for Missouri citizens, taxpayers and, especially, how this bill affects the health care options available to Missourians over sixty-five years old.”

Lt. Governor Kinder announced on April 7, 2010 that he would bring the appropriate legal challenge to defend the interest of Missouri citizens and that this effort would be funded by private donations. The Health Care In Action, LLC legal fund was established to allow private citizens to support the effort and make sure Missouri taxpayers would not be left with the bill.

Officials from more than 20 other states are also pursuing legal action against the health care legislation.

On the Web: http://healthcareinaction.com/.

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REAL Reform

Dear Friends,

Earlier this morning, I met with my legal team to discuss our pending lawsuit against Obamacare in Missouri.

I am excited by the case we will be filing very soon in federal court in Missouri. Also, I will be announcing my legal counsel tomorrow! Keep watching this website and follow us on Twitter for updates on the Health Care In Action progress.

Missouri needs REAL health care reform. I hope that our fight will allow us to REPEAL and REPLACE this new law with health care reform that benefits all Americans.

Thank you for your continued support, and a special THANK YOU to everyone who has contributed to this cause.

Keep up the fight,

Peter

St.Louis Tax Day Tea Party Video

Tax Day Tea Parties

Friends,

Thank you for your continued calls and emails this week in support of our fight against Obamacare. Next week we plan to make some major announcements regarding our progress in this legal challenge. Keep watching HealthCareInAction.com for more info and follow us on Twitter by clicking on the button on the right side of this page. You can also continue making donations to our legal fund online, or by mailing a check.

Today, I will be speaking at two Tax Day Tea Parties in the Greater St. Louis area. I hope to see many of you there.

St. Charles Tax Day Tea Party Rally
St. Charles County Courthouse
100 N. 3rd St.
St. Charles, MO
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

St. Louis Tax Day Tea Party Rally
Memorial Park
Corner of Central and Carondelet
Clayton, MO
6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Peter

The Dana Show at 2:15p today!

Listen to Lt. Gov. Kinder LIVE today at 2:15 p.m. on The Dana Show on 97.1 FM Talk - St. Louis with Dana Loesch . Peter will be discussing his health care lawsuit and a recent op-ed in the Post-Dispatch.

LISTEN LIVE HERE.

Thank You! Help our fight against Obamacare!

Friends,

Thank you for the extraordinary support you have shown over the past five days!

I have received THOUSANDS of emails and phone calls of support. The message is the same, "KEEP FIGHTING!"

And that's what I intend to do.

So far, dozens of you have contributed to the legal fund for this lawsuit against Obamacare. I am funding my legal challenge through private donations to remove the burden from Missouri taxpayers. If you would like to find out more about donating, please click here.

Please keep your letters, emails, calls and donations coming. Also, help spread the word to your friends by directing them to this website, and by following us on Twitter.

Thanks for your support,

Peter

Daily Dunklin Democrat: Kinder 'drawing a line' over health care reform

by Annabeth Miller

Missouri's lieutenant Governor is going to push forward this month with his plan to file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of President Obama's health care reform plan.

Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder of Cape Girardeau announced on national television this past week that he intends to file suit in federal court challenging the recently-signed health care legislation.

Kinder said Friday he will seek private funding for the legal challenge instead of using Missouri taxpayer funds. Kinder spoke in a telephone interview from Kansas City as he was preparing to travel across the Show Me State.

Kinder made his law suit announcement during an appearance on Fox News Channel's "On the Record with Greta Van Susteren" Wednesday evening.

"We will continue this fight against the infringement on state sovereignty and personal freedom," Kinder said.

Kinder said he is filing the lawsuit to protect Missouri taxpayers from what he says will be the phenomenal cost to the state from the federal health care reform.

"The Obama-Pelosi-Reid-McCaskill democrats are sticking it to Missouri taxpayers," Kinder said.

Kinder said he is filing the lawsuit as a part of his statutory responsibility as the official ombudsman for Missouri's older adults. "Seniors are going to be hurt the worst by the ill-conceived, misbegotten federal health care reform. It will devastate our state's budget and rob from Medicare."

Kinder pointed out Missouri is already in the midst of a state budget crisis, with declining state revenues and a budget that is being cut to the bone to keep the state within a balanced budget. Missouri is constitutionally required to have a balanced budget.

"You cannot add an extra $500 million in expected expanded Medicare costs," Kinder emphasized. "They are sticking Missouri taxpayers with the bill. This infringes and encroaches on our rights. I am going to stand up for the right of every Missourian to select their own health care plan."

"Who would have thought two years ago that we would be talking about trillions piled on trillions of dollars of debt," Kinder said.

He noted that in the last 15 months the federal government has taken over auto makers General Motors and Chrysler, and that the student loan program in the county would be nationalized as a part of the health care reform package.

"There have been so many aspects of our economic lives as a nation taken over in the last 15 months by the federal government that it seems nothing is out-of-bounds. We've got to draw a line and say 'this far and no farther,'" he added.

Kinder has developed a new website, http://www.healthcareinaction.com/, to keep Missourians up-to-date on the status of the lawsuit and to offer visitors a way of donating to help underwrite the cost of the federal lawsuit.

"Instead of putting the financial burden on Missouri taxpayers, we are asking for private funding. The state budget is tight. We believe private funding can be generated for this and we are going to go out and test that notion," he said. He noted his new website will have a link active next week to make a donation.

"We are mapping out a strategy and are expecting to file in the federal courts here in Missouri this month," he said.

A recent statewide poll by Rasmussen shows that a majority of Missouri voters favor repealing the new Obama health care plan. The statewide poll that was released on April 8, shows that 59 percent of Missouri voters favor repealing the health care plan, while 36 percent oppose repeal. This includes 47 percent who strongly favor repeal and 27 percent who strongly oppose it. "Most Missouri voters (56 percent) think the just-passed health care bill will be bad for the country, and 61% oppose the bill's requirement that every American buy or obtain health insurance. Fifty-one percent (51 percent) think Missouri should join the other states that are suing the federal government over the constitutionality of this requirement, but 37 percent oppose such a suit" the polling report said.

Rasmussen also reported that the number of voters opposing the health care plan is slightly higher in Missouri than nationwide.

http://www.dddnews.com/story/print/1625479.html

Southeast Missourian: Hundreds of e-mails support Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder's lawsuit over health care reform

By Rudi Keller

More than 1,000 Missourians responded to Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder's announcement he plans to challenge the federal health care overhaul enacted last month, a spokesman said Friday.

More than 500 e-mails arrived in the hours after Kinder appeared on Fox News' "On the Record" program, spokesman Gary McElyea said, with only a handful opposed to Kinder's effort. Kinder said he is going to raise private donations to pay attorney costs and file the lawsuit by the end of the month.

"The attorney general did not think pursuing the case is a good use of taxpayer dollars, and he is not going to pursue it," McElyea said. "We decided not to put the burden on taxpayers, but let's let their voices be heard."

There is no initial goal for the fundraising effort, but substantial funds will be needed, McElyea said.

"We want to make sure we have somebody who is competent and qualified for this case and gives it the attention it deserves," he said.

Kinder at first announced he planned to join the lawsuits filed by Florida's attorney general and others challenging the constitutionality of the overhaul law. But he now intends to file his own lawsuit, citing the effect on senior citizens and what he considers an excessive new burden on Missouri taxpayers.

"I have a statutory obligation as the chief advocate for our state's senior population," Kinder said on Fox News. "Seniors are going to be hurt perhaps among the worst of any segment of the population by this ill-conceived, misbegotten federal health care reform that will devastate our state's budget, that will rob from Medicare and thereby hurt seniors, that will cause practitioners to quit the practice of medicine and send millions of new people into their offices, into a shrinking pool of providers."

Kinder said the health care overhaul will cost the state $500 million annually for its share of an expanded Medicaid program.

Full Story: http://www.semissourian.com/story/1625529.html

Springfield News-Leader: Kinder determined to join health care suit

by Chad Livengood

Jefferson City -- Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder vows to join a multi-state lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of President Obama's health care reform overhaul by the end of April.

Kinder, a Republican, said last month he would seek to become party to the lawsuit first filed by the attorney general of Florida. Kinder claims he has a responsibility to challenge the new federal law as the state's official seniors advocate. The nearly trillion- dollar health care reform bill is half paid for by cuts to Medicare.

On Wednesday night, Kinder made an appearance on Fox News on "On The Record with Greta Van Susteren" to detail his plans to join the lawsuit in a Missouri federal court.

But first, Kinder's going to need a private attorney to represent him in federal court, since Attorney General Chris Koster has signaled he doesn't intend to represent Kinder on behalf of the state.

Kinder has launched a Web site -- www.healthcareinaction.com -- to raise private donations through a legal fund to pay for his involvement in the lawsuit.

Koster and Gov. Jay Nixon, both Democrats, have shown no interest in challenging the federal government on the new law, which would mandate all Missourians have health insurance or pay a fine levied by the IRS. Nixon has recently said Kinder's attempted lawsuit isn't "serious business."

In what could be the opening salvo for a 2012 gubernatorial battle, Kinder said on Fox News that Nixon has been "arrogant and dismissive" about the issue.

http://www.news-leader.com/article/20100411/NEWS06/4110362/1007/NEWS01/Kinder-determined-to-join-health-care-suit

Donate Today!

"The fight must go on. The cause of civil liberty must not be surrendered at the end of one, or even one hundred defeats." - Abraham Lincoln

Our fight is just beginning! As you know, I will soon be filing suit in federal court against the federal takeover of our health care system.

Instead of putting the financial burden on Missouri taxpayers, I have chosen to fund our legal challenge through private donations. You can now donate to to our cause online! All contributions to the Health Care In Action, L.L.C. legal fund will help further our efforts.

You can donate today by clicking the "Donate " button on the right side of the page, or by clicking here.

If we don't act today, this health care bill will result in huge burdens on OUR checkbooks and our state's budget. Thank you for standing with me to defend our freedoms. Our voices will be heard!

Thank you for your help,

Peter

*Donations are NOT tax deductible.

Follow Us on Twitter

Friends,

You can now follow our efforts on Twitter. Click on the button on the right side of the page to follow us.

Peter

Rasmussen Reports: More than half of Missourians say state should join health care lawsuit

"Most Missouri voters (56%) think the just-passed health care bill will be bad for the country, and 61% oppose the bill's requirement that every American buy or obtain health insurance. Fifty-one percent (51%) think Missouri should join the other states that are suing the federal government over the constitutionality of this requirement, but 37% oppose such a suit."

Full Rasmussen Report here.

On The Record with Greta Van Susteren

How YOU Can Help!

Thank you for the outpouring of support! We knew this fight wouldn't be easy, but it is one we intend to win. At no other time in our history has Congress passed legislation that required us to purchase a product or face punishment for not doing so. This is a basic infringement on our state's sovereignty and personal freedoms.

Some have raised concerns about what a lawsuit like this might cost the taxpayers of Missouri. That is why I have chosen to fund my legal challenge through private donations.

Many of you have emailed me asking how you could donate to this cause. We hope to have a donation button on this Web site in the coming days. Please check back here for updates through the week.

Thank you all for making your voices heard,

Peter

KRCG-TV: Kinder to file suit against healthcare law by end of April

By Kate Walls

Republican Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder is among those ready to thumb their noses at Congress and their federal health care legislation.

While Attorney General Chris Koster said no, Kinder was eager to block new federal health care reforms.

Kinder Wednesday night took to a larger platform, appearing on Fox News Channel's "On the Record with Greta Van Susteren."

Kinder announced he will go forward with a lawsuit to challenge the health care legislation, filing by the end of this month.

He says the health care legislation is an infringement on the rights of Missourians. He says it's an ill conceived plan that was passed in an illicit and corrupt manner.

In many of the other states taking a similar action, it is the state’s Attorney General or Governor leading the charge, but Kinder says he does have the authority to pursue this course.

Kinder said, "Yes, I believe I do; under my statutory authority as the advocate for our state's senior population and as a constitutional officer of state of government. That's how we're going forward with this claim."

Kinder also disagreed with the cost of the federal health care plan. He says it will only worsen Missouri’s budget crisis.

Kinder said, "We are over $600 Million short this budget year and looking to the budget we'll be writing a year from now, we'll be over a billion short. You can't stick Missouri taxpayers with another half billion dollar tab every year."

He said he doesn't want this legal action to cost Missouri taxpayers. That's why he's asking for private donations to pay for this legal fight.

Going "ON THE RECORD!"

Joining Greta on Fox News Channel tonight at 9:00 p.m.

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

KRCG @ 10:00 p.m.

Just finished taping an interview with KRCG-TV (CBS affiliate in mid-Missouri). Folks in Jefferson City and Columbia can catch this on the 10:00 p.m. newscast tonight.

NEWS RELEASE: Lt. Governor Kinder to Proceed with Legal Challenge to Federal Health Care Bill

JEFFERSON CITY – Lt. Governor Peter Kinder tonight announced that he will proceed with plans to file suit challenging the recently signed federal health care bill. The Lt. Governor also announced that he will seek private funding for the legal challenge.

“We will continue this fight against the infringement on state sovereignty and personal freedom,” Lt. Governor Kinder said. “We will take this battle to court without putting a financial burden on Missouri taxpayers.”

Lt. Governor Kinder made the announcement tonight during a guest appearance on Fox News Channel’s “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.”

Lt. Governor Kinder announced that he will be working to secure private funding to pay for the suit. A Web site has been established to keep Missourians informed on the progress of the case, and to allow private citizens to contribute to the cause online in the near future. The Web address is, www.healthcareinaction.com.

Officials from nearly 20 other states are pursuing legal action against the health care legislation.

Lt. Governor Kinder will file the legal challenge in federal court in Missouri by the end of April.

On the Web: http://www.HealthCareInAction.com.

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TONIGHT: Fox News Appearance!

I will be appearing tonight on Fox News' "On the Record with Greta Van Susteren" to discuss our next steps in taking legal action against the federal health care legislation. Tune in to Fox News Channel tonight at 9:00 p.m. central time to see how you can help!

Thanks,

Peter