Hill: ‘Good idea’ was a bad idea; GOP says it will change ad

By DAVID MANN
David.Mann@newsandtribune.com

September 29, 2006 04:00 pm

— Democratic congressional candidate Baron Hill is claiming that a new advertisement from Republican incumbent Mike Sodrel “blatantly lies” to 9th District voters.
The ad cites an article in The (Louisville) Courier-Journal in saying “Baron Hill said gambling social security money in the stock market was ‘a good idea.’” Hill called it a misrepresentation of what was said in the article and of his position on social security.
The phrase “good idea,” doesn’t appear in the article, Hill campaign staff points out.
The candidate called on four Louisville television stations to stop airing the commercial, which contains the “I’m Mike Sodrel and I approve this message,” tag line at the end.
Apparently, that approval came just a little too soon. The ad will be changed slightly but the message will remain the same, said Sodrel campaign manager Cam Savage.
“We’re going to remove the quotes from the words ‘good idea,’” Savage said.
Other than that the ad will be exactly the same.
Savage maintains that there is nothing wrong with the commercial. It is representative of Hill’s views on social security, he said.
He points to the lines in the C-J’s article in which Lesley Stedman Weidenbener writes: “Hill said last week that if the government more aggressively invested its funds — in a balanced way that is ensured against loss, perhaps in mutual funds — it could at least slow the looming problems with Social Security.”
That proves that he is in favor of social security privatization, Savage said.
Hill says that Sodrel is the one who favors privatization. Sodrel has advocated voluntary personal accounts for social security money.