In this morning’s Columbus Dispatch, an article (no online version available) reported on a TV advertisement opposing Deborah Pryce’s bid to be re-elected to the House of Representatives in Ohio’s 15th District. The ad points out that Rep. Pryce, in voting for H.R. 1 in 2003, acted to prohibit the government from negotiating with big pharmaceutical corporations on Medicare drug prices. A report by the Committee on Government Reform points out that the resulting drugs prices under Pryce’s Medicare system are 80% higher than federal drug prices in government programs that allow price negotiation with pharmaceutical corporations. Deborah Pryce’s legislative behavior permitted big pharmaceutical companies to rack up big profits, added an unnecessary burden to the federal budget, increased the federal budget deficit, and bloated the inevitable bill that we taxpayers will have to pay.

Deborah Pryce couldn’t be bothered to respond to the charge herself. She’s too busy on congressional recess, raising money from the well-heeled of Upper Arlington. But her spokesman, George Rasley, responded. His rebuttal? The people who put together the advertisement are “far-left”. This is a typical sort of ad hominem response from a campaign that cannot manage a substantive response.

If opposition to a fiscally irresponsible corporate kickback scheme is “far-left,” does that make politically corrupt behavior “moderate”?