Candidates accused of copying

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By Tory Brecht | Saturday, September 2, 2006 1:17 AM CDT | () comments

Congressional candidate Andrea Zinga of Coal Valley, Ill., is one of seven Republican Party candidates being criticized for cribbing from party-produced talking points to fill out an AARP survey.

Zinga, along with Jeff Lamberti, who is running in central Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District, as well as candidates from Georgia, South Carolina and Texas, all submitted the sometimes-word-for-word responses to the national senior citizen organization’s election survey.

The answers generated by the National Republican Congressional Committee, or NRCC, are related to questions about Medicare, Social Security, insurance plans and retirement.

Democrats — including supporters of Zinga opponent Phil Hare of Rock Island — gleefully circulated e-mails with attached spreadsheets showing the almost identical survey responses Friday.

“At a time when the residents of this district are already getting stuck with ‘more of the same’ from this administration, our opponent chooses to regurgitate the Republican Party line on important issues such as protecting our seniors,” said Teresa Kurtenbach, Hare’s campaign manager.

The Zinga campaign called the issue much ado about nothing.

“It’s real simple,” campaign chairman Charlie Johnston said. “We had a list of talking points from the NRCC, and the AARP survey, in our mind, did not lend itself to yes or no answers. Frankly, the talking points were good and reflected Andrea’s position. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”

Hare said the people of the 17th District deserve something more than plagiarized responses to their concerns.

“Today we are facing serious issues regarding our seniors,” he said. “I believe that our seniors deserve a secure retirement and affordable, understandable health care and long-term care.”

This is not the first time candidates have produced strikingly similar — sometimes identical — answers on the AARP survey. In 2004, at least five Republicans lifted passages that they gave as answers.

“We have made a commitment to all participants that we will not edit their comments,” said Mark Kitchens, an AARP spokesman.

(The Associated Press contributed to this article.)

Tory Brecht can be contacted at (563) 383-2329 or tbrecht@qctimes.com.