(Source: Jon Ossoff/YouTube)
Jon Ossoff first gained publicity in 2017 when he ran for Congress in a special election in Georgia's 6th congressional district, losing narrowly to Republican Karen Handel. Now, three years later, he's back, and he's now running for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate to challenge incumbent Republican Sen. David Perdue. On Monday, he released an ad titled "Heroes," in which he praises doctors and nurses, including his wife, Dr. Alisha Kramer, for their actions throughout the coronavirus pandemic. However, he also uses the opportunity to take a shot at health insurance companies, stating towards the end of the ad that...
"We'll get through this [pandemic] together, but it's never been clearer we need to stand up to the health insurance companies that have bought off Congress. I approve this message because I'm not taking their money, and I won't stop fighting until everyone has great health care."
In reality, however, Ossoff has not proven himself to exactly be above taking money from such companies. In fact, during his 2017 congressional run, he took $1,150 from lobbyists (including from their family members) for the top eight health insurance companies in his home state - namely Raissa H. Downs ($350), Greg Jones ($300), Steven Elmendorf ($250), and Shanti Stanton ($250). Additionally, he received a total of $21,920 from the following lobbying firms representing these companies:
Fast forward to his ongoing Senate campaign, the following lobbying firms representing the aforementioned companies have given $4,143 to Ossoff:
While that amount is far smaller than the amount they gave to him in 2017, to claim that he is completely independent of the influence of health insurance companies is fairly misleading on Ossoff's part, given his history of taking money from the firms representing them. Sadly, it appears as if Ossoff is yet another example of a politician acting like they're for the people, but either going back on their words behind the voters' back, or failing to address their history of doing so. Sometimes, both are the case.
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