Louisiana Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne is very, very proud of his ad campaign promoting Louisiana tourism, especially after it won an award for its outstanding message -- Pick Your Passion.
He's not so pleased about MoveOn's participation in the campaign, however. Billboards like the ones pictured above have been placed in the states where Republican governors have chosen to refuse the Medicaid expansion. MoveOn is simply pointing out that the state might be beautiful, but underneath there's a rotting stench.
Dardenne was so incensed over the Louisiana billboards that he sent a cease-and-desist letter to MoveOn. Because you know protected First Amendment speech is only reserved for conservatives. The rest of us can shut our mouths and smile. Well, MoveOn begs to differ:
MoveOn Communications Director Nick Berning said the billboard is protected by the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech.
“MoveOn will not back down in the face of baseless legal threats. If Republican officials don’t want to be criticized for keeping hundreds of thousands of Louisianians from accessing Medicaid, there’s a simple solution — they should stop preventing Louisianans from accessing Medicaid,” Berning said.
“Neither Gov. Jindal nor Lt. Gov. Dardenne will silence MoveOn members,” Berning said.
“Instead of wasting our time and theirs with a pathetic attempt to suppress criticism of the state government, state officials should focus on helping nearly 245,000 Louisianians access Medicaid. If he is truly concerned about Louisiana’s image, Lt. Gov. Dardenne’s time should be spent getting people health care, not trying to take down a billboard.”
States have the option of expanding government health insurance coverage to residents whose income is up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Jindal has nixed state participation because he says the state cannot afford it.
But they can afford to hire lawyers to suppress protected speech? Alrighty then.
Here are the other billboards they've put up around the country. It's a brilliant campaign.
