Are DNC donors funding ads praising Ben Nelson for diluting real health care reform?

To the tune of nearly $500,000.

Last month, Ben Nelson did a TV ad defending his vote on health care. He talks straight to the camera and disses those "who wanted a government takeover." That sounds like an attack on people who supported the public option, because that's as close as Congress got to a "government takeover." You'll recall that Nelson helped kill the public option in the Senate and the Medicare buy-in (after he'd already agreed to it), insisted on the inclusion of harsh anti-abortion language, and then threatened to join the Republicans in filibustering the conference report on the deal he already cut. That Ben Nelson.


Turns out, though, that it's not a Ben Nelson campaign ad. It's hard to read the disclaimer, but the ad was paid for by the Nebraska Democratic Party. It's one of a series of ad touting Nelson's "courageous" effort to bring down real health care reform. More of the ads can be seen here and here.

So, one wonders, where did the Nebraska Democratic Party get the money to pay for these TV ads?

Today, it looks like we got the answer: the Democratic National Committee. According to the Nebraska Democratic Committee's latest FEC report, it received a contribution of $459,760.00 from the DNC on December 28, 2009. Here's a screen capture from the FEC report, which can be seen in full here (It's the "Year-End" for 2009. Check pages 28 - 30 of the report):

There's another contribution from the DNC to the Nebraska Democratic Party for $20008 on December 31, 2009.

Yes, the DNC and Organizing for America (OFA) have been asking supporters to chip in for the fight to pass real health care reform, including a public option. But, who does it look like benefited from those donations, your donations? Ben Nelson, the guy who worked to kill real reform. And he got the money after he killed real reform, almost like it was a pay off.

Nelson announced his support for the much-weakened Senate health care bill on December 19, 2009. He cast his vote for final passage on December 24, 2009. The DNC transferred money to the Nebraska party on December 28, 2009. You do the math.

So, not only did Nelson get bought off with Medicaid funding from the federal treasury, it now appears he got TV ads, paid for by supporters of real health care reform, praising him for killing real reform. As David Dayen noted last week, Nelson was fully prepared to torpedo the bill anyway.

Most state parties would greatly appreciate a $500,000 infusion of cash from the DNC. That doesn't happen very often. And, I think it's safe to say the DNC doesn't spread money around like this to state parties, particularly during non-election years (it was right between Christmas and New Years, not a hot bed of election activity). I'm sure a lot of Democratic candidates running in 2010 would appreciate that kind of spending on their behalf, too. Nelson, however, isn't up for reelection until 2012, so why get the money now, only four days after Nelson voted for the weakened health care bill?

For the record, at the end of December, when the DNC gave the Nebraska Democratic Party almost $500,000, Martha Coakley was running for the Senate. She would have been a vote for real reform. And, her TV ads really sucked.

Talk about a misuse of resources. I don't give to the DNC because of Obama's failure to really address LGBT issues. But, if I did, I'd be really ticked right now.

Someone needs to provide some answers.