INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Democratic Rep. Brad Ellsworth said Tuesday that senators should be banned from ever becoming lobbyists — a proposal that doubles as a jab at his Republican opponent, former Sen. Dan Coats, who worked as a lobbyist after leaving office 12 years ago.
Coats, meanwhile, took aim at voter dissatisfaction with the federal health care overhaul Ellsworth supported. Coats met with doctors in Indianapolis and criticized the package, saying it will put the federal government deeper into debt and increase health care costs.
The issues are just a few among many voters can expect to hear a lot about before November, when they'll determine the outcome of the most competitive Senate race in Indiana in 20 years.
Ellsworth told an Indianapolis news conference that his proposal against senators-turned-lobbyists isn't aimed at Coats alone. He said he's seen elected officials on both sides of the aisle use their positions to springboard themselves to a lucrative lobbying job. He said he's never been offered a lobbyist job and never would take one.
"It's time we put a wedge in that revolving door," Ellsworth said.
Republicans said Ellsworth likes to bash special interests on the campaign trail, but takes money from political action committees to fund his campaign. PACs have donated more than $800,000 to Ellsworth, or 52 percent of what he's raised, and donated more than $500,000 to Coats, making up 23 percent of his campaign receipts, according to campaign finance records.
Ellsworth said donations to his campaign don't affect his votes in Washington, and said money from PACs doesn't go into his pocket like a lobbyists' salary.
"It's a totally different story," he said.
Ellsworth also proposed other changes in Washington, including a constitutional amendment requiring Congress to balance the federal budget each business cycle and amending Senate filibuster rules. Critics have said Ellsworth is trying to portray himself as a beltway outsider even though he's an incumbent, but Ellsworth said his proposals are a continuation of the work he's already done in Congress.
"Sometimes you have to infiltrate to try to fix and correct," he said, adding that he's been in Washington just long enough to see what a mess things are.
Republicans have spent much of the campaign reminding voters that Ellsworth is an incumbent Democrat, and Tuesday was no different. Coats' plan for health care ties Ellsworth to Democratic President Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi by referring to the federal overhaul as the "Obama-Pelosi-Ellsworth" plan.
"People see this as a symbol of what is going on in Washington," Coats said of the overhaul. "They don't see this as representatives listening to what the people are saying before they make decisions in Washington."
Coats said he favors starting from scratch on a new health care plan, although he said repeal of the current law is unlikely any time soon. He said changes outlined in his plan, first released in April, can be made to federal law to make the overhaul more palatable.
Ellsworth said the health care overhaul would reduce the country's deficit and said Washington needs to find more ways to cut spending. Coats' campaign spokesman Pete Seat said Ellsworth rubber-stamped government spending but is now trying to paint himself as a fiscal hawk.
"We're glad to see the incumbent Congressman starting to move in Dan's direction three months before an election," Seat wrote in an e-mail.
Ellsworth and Coats are seeking to replace Democrat Evan Bayh, who announced in February that he wouldn't run for re-election.
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