http://www.tilrc.org/docs/0803blue.htm

Blue Cross Contest on Internet Won the Disdain of Senators

By Deirdre Shesgreen, 07/24/2003, AP

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WASHINGTON - American democracy meets Ed McMahon.

The lobbying strategy used by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association to mobilize opposition against a health care bill sponsored by Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo., might have made the famous TV pitchman proud. But the senator isn't sold on the tactic.

In its campaign to get citizens to weigh in against the bill, the health insurance giant turned to a novel inducement - a free trip to Washington - to get them on board.

"Enter to Win a FREE Trip for 4 to Washington, D.C., When You Tell Congress to Protect Your Health Care!" reads the Internet advertisement, paid for by Blue Cross.

Readers were invited to type in their name and address to enter the sweepstakes. At the bottom of the page, they could click on a button giving permission for a form letter to be faxed to their two home-state senators and governor opposing Talent's bill.

Nowhere on the page does it say that Blue Cross Blue Shield is sponsoring the ad or the letter-writing campaign. But officials said the company paid for it.

Talent dismissed the sweepstakes as a gimmick designed to trump up opposition to his bill.

"The vice of this is that it tends to misrepresent the state of public opinion because people are being given a monetary incentive to express a certain opinion," said Talent. "Health care shouldn't be a sweepstakes."

Blue Cross Blue Shield stopped advertising the sweepstakes last month after a complaint from Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, another sponsor of the bill. But the company is legally obligated to keep the contest going as it was first promoted.

The prize includes airfare to Washington, hotel accommodations and $300 cash. Participants can enter the sweepstakes without sending the lobbying letter.

Snowe denounced the ad campaign in a letter to her Senate colleagues last month as "sham grassroots" and a "cynical use of modern technology."

"This is not sham grass-roots," responded Jack Eriksen, the top congressional lobbyist for Blue Cross Blue Shield. ...

... Blue Cross Blue Shield stopped promoting the sweepstakes offer because it was a distraction from its argument against the bill - not because there was anything untoward about the campaign, company officials say. ...

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