Yesterday, in The Great Gaski; or, does Twila Brase still need to find a Democrat fretting about death panels? Bluestem explored claims made by Twila Brase in the Quist health care forum about whether Dr. John F. Gaski was a “registered Democrat”:
I’m tracking down her assertion that John F. Gaksi is a registered Democrat; in her presentation, she stressed that Gaksi’s viewpoint article from September is evidence that even Democrats object to the House health care bill because they share her concerns that the bill will kill “thousands of people.”
This bit of biography seems to have surfaced with the Gaksi article, originally published at Investors Business Daily as Health Reform Is Just Subterfuge; Dream Is Democratic Dictatorship, though he made the same claim at a “9/12 Project” group meeting in Indiana on September 9, according to the article, 912 Group Fills Bristol Legion Hall to Hear Notre Dame Professor Speak.
A friend heard from the Indiana Democratic Party:
This is the reply I received from Jenny Weiser at the Indiana Democratic office reguarding Quist’s claim that Gaski is a registered Democrat.
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I’m not familiar with him at all.
However, I can tell you that in Indiana we do not “register” as a Democrat or Republican. However, we can show our party affiliation by how we vote in the primaries (pulling a D ballot or an R ballot). And Mr. Gaski has voted in both republican and democratic primaries. In the end, it’s a mis-statement on behalf of Allen Quist, because Dr. Gaski is not a “registered” democrat.
Hope that helps in some way. Thanks for what you do.
Jenny Hill Weiser
[email and phone redacted]
I am trying to secure a screen shot of the voting record. Of course, it wouldn’t have the detail of Dr. Gaski’s secret ballot, only the fact that he voted in the primaries and which party’s ballot he requested at the time.
Dr. Gaski returned my email, and stated in part:
Yes, I am a registered Dem. I believe I have been for at least 20 years, probably 25. I am also very conservative philosophically, as are many Dems. Not many liberal Repubs, but a fairly high % of Dems self-identify as conservative, as you may know. . . .
As a resident of Minnesota’s Seventh Congressional District, represented in Washington by Collin Peterson, I certainly know of the existence of conservative Democrats. There’s more to the email, in which Dr. Gaski states that he voted a Democratic ballot in the 2008 primary in Indiana.
Meanwhile, the National Review Online is watching Mr. Quist.
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