A spokesperson for Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee refuted Wednesday allegations that the senator told a group of influential donors that Senate Republicans would not attempt to repeal Obamacare. The accusations surfaced Tuesday in a blog post from the Davis Intelligence Group (DIG) – a political intelligence firm.
In a statement given to The Daily Caller, Todd Womack, Corker’s chief of staff, said, “The information in the blog post is absolutely false and appears to be an attempt to anonymously mischaracterize Senator Corker’s strong opposition to the health care bill.”
He continued: “Senator Corker has traveled extensively and hosted dozens of events for Republican candidates running for office this year. He vigorously opposed the health care bill that passed in March, has voted to repeal it and has said on numerous occasions that it will cause great damage to our country if it is implemented.”
According to the DIG blog post, the junior Tennessee senator told donors at a fundraising event not to worry about the incoming class of “crazier Republicans.” The post also said Corker specifically brought up Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, saying the leader does not intend to try to repeal the law.
When contacted by TheDC, Don Stewart, a spokesperson for McConnell, said the minority leader has been “unambiguous” in his desire to repeal the health care bill. Stewart also told TheDC he was not aware of Corker’s alleged comments.
Stewart also pointed out that just earlier this month, McConnell talked about the need to repeal Obamacare.
“It’s the single worst piece of legislation that’s passed since the time I’ve been in the Senate,” said McConnell in a radio interview October 7. “It’s just been a disaster for the country. How much repealing he’s [the President] willing to sign, I don’t know, but I think we ought to give him the opportunity.”
DIG’s post relied on anonymous sources and said that “several attendees, including a very senior Republican official, appeared visibly shocked by Corker’s comments.” But Corker’s office is characterizing the report as “misinformation.”
“During the last two weeks of an outstanding election year, we should not allow misinformation to derail the tremendous momentum we have all worked so hard to achieve,” said Womack.
Corker also spoke directly to DIG earlier Wednesday morning, and said, “I didn’t say any of those things about our candidates. We have some outstanding candidates running this cycle. The media tries to portray these candidates as somehow odd, but they’re from Yale, Harvard, Princeton. These are some highly educated people.”
Corker added: “I believe this health care bill is incredibly damaging to our country. And I believe many Democrats, especially those in my class who are up for election again in 2012, will work with us to repeal the bad parts of this bill.”
“But one thing people have got to understand is if we win in the House and get 49 seats in the Senate, or even if we get 51, the public has got to understand that we still don’t have the presidency,” Corker told DIG. “We still need 67 votes in the Senate to repeal.”