The key measure for an effective ad campaign is an affirmative response to a simple question: “Do viewers remember the ad?” In the case of Oregon and their effort to drive people to the state’s Obamacare exchange, officials are doing everything in their power to make people forget the awful campaign, including, allegedly, deleting emails and documents pertaining to what has become an every-growing story of corruption and criminality.
Former Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber made his name in politics as an advocate of health care reform. He was a champion of Obamacare and other government-spending schemes. When the federal spending spigot opened for states to establish their own health care exchanges, Kitzhaber and his crew were eager to be among the first in line. The Obama administration in turn was happy to rain $200 million of federal funds into Oregon to establish a model program that other states would emulate.
Trouble in paradise started when Cover Oregon began running ads touting the exchange. The ads looked like they were designed by a hippie at Woodstock who was still suffering the after-effects of a decades long acid-trip. They were emblazed in people’s minds, but not in the way state officials wanted, and instead became fodder for incessant mockery from comedians and late night talk show hosts.
There was a greater problem, however. No one signed up. No one. The web experienced problems similar to those of the federal government, but according to insiders who are now speaking to federal criminal investigators the problems were fixable with some more time. The problem wasn’t the technology; it was the people who were in charge of the operation — Kitzhaber’s political operators.
When trouble started, Kitzhaber apparently violated state law prohibiting governmental decisions from being made for political purposes. He tasked his chief political advisor, his Karl Rove in a dress and state’s self-proclaimed “Princess of Darkness,” Patricia McCaig to oversee Cover Oregon.
