Koster Ad Intentionally Conceals Decade-Long Record Fighting to Privatize Social Security

Everett, WA – Today the campaign of Rick Larsen challenged John Koster’s assertion that John Koster opposes Social Security privatization and supports protecting this program which is vitally important to Northwest Washington seniors, calling it a departure from reality.

“Not only does John Koster support a devastating plan to privatize Social Security and risk Northwest Washington seniors’ retirement security on Wall Street, but now he’s trying to hide his support because he realizes it’s politically unpopular,” Brooke Davis, Larsen’s Campaign Manager said. “The facts clearly show that John Koster has been fighting to privatize Social Security for over a decade.”

Koster’s latest television ad clearly states, “John Koster opposes privatizing Social Security.” But at a campaign event earlier this year, Koster acknowledged “individual retirement accounts will work.” This is simply a restatement of his support for privatization going back at least a decade: “I’ve advocated for those ten years ago,” Koster said.

But non-partisan analysts have refuted claims such as the one Koster makes for years. According to the Pulitzer Prize winning Politifact during a similar debate during the 2008 presidential election, “It was around this time that Bush and his party decided that most people didn't like the idea of "privatizing" Social Security. Pollsters found that if you didn't call Bush's plan "privatization" but instead called it "personal accounts," you could increase support for the plan significantly — even though it was the same plan.”

Also in 2008, the Associated Press wrote a fact check on Sen. John McCain’s attempt to distance himself from support for Social Security privatization. The AP wrote, “McCain and other Republicans once spoke more openly of "privatization" but realized people didn't like to hear that. Now they talk of ‘personal accounts.’ It's the same thing.”

“John Koster’s support for Social Security privatization has been clear for over ten years,” said Davis. “Just because Koster’s finally realized voters are upset with his scheme to reduce Social Security benefits and gamble seniors’ retirement security on Wall Street, doesn’t make his support for privatizing Social Security any less true.”