Cassidy wants stations to pull Social Security ad

• By SARAH CHACKO
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Sep 25, 2008 - Page: 12A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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State Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Republican candidate in the 6th U.S. Congressional District race, is asking television stations to pull an advertisement targeting his stance on Social Security.

At the same time, Cassidy has become the focus of a complaint from U.S. Rep. Don Cazayoux’s campaign for re-election to the seat, which alleges that Cassidy broke federal campaign rules.

Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge; Cazayoux, D-New Roads; and state Rep. Michael Jackson, No Party-Baton Rouge, are running in the 6th District election on Nov. 4.

Currently, a 6.2 percent Social Security tax, matched by employers, is levied against a worker’s first $97,500 in income.

By recent estimates, the Social Security trust funds will not have enough coming in through payroll taxes to pay out benefits, starting in 2017. The funds are expected to run dry by 2041 without changes.

The television advertisement questioning Cassidy’s support of privatizing Social Security — which would create personal investment accounts funded with a portion of workers’ payroll taxes — calls the idea a “risky scheme.”

The commercial was paid for by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, or DCCC, the campaign arm for Democrats vying for seats in the U.S. House.

“His plan would cut guaranteed benefits and let Wall Street gamble with your retirement,” the advertisement says.

Cassidy said he has made it clear that he believes whatever is done to save the Social Security system has to honor the obligations that have already been made.

“To say that I was going to cut guaranteed benefits goes entirely in the face of the point I was making,” Cassidy said.

In its Social Security ad, the DCCC cited the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. The committee’s Web site states that privatization would leave an even larger solvency problem and the gap could only be filled by cutting benefits.

“They cover the rest by borrowing money, thereby increasing the debt burden on all taxpayers by trillions of dollars over the next half century,” the committee’s site states.

Robert Couhig III, a New Orleans attorney, said he sent a letter asking four broadcast networks and Cox Cable to pull the DCCC’s ads. In his letter, Couhig said the committee cited by DCCC has contributed more than $3,000 to Cazayoux’s campaign.