We told you last week that John Stossel of Fox News is participating in rallies against health-care reform organized by a conservative activist group.
But now it looks like Stossel’s decision to get involved with the effort ties him in not just with the conservative anti-reform movement, but with the Republican Party itself. That’s because former Arkansas GOP congressman Asa Hutchinson has recorded robocalls promoting the upcoming rallies in his state.
A spokeswoman for Hutchinson’s consulting firm confirmed the robocalls to TPMmuckraker, but declined to offer further specifics about Hutchinson’s work with the rallies’ organizer, Americans For Prosperity.
Hutchinson is a Republican heavy hitter. He was a member of Congress from 1997 to 2001, when he was appointed to lead the Drug Enforcement Agency. He later was a top official in the Dpartment of Homeland Security. And he was the GOP nominee for governor of Arkansas in 2006, losing to Democrat Mike Beebe.
Given the White House’s recent decision to call out Fox News for its partisanship, it’s significant that Stossel has now effectively been working as a political activist not just with an anti-reform group, but with an actual Republican politician.
Fox News still has not publicly commented on Stossel’s participation in the rallies.