In a September 6 article, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reported lieutenant governor candidate Janet Rowland's (R) criticism of opponent Barbara O'Brien's (D) remarks “printed in the Rocky Mountain News last year” regarding the spending of state health-care funds generated by Amendment 35. But The Daily Sentinel omitted information from the News article that addressed Rowland's criticism.

The Daily Sentinel article by reporter Mike Saccone reported that “O'Brien, who visited Grand Junction on Tuesday, came under fire after Republican lieutenant governor candidate Janet Rowland demanded that O'Brien apologize for her 2005 remarks referring to [Gov. Bill] Owens' plan to spend funds derived from Amendment 35 to address cervical and breast cancer as a 'disease-of-the-month' mentality." The measure, which Colorado voters approved in November 2004, was a constitutional amendment to boost cigarette taxes by 64 cents a pack and to double the tax on other tobacco products to 40 percent of their price, with revenue to be used to fund health-care services and tobacco cessation and education programs.

According to The Daily Sentinel, Rowland said O'Brien's comment didn't “show a statewide focus on health issues” and asked, "[i]s [O'Brien] willing to look at the needs of the whole state and not the portion of the state that she works in?" The Daily Sentinel then noted that “O'Brien, however, told reporters that Rowland was attempting to create an issue where there was none” and that “she was merely criticizing the governor's plan to spend the tobacco tax revenues on a handful of issues instead of letting local entities decide where the money would go” and that "[t]hose decisions should not be made in Denver."

The Rocky Mountain News article to which The Daily Sentinel and Rowland apparently referred was a January 7, 2005, report by Bill Scanlon, headlined “Owens' Health Plan Blasted: Use Of Tobacco Tax Too Disease-Specific, Ballot Backer Says.” It quoted O'Brien as saying “unless you need breast or cervical or cholesterol screening, you're out of luck” under part of Owens' plan, which O'Brien called “disease-of-the-month thinking” and “one of the real problems with health care in Colorado.”

In reporting Rowland's accusation that O'Brien's comments didn't “show a statewide focus on health issues,” The Daily Sentinel did not report the context of O'Brien's comments in the News article, which pointed out O'Brien's criticism was that Owens' proposal " 'cherry-picks' certain diseases for special attention" but doesn't "[lead] to overall better health care for the majority of Coloradans, which was the intent of Amendment 35."

The News noted that O'Brien said, “the asthma rate is high in farm country, where family members work with pesticides and fertilizers” and that Owens' “proposal wouldn't do anything about that.”

Furthermore, The Daily Sentinel didn't note that the News reported O'Brien said “her coalition told Coloradans that if they passed the tax, the money would expand preventative care” including “cancer, heart and lung screenings and treatment for all in need.”

From the September 5 article in The Daily Sentinel by reporter Mike Saccone:

Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Barbara O'Brien declined to apologize for comments she made about Republican Gov. Bill Owens' 2005 proposal to spend tobacco tax revenues on a handful of diseases, including breast and cervical cancer.

O'Brien, who visited Grand Junction on Tuesday, came under fire after Republican lieutenant governor candidate Janet Rowland demanded that O'Brien apologize for her 2005 remarks referring to Owens' plan to spend funds derived from Amendment 35 to address cervical and breast cancer as a “disease-of-the-month” mentality.

[...]

Rowland said O'Brien's comments, as printed in the Rocky Mountain News last year, showed to her that O'Brien was wrong on health issues. She demanded an apology from O'Brien, who was touring the Marillac Clinic during her Western Slope visit.

“By referring to something as serious as breast and cervical cancer as a disease of the month, it doesn't show a (statewide focus on health issues),” Rowland said. “Is she willing to look at the needs of the whole state and not the portion of the state that she works in?”

O'Brien, however, told reporters that Rowland was attempting to create an issue where there was none.

[...]

O'Brien said she was merely criticizing the governor's plan to spend the tobacco tax revenues on a handful of issues instead of letting local entities decide where the money would go.

“Those decisions should not be made in Denver,” O'Brien said.

From the January 7 Rocky Mountain News article by reporter Bill Scanlon:

Gov. Bill Owens' plan for spending tobacco tax money “cherry-picks” certain diseases for special attention, but doesn't do enough to boost health care statewide, the tax's chief backer said Thursday.

“The governor's plan is saying that unless you need breast or cervical or cholesterol screening, you're out of luck,” said Barbara O'Brien, chairwoman of Citizens for a Healthier Colorado, a coalition of dozens of health and advocacy groups that pushed for the November tobacco tax.

“It's that disease-of-the-month thinking, which is one of the real problems with health care in Colorado,” said O'Brien, who also heads Colorado Children's Campaign.

[...]

O'Brien said her coalition told Coloradans that if they passed the tax, the money would expand preventive care, as well as cancer, heart and lung screenings and treatment for all in need.

[...]

But O'Brien said voters assumed that nearly all the money raised the first year would be spent to improve health statewide.

O'Brien was more enthusiastic about Owens' plan to spend $36 million to enroll more low-income children and adults into Medicaid or the Child Health Plan-plus.

The plan would ensure that thousands more kids are assigned their own doctor or managed-care plan, thus reducing reliance on expensive emergency room treatment for everything from sore throats to asthma attacks.

[...]

Owens, who opposed Amendment 35, said such a plan immediately would start saving lives, citing in particular early screening and treatment of women with cervical cancer.

The voters were promised more, O'Brien said.

“We need to honor the will of the voters. And that is to address the whole system of prevention and early intervention, where people can walk in the door and get screening.

”It wasn't to say that unless you have one disease that someone in Denver decided was important, you're out of luck."

She noted that the asthma rate is high in farm country, where family members work with pesticides and fertilizers. “The governor's proposal wouldn't do anything about that.”

O'Brien also blasted the proposals to create pilot projects for rural health care.

Neither does Colorado need to spend $3 million to look at health disparities in minorities, she said. Instead, the money should expand basic health care so, for example, Hispanic parents can address the problem of obesity in their children.

“This cherry picking of diseases is not leading to overall better health care for the majority of Coloradans, which was the intent of Amendment 35,” she said.