From the Columbia Tribune's Political Blog with Jason Rosenbaum comes a response...well sort of:
In a statement, Baker’s campaign said not letting the federal government negotiate prices is wasting billions of dollars.
"Washington is wasting hundreds of billions of dollars and making seniors pay more money than they have to for their medications. Judy would reform Medicare Part D so that we negotiate with drug companies that are making huge profits," said Baker spokesman Paul Tencher. "Certainly, Mr. Luetkemeyer can agree to this common sense initiative that would slow the outrageous spending and make government work smarter. This is the type of change Judy will bring to Washington."
When asked whether he supported allowing the Medicare program to negotiate with prescription drug companies, Luetkemeyer's campaign sent out a release criticizing Baker for voting against a push last year to strip away taxes on Social Security benefits.
Judy actually supports eliminating taxes for seniors making less than $85,000. Read more about this belligerent back and forth below.
From Columbia Tribune's Jason Rosenbaum:
Baker voted against the move, telling the Tribune after it was sent to the Senate: "I would like to see a more targeted, middle-class tax cut... In fact, I just got a message from a constituent to ask me to support it because we needed to target vulnerable, low-income seniors. The misconception is that this is for low-income seniors, which it isn’t." Baker also voted against the bill before it was sent to Gov. Matt Blunt.
Critics of the bill — sponsored by House Speaker Rod Jetton, R-Marble Hill — argued the measure would largely benefit wealthier seniors and would do little to stimulate the economy. Others worried that the bill would cause budgetary difficulties in the future.
Tencher sent the Tribune the following statement in regards to the Luetkemeyer press release: "Judy Baker supports cutting taxes for middle class Americans that grow our economy and would vote to eliminate income taxes for seniors making less than $85,000 per year as she supported in the Jefferson City. Blaine Luetkemeyer refuses to answer if he supports giveaways to drug companies in Medicare Part D. Blaine has also strongly supported putting senior citizens' social security checks in the hands of Wall St. speculators that are filing for bankruptcy today. Missourians trust Judy's judgement more than Blaine's."
When asked again whether Luetkemeyer supported price negoiations for Medicare Part D, campaign spokesman Paul Sloca said: "Before Judy Baker can be taken seriously on seniors’ issues, she must first explain why she voted against providing tax relief to Missouri seniors. To be quite frank, Judy Baker has zero credibility on this issue and empty political attacks won’t change that."