Soldier insurance, TV advertising issues continue hostilities in 2nd District race

? U.S. Rep. Jim Ryun announced Wednesday passage of a provision he said would protect soldiers from predatory insurance agents, an issue he has been pounded on by his Democratic challenger, Nancy Boyda.

In a news release from Ryun, the four-term Republican incumbent said the amendment would give military base commanders easier access to a list of insurance agents who have been banned from other bases for unscrupulous sales practices. The measure was added to a bill being considered by a House committee.

Ryun said the amendment would “ensure our troops are both protected from bad agents, while at the same time protecting their right to purchase supplemental insurance and investment products to provide for their families.”

Jeff English, campaign manager for Boyda, said the move by Ryun was based on “political expediency” because Ryun had earlier lobbied against tighter restrictions despite reports of predatory sales practices by private insurers on military bases.

“His past actions speak louder,” English said.

A May 9, 2003, letter from Ryun and Reps. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., and Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said current regulations were enough to “fairly protect service men and women from predatory on-base activity.”

Ryun maintained he supported better enforcement of current restrictions rather than increasing regulations on insurers.

In another campaign development, a Topeka television station stopped airing a political commercial by Ryun after complaints from Boyda that the advertisement was in violation of federal law.

“It was pulled,” WIBW-TV News Director Jon Janes confirmed Wednesday.

But Janes said Ryun’s campaign told the station it would make an adjustment and essentially submit the same ad for broadcast later in the day.

Contacted by the Journal-World, Eric Haar, a spokesman for Ryun, declined to comment.

The dispute is over a Ryun advertisement that blasts Boyda, alleging she organized anti-war protests that included a group opposed to hunting Sept. 11 terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden. Boyda said the ad was full of lies. Ryun says it’s the truth.

The ad began running Friday in media markets in the 2nd Congressional District, which includes west Lawrence.

On Tuesday, Boyda’s campaign called on TV stations to stop airing the ad because it said the ad violated a federal law requiring the ad to have a statement at the end saying who authorized it. In the Ryun ad, Ryun’s voice can be heard at the beginning of the ad saying he approved of it.

“Not only was his ad misleading, but in his haste to attack me, he failed to meet the legal requirements for campaign commercials,” Boyda said.

Janes said the Ryun campaign said it would make the necessary change and place the ad again for broadcast.

“They told us they’re not going to change the content of the ad,” he said.