David Castillo, a Republican candidate for the congressional seat held by U.S. Rep. Brian Baird, accused Baird on Thursday of "grandstanding" with his newly unveiled proposal to overhaul the federal tax code, merge all government health plans, and adopt a means test for Medicare recipients.

"Baird gives no rational reason why Congress and the American people will turn to his solutions when President Obama — with a built-in bully pulpit — has been unable to convince a majority of Americans that his ideas are viable," Castillo said in a statement released Thursday.

"Moreover, Baird offers no explanation why he made no such call for tax reform when Republicans controlled Congress and many of their members were pushing for the same agenda," Castillo said. "He is making this call for change only when Democrats are in charge and his own leadership has shown absolutely no indication this is policy they are willing to address."

Baird called Castillo's comments a "personal attack."

"That cheap shot doesn't contribute to solving our problems," he said. "How else is one supposed to discuss policy initiatives other than by publicizing them?"

Castillo, an Olympia financial consultant and Navy veteran, served as deputy secretary at the Department of Homeland Security and deputy assistant secretary in the Department of Veterans Affairs in the George W. Bush administration. Since announcing his candidacy in June, he has been endorsed by several Republican state legislators and by Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna.

Baird, who is expected to seek a seventh term in Congress next year, laid out his ideas in a Seattle Times opinion piece Tuesday.

He said his plan would make the health care system and the national tax code "more effective and affordable for all Americans," but conceded that his sweeping ideas had garnered no public support in Congress.

Castillo called Baird's plan "clearly an attempt to present himself to local voters as an important player in our nation's health care debate."

But Baird, a clinical psychologist by training, said he spent 23 years delivering health care, taught health care policy to college students, and has been actively involved in the health care debate during 11 years in Congress.

Castillo said the plan Baird has laid out is hardly simple or straightforward, as the congressman claims.

"Brian Baird has not only taken a radically new approach to health care reform — including a call to abolish Medicare — he is calling on Congress to now include tax reform in this already complex and convoluted national conversation," he said.

Castillo said in an interview, "My question really is this: Why now? We have been having this health care debate since before Obama was inaugurated. Why at the last hour did he decide to throw this muddled, nonsensical idea out there? There isn't even any legislation behind it."

Baird said many of his ideas came from the health care forums he held over the August recess and other meetings he has held with health care professionals and members of the public.

Castillo said he was especially disturbed by Baird's proposal to effectively eliminate Medicare.

"Medicare is a promise that we made," he said. "In 1965, there was a grand debate. It is a promise we made to seniors and we have all been paying into it."

He said his own proposals for health care reform include allowing Americans to buy health insurance policies licensed in other states and creating state-level risk pools to insure people with pre-existing conditions. "There is a role for government in that regard," he said.

Castillo said he also favors legislation that would allow small-business employers to pool their assets so they can offer insurance to their workers.

Related article:

Baird introduces extensive health care, tax code reforms  (Oct. 21)