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Reply With QuoteI knew it. I said it. Now everyone else can see it. Nothing changed, only the players.
House freshman throws party – and GOP cringes
Kenneth P. Vogel, Marin Cogan Kenneth P. Vogel, Marin Cogan Tue Jan 4, 4:28 am ET
With Republican leaders anxious to set an austere tone for their ascendance into the House majority this week, the lavish fundraiser scheduled for Tuesday night at a trendy Washington hotel to benefit a dozen GOP freshmen is not exactly the populist image leaders are anxious to project.
House Speaker-elect John Boehner, whose name was featured on the invitation, is nonetheless skipping the event at the W Hotel, where lobbyists, political action committee managers and others paying the $2,500 ticket price will be treated to a performance by country music star LeAnn Rimes (a $50,000 package includes a block of eight tickets and a “VIP suite” at the W). The office of incoming Majority Leader Eric Cantor, another featured invitee, was noncommittal Monday night when asked whether he’d attend.
“If incoming GOP freshmen were hoping to bring fiscal responsibility and ‘family values’ to Washington, they may have gotten off to an interesting start,” conservative blogger Matt Lewis noted, citing the event’s steep ticket prices, as well as Rimes’s confessed extramarital affair and her recent appearance in a “Sexy Santa” outfit at a gay men’s chorus Christmas performance.
But the grumbling doesn’t seem to have dampened the enthusiasm of the man behind the event — incoming Rep. Jeff Denham of California — for becoming a rainmaker for the 87-member GOP freshman class. (See: Will GOP freshmen take the lead?)
“Helping the freshmen get reelected is a project that (Denham) is very interested in and, of course, his own reelection is part of that,” Dave Gilliard, a consultant for Denham, said last week. “It’s such a huge freshman class, and that first reelection is the time that you end up losing people, so he really wants to help keep the majority.” (See: GOP taps freshmen for prime spots)
Denham, a two-term California state senator whose congressional campaign billed him as “one of the best fundraisers in the California Legislature," could not be reached for comment. (See: Safe republicans work to get leg up)
But even before he won a landslide victory in November to fill the safe Republican seat being vacated by retiring GOP Rep. George Radanovich, Denham had established a secondary fundraising vehicle known as a leadership political action committee (the only other incoming House freshman with a leadership PAC is California Democrat Karen Bass) and was being credited with raising and contributing a total of $100,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee.
And Gilliard said Denham has been working closely with the NRCC to help raise cash for the GOP’s massive freshman class.
According to Federal Election Commission filings and interviews with fundraisers, Denham in November formed a joint fundraising committee called America’s New Majority, which is sponsoring Tuesday’s party, and tried to recruit a large group of freshmen to join it.
While at least 11 incoming Republican House members had signed up for the committee by Dec. 10, other freshmen were discouraged from joining, said a pair of GOP fundraising consultants.
“We strongly recommended to our clients that they not take part in this,” said one consultant, who did not want to be identified discussing advice offered to members of Congress.
“It’s causing a buzz because it’s in direct contradiction to the image that leadership is trying to portray as a conference that wants to get down to business,” said the consultant, comparing the Rimes fundraiser to one thrown by incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi when Democrats assumed the House majority in 2007.
That fundraiser — organized by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and featuring $1,000 ticket prices and performances by Tony Bennett and the remnants of The Grateful Dead — got some bad press and also sparked ill will among some of the lobbyists and political action committee managers who typically make up the target demographic for high-dollar Washington fundraisers.
History, to some extent, seems to be repeating itself.
The Rimes event “just doesn’t send a good message,” said the consultant. Since it “is the first introduction some of these (freshmen) are going to have to the PAC community, it’s probably not a great idea to go soliciting money to pay for a party when you could be staring down the barrel of a tough reelect” in 2012.
Another fundraising consultant called the Rimes event “a nightmare” and said “with the high overhead associated with putting on the event and the amount of money it could raise, we just didn’t think it was worth it.”
Gilliard said that when he talked to Denham about the event before Christmas, “he said everything looked great. It’s going to be a big event.”
Denham, who lives in California’s agricultural Central Valley and owns an almond ranch and an agricultural packaging business, was able to land Rimes as a performer because of his ties to the country music industry, Gilliard said. He pointed to a May benefit featuring country star Phil Vassar that Denham, an Air Force veteran, helped organize for military families.
Ethics watchdogs raised red flags over Denham’s donation of $175,000 from his state campaign account to a charity that promoted the event in ads featuring Denham, which the watchdogs said could benefit his congressional campaign.
Tom Davis, a former Virginia congressman and NRCC chair, said the Rimes fundraiser “ought to be a winner” with PAC managers. Though he said “fundraising is never pretty when it’s presented to the public,” he added that Denham’s fundraising leadership “tells me this is a guy to watch. He saw his chances and he took it.”
Denham’s aggressive fundraising is reminiscent of “the McCarthy model,” Davis said referring to Rep. Kevin McCarthy, a Republican representing a California congressional district near Denham’s.
During his first successful congressional campaign in 2006, McCarthy steered cash to nearly 20 candidates and donated $50,000 to the NRCC after winning his primary. When he took office, McCarthy landed a seat on the Republican Steering Committee, which is tasked with recommending party members to serve on committees, and he’s poised to become House Majority Whip in the 112th Congress.
McCarthy’s office did not respond to a question about whether he’s planning to attend the Rimes fundraiser, but the NRCC confirmed that its chairman, Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), intends to be there.
Among the Republicans who are members of America's New Majority and stand to benefit from the Rimes event are Scott Desjarlais of Tennessee, Steve Southerland of Florida and Renee Ellmers of North Carolina — all of whom had tea party support and signed the Contract From America — a set of tea party principles that pledges fealty to the Constitution and limited government.
Ellmers blasted her Democratic opponent Rep. Bob Etheridge for accepting money from “Washington special interests and political action committees,” though FEC filings show she accepted $33,000 from PACs.
Davis conceded the optics of fundraising on the eve of the start of the new Congress are tricky for House Republican leaders, who in a nod to the tea party activists who helped power many of their incoming freshmen to victory, will conduct a reading of the Constitution on Thursday.
But tea party activists want more than that, said Andrew Ian Dodge, the Maine state coordinator for Tea Party Patriots, a national coalition of local groups. Activists will be watching how all members of Congress, not just the leadership, behave in Washington, including the way they raise money, Dodge said, calling the Rimes fundraiser a “tone-deaf” signal that some freshmen did not internalize the tea party’s message of changing the political culture in Washington.
Dodge called the Rimes fundraiser “business as usual” and said rookie Republicans should “realize that tea party activists are looking for transparency, consistency and an appreciation for the suffering of normal Americans.”
— Alex Isenstadt contributed to this report.
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Copyright © 2011 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved
To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway
I knew it. I said it. Now everyone else can see it. Nothing changed, only the players.
Someone said it before, it's worth repeating: "Meet the new boss, Same as the old boss"
Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.
Abusing Yellow is meant to be a labor of love, not something you sell to the highest bidder.
How much proof do you need that American voters are 90% sheep with short term memories? When can we kick both major political parties to the curb?
Ain't that the truth! Grats on the mod position btw Ben.
I hate to say it, but Obama is exactly right in his recent statement that he made concerning the freshmans. Something like, they will have to play to thier base for awhile, but will eventually figure out that thier there to govern.
That is the one biggest thing about the elites that just infuriates me. I DON"T NEED OR WANT TO BE GOVERNED!!
I try to every election buddy and your right!Originally Posted by bonehead
For heady tea party, now the hard part begins
By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Charles Babington, Associated Press Sun Jan 16, 9:39 am ET
WASHINGTON – Welcome to Washington, tea partiers.
Now that they're freshmen in a GOP-run House, the political movement's candidates are running smack into the traditions, partisan divisions and powerful competing interests that make it so hard to redirect the government.
Some tea party activists — part of a loose-knit, libertarian-tinged network advocating small government and less federal spending — already are dismayed to see their new lawmakers plunge into familiar patterns of raising political cash, hiring former lobbyists and stopping short of the often-heard vow to "change the way Washington works."
Others are more lenient and patient.
"There's a little bit of expectation that they can do more than they really can do," said Sal Russo, a California-based co-founder of the Tea Party Express. Democrats still control the Senate and White House, he noted in an interview from Wyoming, where he was visiting potential Senate candidates for 2012.
Russo said the recently enacted tax cut compromise reached with President Barack Obama was imperfect but "as good a deal as we're going to get." The tea party must expand its influence with each new election, he added.
Other activists, however, fear their newly elected lawmakers will fall too quickly into old Washington habits of turning to special interest groups and their lobbyists for information, advice and campaign money. Some winced at a Jan. 4 fundraiser at Washington's W Hotel, where ticket prices ranged from $2,500 for individuals to $50,000 for "donors." It was sponsored by a political committee founded by freshman Rep. Jeff Denham of California and other Republicans who won election with tea party support.
Denham defended the event, telling reporters his freshman class needs campaign money to stay self-reliant and win future elections.
Some tea party activists also fear their newly elected allies will weaken or break promises to dramatically cut federal spending. Tea Party Patriots co-founder Mark Meckler told CBS it's an "absolute joke" for House Republicans to back away from pledges to cut $100 billion this fiscal year.
Newly elected Rep. Kristi Noem, a South Dakota Republican with tea party ties, says critics should simmer down.
"They should stay focused on the results we deliver," Noem said in an interview shortly after taking office. "They pick little fights, but I think in the future they're going to be satisfied with the results and solutions that this Republican Congress brings forth."
House Republicans plan on Wednesday to fulfill a tea party priority: voting to repeal the health care law passed by Democrats last year. The pace and rhetoric of the drive have cooled in recent days because of the shootings in Arizona that severely wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who supported the new law.
Nonetheless, GOP leaders are sticking with a title for their resolution that Democrats say is inaccurate and unseemly in light of the six people killed in Tucson: "Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act." Republicans acknowledge that the Senate is certain to block a repeal.
Some veteran House members say it's unrealistic to think that even a freshman class of 87 Republicans, most of whom have tea party backing, can make a significant impact in their first term.
"They are raring to go," said five-term Rep. Jim Gerlach, R-Pa. But with Democrats controlling the Senate, "we can only do what we can do in the House," he added.
"We're going to run a lot of issues up the flagpole and create a lot of national discussion," he added, acknowledging that may be as far as they get.
Nine-term Rep. Steven LaTourette, R-Ohio, said tea party newcomers who are eager to slash federal spending will soon learn how difficult it is.
"Back in Ohio, almost everybody says, `Oh, you've got to cut spending,'" LaTourette said. "But then they say, `Oh, I didn't know you meant my spending.' And there's going to be a lot of that."
Deep spending cuts would anger many interest groups, and Republicans may pay a price, he said.
Republicans picked up nearly three dozen House seats when Ronald Reagan was elected president in 1980, LaTourette noted.
"Half of them were shown the door two years later," he said. "Not because they did anything wrong. They kept their promises. But when you've got to cut a lot of money out of the budget, everybody's got a pet program, a pet disease, a pet something, and people are going to get fired up."
Indeed, the House's new Republican speaker, John Boehner, another Ohioan, is moving cautiously. When NBC asked him to name a federal program he's willing to cut, Boehner replied, "I don't think I have one off the top of my head, but there is no part of this government that should be sacred."
Copyright © 2011 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
* Q
To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway
Recently my friends and I tossed about the idea of starting our own political party and running on the common sense ticket. The way we govern things in this country needs to change, just like in every country. Every country needs an upheaval every now and again
Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.
Abusing Yellow is meant to be a labor of love, not something you sell to the highest bidder.
I'm just sick of reelection being a goal of politicians. I retain my position by working hard, fulfilling my responsibilities, and pledging to do my best and make good (not always perfect or 'right') decisions. No part of my job involves the end goal of keeping my job. My job retention should basically be a symptom of being a good employee.
But no, in Government it is all about reelection, working with the end goal of winning my job back every four years. No wonder nothing gets done.
That's all popular nonsense.
Now, I am going to speak generally here because there are always exceptions to the rule:
First off, you cannot equate the job of an elected politician with a job in the private sector. Politicians are 'hired' and 'fired' by the public depending on whether their beliefs are in or out of step with the majority.
That's a pretty good deal for the people, don't you think? Where else in our society can people choose who will make the rules for them? They sure as hell can't fire a-holes in the private sector who jack up credit card interest rates, overcharge for fixing a leaking pipe, or charge a day's pay for a 15 minute doctor's visit.
Another point you should consider: The election cycle was designed by the framers to force politicians to be representative of the majority view. That means they will always be campaigning for office or, to put it another way, will always be seeking your validation. They'll let you know 24/7 what they stand for, what the issues are, and how they voted, and then they'll ask your help to get reelected.
Secondly, it's not true that elected politicians don't get a lot done besides campaigning. We don't hear about all they do because the media doesn't report it. Investigating and debating legislation, dickering over compromise and handling thousands of constituent queries--who wants to read about that stuff anyway. But spend a day as a fly on the wall of a member's office, and I guarantee you'll change your view. I did, for 2 years.
To be Truly ignorant, Man requires an Education - Plato
Thanks JAD, a nicely observed counterpoint to all too common populist ideas. Being an elected representitive is a tough gig. Long hours, byzantine processes, long periods away from family & friends & not much job security. Worse, popular perception too often tends toward seeing all the 'failures', few of the 'successes' & judging everyone by the behaviour of the worst. We complain about a 'political class' & 'career politicians' & then contribute to making the whole process so unpleasant that most people simply don't want to be involved, thus helping to close the circle. I don't always like or necessarily respect the people who represent me, but I always respect the fact that they are prepared to stand up & take all the crap that voters heap on them. You couldn't pay me enough to do it.
Win nervously lose tragically - Reds C C
This doesn't surprise me at all. A ton of the money going to tea party candidates was special interests. Lobbying is part of the process. It doesnt mean they won't do what they claimed but, myself for the most part I don't think when they face the facts of the issues the mostly simplistic campaign rhetoric will work as a fix.
I think Pete Sessions being so focused on fundraising he skipped his swearing in to gladhand is far more damning an action. He missed the swearing in by choice. Screw giving him a make up he wasnt six or indisposed just uninterested in attending a ceremony that should of been his highest priority as a public servant.
This is why I'd like to see term limits and no retirement packages for elected federal positions.
"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." - John Adams
Exactly. There is good and bad in politics, like in any profession. I've worked in it from the lowest county level up to the national level and I've come across some pretty bad actors, but it never occured to me that the way to get rid of them was to get rid of everyone.
Since McFire brought it up, I may as well get a plug against term limits.
Terms limits, other than for the top executive, substitutes the law's judgment for that of the people. The object is to clean out the legislatures to prevent any member from amassing power and influence or ignoring popular consensus. The effect would be to retire members who are just mastering the issues or developing a consensus to pass needed legislation. It makes about as much sense as having term limits for welders, doctors and teachers.
To be Truly ignorant, Man requires an Education - Plato
Term limits for teachers, or at least university professors, makes perfect sense. Some of my professors have tenure and just don't give a shit anymore. I could give a better lecture than some of them
Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.
Abusing Yellow is meant to be a labor of love, not something you sell to the highest bidder.
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