Posted on 06/14/2009 11:58:45 AM PDT by rabscuttle385
WASHINGTON — Although Chris Chocola isn't in Congress anymore, he's here in the fight for a Republican Congress — his brand of Republican.
Chocola, the Elkhart County Republican who represented Indiana's 2nd Congressional District for two terms before losing to Democrat Joe Donnelly in 2006, now is president of the Club for Growth, a conservative group that targets Republicans it regards as too wishy-washy moderate on taxation and government expansion.
He is in the fight for the soul of the GOP.
"I never thought I'd be doing the weekly commute again, raising funds again," Chocola says during an interview in his Club for Growth office. It's larger and plusher than his old congressional office.
"But I still have a great concern for what's going on," he says.
And he doesn't like what's going on — Republicans losing control of Congress and the White House and now wrangling in what Chocola calls a misleading "big tent versus purists" debate.
The club is accused by some Republicans, especially moderates, of insisting on a small GOP tent — room only for conservative purists — that won't attract an election majority.
Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter cited the club's intent to defeat him in the 2010 Republican primary as a key reason for switching to the Democratic Party. Former Congressman Pat Toomey, club president prior to turning the post over to Chocola earlier this year, had announced he would again challenge Specter. Toomey, with club backing, darn near upset Specter in the '04 Republican primary.
Chocola contends that the Club for Growth wants a big tent, although not big enough for Specter.
"We don't get into social issues," Chocola says, denying any intent "to kick people out of the party" over differences on abortion, guns, immigration or foreign policy.
Voting for bigger government and spending that could lead to higher taxes is another matter.
"If you are not for limited government why would you call yourself a Republican?" Chocola asks.
When Specter voted for the economic stimulus package — one of only three Republicans in Congress to do so — that left him unwelcome in the tent, at least in the view of Toomey and the club. The club made clear it would back Toomey with funds from its political action committee and urge other conservative support.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Specter's defection to the Democratic side "inflamed a debate within the (Republican) party: Are the group's tactics good or bad for Republicans?"
GOP critics say the Club for Growth sometimes defeats or weakens a Republican in the primary, with a Democrat then winning in the general election.
Maybe this has happened in a couple of cases, Chocola concedes, but he insists that club efforts overall have strengthened the Republican Party through electing people who stand up for Republican principles.
Abandonment of those principles by too many Republicans led to GOP defeats in '06 and '08, Chocola says.
"Everything Republicans ran on we didn't do," Chocola says. "So they (voters) said they would try the other guys."
If Republicans had, while in control, passed Social Security private accounts, tort reform and tax reform, they still would have a congressional majority, Chocola argues.
"When I was in the House, the enemy wasn't the Democrats. It was the Republicans," Chocola says. Republicans had the votes, he explains, but not the solidarity to follow through on limited-government and "economic-freedom" issues.
So, he's back in Washington, seeking through the club to help elect "solid" Republicans and warn GOP incumbents of club opposition if they're deemed too wishy-washy.
Upcoming Indiana races in which the Club for Growth will be involved?
"Nothing on our radar screen," Chocola answers.
Not even club resources for a Republican against Donnelly, the Democrat who beat him?
That would depend on whether there was the right candidate in the right circumstances, Chocola says, something more likely if Republicans control redistricting for something such as adding Kosciusko County and more Republican parts of Elkhart County to the district, while taking away LaPorte County Democratic strength.
Chocola now focuses on other races. As he did while in Congress, Chocola returns to his Bristol home on weekends.
"And I don't have to wait for Nancy Pelosi to tell me when I can go," he laughs.
Jack Colwell is a columnist for The Tribune. Write to him in care of The Tribune or by e-mail at jcolwell@comcast.net.
Club for Growth advocates unrestricted immigration and amnesty—Got to keep those production costs low, Ya Know!
Have an official policy line from them on these items?
Fiscal conservatives....a pox on their house!
They'll let babies be killed, but don't touch their money.
"We don't get into social policy."??? What kind of wishy-washy comment is that?
Source for that?
We are still waiting for your source on that assertion.
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