Posted on 01/04/2011 12:40:28 PM PST by blade_tenner
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 hed 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 events steep ticket prices, as well as Rimess confessed extramarital affair and her recent appearance in a Sexy Santa outfit at a gay mens chorus Christmas performance.
(Excerpt) Read more at dyn.politico.com ...
I’m missing how this joint fundraiser conflicts with “fealty to the Constitution and limited government.” Those attending the private fundraiser will do so voluntarily and pay with non-govt funds.
Politico has spun this so that a multi-Member fundraiser @ $2500/person is a big deal. It is not. Especially with a big name entertainer. Some Members have several individual events that are $5K (the maximum allowed by law).
First, I believe in term limits. I want a congressional representative that goes to Washington to represent me and my neighbors. I dont want one who thinks his job is "getting re-elected!"
USS Alaska wrote:
It is a fact and if we want our guys re-elected, then they have to raise multiple millions, and they cannot get it all from a website.
Furhtermore, I'll vote mine out in two years if he plays the game as though "getting re-elected" is his main job.
In short, if this is necessary, we've lost our country already. These freshmen need to think about why they ran for the position of Congressional Representative. And their constituents need to be burning up the phones and faxes and emails tomorrow asking this question.
The issue I have with this is, they should be raising funds from in their districts.
Padams wrote:
I think the freshmen are wise to start fundraising immediately. The Dems are going to hit many of these districts hard in 2012.
Raising money is a necessary part of the game.
There's a tendency to represent your donors. What Scott Desjarlais of Tennessee, Steve Southerland of Florida and Renee Ellmers of North Carolina are telling the people of their district is that they intend to represent the intrests of Washington power brokers and insiders. They are saying the people they alegedly represent don't matter.
If my new (RINO leaning, though I hope for the best) Republican Congress Critter is involve in this, I'll be making a large contribution of both my time and and whatever funds I can spare to a primary opponent.
Washington PACS, and Washington fund raisers are symptoms of the tone deafness of the Congress. It's a shame that some of the freshmen are starting out this way.
Living in CA I can only dream, but I could give a rat's arse if my rep spent every personal hour fundraising as long as I liked his/her voting record.
I agree with you.
The culture of corruption is such that it matters little who is elected. Just like Southeast Asia.
Oh no. Renee Ellmers is involved in this?! RATS. She just defeated that RASCAL Bob Etheridge in Eastern NC. She’s my parents new Republican Representative! She’s going to REALLY hurt herself back home in NC with a big party like this in Washington right up front. I even donated to her campaign! Geez! I hope she’ll RETHINK this kind of “inside-the-beltway” stupidity...
The purpose of this even seems to be seduction by lobbyists in order to break the ties to the base back home. “see you don’t need tea party money, K street will provide.”
I’m betting it still costs less than 1 flight by Pelousy.
That exactly what these D.C. events are about!
If it’s a private party, why is it any of our concern? If the House freshmen who will benefit from the fundraiser start deviating from the path of cutting government spending, THEN we can remind them to dance with the one that brung them. ;o)
By that time they may feel that their big donors are the ones they need to please...
Then their tenure will be quite short.
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