Posted on 08/11/2006 1:39:43 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Fresh off their first victory over a Republican incumbent, GOP conservatives seeking party purity on taxes and spending are focused on ousting moderate Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee (news, bio, voting record) of Rhode Island.
The Club for Growth and its 36,000 members spent around $1 million to help challenger Tim Walberg unseat first-term Rep. Joe Schwarz in Michigan's Republican primary on Tuesday. The win came despite Schwarz's support from President Bush and the National Rifle Association.
Since its inception in 1999, the group has spent millions to help dozens of conservative Republicans win seats in Congress — often at the expense of more moderate party members. The Club's president, former Rep. Pat Toomey (news, bio, voting record), nearly defeated Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record) in 2004.
This year, the group's top priority is defeating Chafee, who angered many Republicans by voting against President Bush's tax cuts and then casting a write-in vote for the president's father in the last election. The Club has helped Cranston, R.I., Mayor Stephen Laffey raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to unseat Chafee, and polls show the two Republicans running even a month before the Sept. 12 primary.
The prospect of a Laffey win worries national Republicans, who consider Chafee the party's best bet for holding the seat in a heavily Democratic state. Polls show Laffey trailing far behind the leading Democratic candidate, former Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse.
The Club's Web site says that's fine: "It wouldn't be much of a loss if a new Democrat senator were elected, as he would vote much the same as Chafee does now."
Republicans who support the Club say its refusal to compromise its ideology gives it credibility.
"They're not about getting more Republicans elected, they're about getting real Republicans elected," said Jerry Stacy, spokesman for Sharron Angle, a Club-endorsed House candidate in Nevada.
But Chafee is a Republican who votes with his party most of the time. His father, the late John Chafee, is revered in Rhode Island as a World War II hero who served three terms as governor and more than 20 years in the Senate. Like his father, the younger Chafee is a fiscal conservative and environmentalist.
Moderate Republicans criticize the Club for targeting incumbents like Chafee instead of going after Democrats.
"I refer to the Club for Growth as the enemy within," said Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (news, bio, voting record), R-N.Y., whom the Club opposed in GOP primaries in 2002 and 2004.
Economic conservatives founded the Club to encourage the federal government to adopt "pro-growth economic policies." That includes making the Bush tax cuts permanent, repealing the estate tax, cutting government spending and expanding free trade.
One Club tactic is providing campaign cash to candidates who espouse a free market philosophy. It raised $22 million for issue advocacy, candidates and operations in the last election cycle.
This year, the club and its 36,000 members were responsible for $1.1 million of the estimated $3 million spent on Michigan's Republican primary. The group opposed Schwarz even though he — like Chafee — was endorsed by Bush. Also like Chafee, Schwarz has criticized the war in Iraq, supports abortion rights and favors stem-cell research.
Steve May, a former Arizona lawmaker who served briefly as a Club chapter president before being pushed out, said the organization throws conservative challengers up against moderate incumbents to scare them to the right.
"For the Club for Growth, it's all about the money, but you have to pass the social litmus test," May said.
May said he was ousted in 2003 because he was gay. Toomey said it was because May voted for a tax increase.
Toomey insisted the organization doesn't make choices based on party or positions on social issues. He noted that it endorsed its first Democrat this year — conservative Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar.
Many Club members hope Laffey, the Club's candidate in Rhode Island, will give them another win. They have contributed more money to his campaign than any other this election, well over $600,000, Toomey said. At the same time, the Club's political action committee has spent almost a quarter of a million dollars on anti-Chafee ads.
"Helping Steve Laffey win this race is as high a priority as we have for this cycle," Toomey said.
Sarah Chamberlain Resnick, executive director of the Main Street Republican Partnership, which is backing Chafee, said the Club's efforts will only help Democrats gain more seats in Congress.
"(House Minority Leader) Nancy Pelosi should make sure that Pat Toomey is on her Christmas card list," Resnick said after Schwarz's defeat.
___
Club for Growth: http://www.clubforgrowth.org/index.php
Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., right, and challenger Stephen Laffey, mayor of Cranston, R.I., pause Thursday, Aug. 10, 2006, in Providence, R.I., during the second of two breaks in their first of four hourlong Republican primary debates before the Sept. 12 election. They are running neck-and-neck in one of the most closely watched races this election season. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
I refer to the Club for Growth as the enemy within"
That's funny. I refer to the Club for Growth as the Real Republican Party.
Why are they acting like the Moveon.org moonbats? They should be going primarily after Rats.
I'm with you. I'm all for conservative candidates, but it seems to me money is better spent getting conservative republicans into Democratic seats, rather than destroying more liberal republicans already in the congress.
This is a primary that is upcoming and Lincoln is as ratlike a critter as you will find with an R by his name in the party today.
Cafee is such a POS.
Not that I am a Lincoln Chafee fan (to put it extremely mildly). But yeah. First, let's get the worst of the worst on the other side of the aisle. There is only so much time, money, and other resources to go around.
I hear you. And if I could single out any one person with an R by his name, it's him. But if nothing else, he's better than a Rat because he votes for Republicans when it comes to organizing the Senate. So, let's deal with the actual Rats first. Let's don't act like moonbats. That's all I'm really saying here.
Who's acting like a moonbat,, CFG?
I vehemently disagree. Chafee has been a solid supporters of most if not all dem efforts the last couple years, you want to keep that on the "team"?
Maybe if it is 52-48. I wouldn't count on his vote if it was 51-49 or 50-50.
Need I remind you we had a clear GOP majority in the Senate yet somehow that didn't matter much either..
Yeah, that's better than any RI Dem will ever do, but it isn't worth spending Republican dollars to support him.
This is a lie. Chafee is about as much a "fiscal conservative" as Upchuck Schumer. If he really was a "fiscal conservative" the CFG wouldn't be opposing him. AP is really getting sloppy with its lies.
I was fairly unhappy when bush interfered with the ousting of -- (I just can't think of his name the head of the judicary committee from PA) and unhappy when bush supported chaffey
Anyway These turncoats that vote with the democrats at every turn of the Road need to be replaced with people in sync with the values of their party and their supporters. Instead of trying to get good press coverage by the localliberalrags and networks.
Republican Main Street Partnership
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/search?m=all;o=time;s=Republican%20Main%20Street%20Partnership%20
Congressional Members
109th Congress
Sen. Lincoln Chafee, Rhode Island
Sen. Norm Coleman, Minnesota
Sen. Susan Collins, Maine
Sen. Johnny Isakson, Georgia
Sen. John McCain, Arizona
Sen. Gordon Smith, Oregon
Sen. Olympia Snowe, Maine
Sen. Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania
because of all the fractionalism that is going on in the GOP, I expect that and more as we get closer to '08.
There are a few in the GOP that are deserving but won't get the time of day because they have not been "team" players.
Sad to say but when you look at what has become of the political process today, there is no way to predict what will happen in '08.
I am optimisic a majority of folks will make the right decision, but I am not overly so.
Yes he's a rat and our time, money, and resources can be better spent elsewhere. I will help Tom Kean get elected ONCE and then wait for the pokes-in-the-eye thank yous. I can accept this type of behavior from the 2 ding-dings in Maine. It comes with the liberal territory. However, it has to be MEASURED-meaning he/she better come ome when we need them. Just think what Chaffee will be like if the senate is split 50-50. He will be RUNNING the senate until he decides to pull a Jeffords. Stab him in the FRONT.
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