Posted on 02/28/2008 7:02:53 AM PST by GraniteStateConservative
House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) challenged Republicans on Tuesday to get off their “dead asses” and start raising money for the National Republican Congressional Committee.
And the Republican leader wasn’t the only lawmaker berating his GOP colleagues to raise more money for the committee’s March 12 fundraising dinner: According to sources in the room, NRCC Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) also used a closed-door session at the Capitol Hill Club on Tuesday to challenge Republicans to raise more campaign cash.
The normally upbeat Cole told Republicans that if they don’t start raising more money for the committee, they should get used to life in the minority. Blunt told his colleagues that Sen. John McCain’s spot atop the ballot should give Republicans the opening they need to regain their majority.
California Rep. Darrell Issa, who has been tapped as chairman of the annual fundraising dinner, set a goal of raising $7.5 million for the event. He even pledged some of his own campaign cash if members failed to clear a recent hurdle. But House Republicans are falling well short in that goal.
According to numbers read during the Tuesday morning meeting, only 15 Republicans have met their pledged fundraising goal for the dinner. Among them are Texas Reps. Mike Conaway and Pete Sessions and South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson, a source familiar with the fundraising totals said. Another 42 have set a pledged target but failed to contribute the bulk of that money. And an astonishing 142 members — almost three-fourths of the Republicans in the House — have failed even to set a fundraising target.
Boehner kept his remarks brief Tuesday — back trouble has limited his activity recently — but members and aides present said the Republican leader was clearly frustrated.
The party has struggled to emerge from its devastating losses in 2006 as senior members head for the exits and traditional donors buck the GOP in favor of the new Democratic majority. Some of those defections have sapped Republicans of their most powerful fundraisers, and remaining members have failed to fill that void as GOP lawmakers still grapple with life in the minority.
The NRCC was starting to turn things around at the end of 2007, closing the year with more cash than debt for the first time since the crippling 2006 election. But 2008 began with a fresh crop of retirements and revelations that a former NRCC bookkeeper allegedly forged an internal audit sent to the committee’s principal lender.
Then last Friday, federal prosecutors indicted Arizona Rep. Rick Renzi on 35 criminal counts that include conspiracy, fraud, money laundering and official extortion stemming from a land swap with a former business partner. Shortly afterward, Boehner called on the Arizona Republican, who had already announced his plans not to seek reelection, to “seriously consider” stepping down early. But Renzi has since issued a statement that he has no plans to resign, putting increased pressure on GOP leaders to force his ouster.
The NRCC outraised the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee by a very narrow margin in January, outpacing its Democratic counterpart for the first time since the Republicans lost power. But the DCCC maintains a sizable fundraising advantage, closing the month with nearly $35.5 million, compared with the NRCC’s $6.4 million.
Cole has stayed positive despite all the problems, but he delivered a stern message Tuesday. In an effort to keep members more engaged, Blunt challenged lawmakers to take more responsibility for regaining power, then took a shot at the punditry for writing off Republicans this election cycle.
“We can do this,” he said.
Wrong. NH, MI, and SC all lost 50%.
Sending money to the RNC seems like sending money to the IRS.....paying a middleman to spend your money for you on things you do not want.
They called me last week with their hand out. I informed them politely that I had given up on the party, but would assist them monetarily if they started promoting conservative causes again.
Shouldn't have taken the job in that case.
What could be more conservative as a principle than beating Democrats?
I have never understood this nuanced view from FR types that work towards Democrat victory and contort their mindset into believing this is noble work.
It’s not rocket science. Defeat Democrats. Democrats are more liberal than Republicans. There is no such thing as a conservative. Never has been. Never will be. There are only people more conservative than others — and less liberal than others.
See how straightforward that is? When you start indulging in nuance and taking actions and inactions to advance the Democrat cause, you find yourself in contorted reasoning that results in condemning your family and friends to life under Schumer and Hillary and Obama.
I’ve received maybe 10 or so mailings from the NRCC in the past year. All have been returned with ZERO dollars and a note suggesting that I would donate again when the party returns to conservative principles and applies them to action.
Those states lost 50% of their delegates because they also moved their elections to dates before 05 Feb.
My beef is specifically with the fact that the RNC gets its knickers in a bunch over who votes when (who the hell cares?) while the party’s control over who its own nominee will be is diluted through the open primary process.
Why haven’t “open” primary states been penalized by the RNC with lowered delegate counts? The loss of influence and control over your own nominee is a helluva lot more important than on what day a state has a primary.
My point stands: screw the RNC until they get a handle on brand management.
principle than beating Democrats? Actually being conservative maybe (the republicans rarely demonstrate these today).
I never understood the party-loyalty (to the point of slavery) and brainwashed by the media mentality that causes otherwise good patriotic traditional Americans to blindly give their fealty toward an organization that continues to screw them and their families..! ;)
Boenher and Blunt have the charisma of a door nail.
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principle than beating Democrats? Actually being conservative maybe (the republicans rarely demonstrate these today).
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No such thing as being conservative or being a conservative.
There are only people more conservative than others. And more liberal than others. There are no conservatives. And no liberals.
That’s not true owen (where as there is the truth that you point out that people’s beliefs can change): One’s beliefs does make one a liberal or a conservative, and if you support liberalism you probably can be considered a liberal to those whom do not!
The Republicans do not demonstrate ‘much’ conservatism compared to conservatives of yesterday therefore I may consider them liberal for letting their beliefs slide (while I will continue to run right).
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