That's been tried before as well. Ever hear of N.E.T.? It was the best Conservative television ever created. It was a brain child of Paul Weyrich actually. Weyrich started stepping on big toes like Lott's and a few others. Next thing you know he's voted out by the board and a kinder gentler more Liberal and I do mean Liberal network agenda that took it's place called America's Voice. Instead of Bob Barr there was Bob Beckel. The Armstrong Williams and Ellen Ratner Hour was a pukefest as well.
I am saying there is an organized effort by the controlling faction of the GOP called the Rockefeller Republicans to force out the Conservatives. It has been an ongoing effort. Don't you find it odd that one of the persons who help derail the GOP Conservative Majority agenda in 1995 was a keynote Speaker at the 1996 GOP Convention? Yea good old Susie along with another RINO former governor of New Jersey who is as Liberal herself as Al Gore but no Republican will admit it. I was wrong about one thing the Conservative Movement GOP died in 1996. Bob Dole put the nails in it's coffin. That Convention was the most repulsive thing the GOP ever put together and was down right sickening to hear and watch the GOP being destroyed. The GOP never recovered agenda wise.
The GOP is a split party that I don't see as any hope of ever again being reconciled. Many in the GOP now have more agenda's in common with the Dems than they do the Grass Roots Conservatives who put them in office to start with. If the GOP finally kicks the bucket great that's fine by me. The Specters, Frist, Hatch, Warner, Stevens, and the rest of the crowd including McCain can join the DEMs whom they share values with.
Former Gov. Sundquist keeping financial finger in GOP politics Committee spent $20,000 on polling, disclosures show
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/election/article/0,1406,KNS_630_4862670,00.html
By TOM HUMPHREY, tomhumphrey3@aol.com
July 22, 2006
Former Gov. Don Sundquist has contributed - directly or indirectly - to four current candidates for the state Legislature from his continuing campaign account while spending $20,000 on polling, financial disclosures show. The Sundquist Committee, originally set up for his 1998 run for re-election as governor, still had a balance of $1,434,694 on hand as of June 30, according to its most recent report.
"I'm spending it down," Sundquist said. "It's a political fund. I don't plan on running for anything, but I still retain an interest in politics."
The recent disclosure shows the Sundquist Committee spent $20,000 in March on polling by Ayers, McHenry and Associates - a firm also employed by other Tennessee Republicans including Sen. Lamar Alexander and U.S. Senate candidate Bob Corker.
Asked why a noncandidate would be paying for a poll, Sundquist replied, "Just curious."
"We like to find out what the issues are and how people feel about different things. What trends are. How things are changing. What's going on politically," he said, declining to elaborate on any specifics.
The report shows only one direct contribution to a legislative candidate - $1,000 to Jimmy Matlock of Lenoir City, who is seeking the Republican nomination to the District 21 state House seat being vacated by Rep. Russell Johnson, R-Loudon.
"I've known Jimmy for a long time," Sundquist said. "He'll be a great legislator."
The committee gave $500 to the Tennessee Federation of Republican Women and reports giving $1,000 - labeled only as "donation" - to Sundquist.
Drew Rawlins, director of the Registry of Election Finance, said the latter entry raises a question that will likely prompt a letter to the committee seeking an explanation. The former governor said the entry was apparently mislabeled and was reimbursement to him for a charitable donation.
The Sundquist Committee last year also gave $20,000 to Majority Tennessee, a political action committee that Justin Wilson, once deputy governor under Sundquist, serves as treasurer. Wilson himself put in $5,000, and the PAC then held the $25,000 balance until June 16, 2006.
On that date, the PAC's disclosure says, donations of $2,500 each were distributed to state Reps. Michael Harrison, R-Rogersville; Bob McKee, R-Niota; and Dennis "Coach" Roach, R-Rutledge.
Majority Tennessee PAC also gave $1,000 to Martha Yoakum of Tazewell, who is seeking re-election as public defender in the 8th Judicial District. She is the sister of Eleanor Yoakum, who served in Sundquist's gubernatorial Cabinet.
The three state representatives are all facing primary challenges to their re-election from opponents who question their conservative credentials.
"Don Sundquist doesn't have anything to do with the decision-making" on PAC expenditures, Wilson said.
"That's all Justin's area," said Sundquist of the PAC allocations.
The Sundquist Committee had expenditures of $73,461 during the first six months of 2006 and $186,225 in 2005, disclosures show. At the same time, the account is still earning interest - $21,328 in the first half of this year.
Most of the committee's contributions go to charitable, rather than political, causes. The biggest donation in the past two years was $50,000 to the Howard Baker Center for Public Policy at the University of Tennessee. The Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center received $12,500.
The committee also pays $1,739 per month to Elizabeth Phillips, who served in Sundquist's press office while he was governor. She "handles my correspondence," scheduling of any politically oriented matters and occasionally writes a speech, Sundquist said. Barbara Breuer of Arlington, who keeps the committee books, draws $1,252 per month.
In the first months of the current year, the committee paid about $1,200 toward cell phones for Sundquist and his wife, Martha, which the former governor said represents about half the cost. It also covers a subscription to The New York Times and, occasionally, the costs of meals - such as a recent gathering in Memphis that Sundquist said was hosted for longtime political supporters.
As an individual, Sundquist has donated to at least six campaigns for the U.S. House and Senate across the nation in the current election cycle.
Two of them are in Tennessee - $2,000 to U.S. Senate candidate Bob Corker and $500 to U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., whose district includes Sundquist's home near Townsend.
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