Author: DavidNYC

At a town hall meeting Tuesday night (it’s a Congressional “district work period”), Debbie Wasserman Schultz had this to say about her abandonment of three strong Democratic challengers in South Florida:

I know there are people here that are interested in a political matter, so I will get that out of the way right at the beginning. If you have a concern about my previous comments about my staying out of the races in South Florida where candidates are challenging Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Ileana Ros- Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart, I will tell you two things:

First off, I have not endorsed any of the three incumbents in South Florida, nor will I, and I do not support their re-election campaign. I am supportive of the Democratic candidates who are running against them. I have never said otherwise.

Second, I have a national role as one of three co-chairs of Red to Blue Program. All candidates, from Florida to Alaska, have criteria that have to be met to get on this targeted list. Let me guarantee that if they fulfill those criteria, these three Democratic Candidates will be part of our Red to Blue Program…period, end of story. We have three co-chairs in order to be able to spread the workload among us.  It makes much more sense to have someone from outside of one’s own region to be able to make the hits necessary.  

But at the same time I am a representative of the 20th Congressional district of Florida, and I think it is absolutely my responsibility to work with my Republican colleagues.

But just one cycle ago, Debbie had an entirely different outlook – and with good reason:

While her moxie during debates over Terri Schiavo and Hurricane Katrina has earned kudos, it has also gotten the 39-year-old rookie into some trouble. She has rankled the longest-serving and most powerful congressman from South Florida, Republican Clay Shaw, by openly supporting his Democratic challenger.

Shaw’s staff said he tried to welcome her to the Capitol by offering advice and temporary office space and was upset to learn that she was helping state Sen. Ron Klein raise money and meet party leaders.  

…  

Wasserman Schultz served with Klein in the state Legislature for 12 years, and they are close friends. She was tapped by Democratic leaders to help with recruitment and said she could not stay out of a competitive congressional race.  

“It’s not good for my relationship with Clay Shaw, but Democrats can’t afford to leave a seat like that uncontested,” she said.

Why was it okay to do things that weren’t “good for her relationship” with Clay Shaw, but not okay to do so with Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and the Diaz-Balarts? If Debbie Wasserman Schultz values “working with Republicans” more than expanding our majority in Congress, then she should step down from Red to Blue, regardless of how many co-chairs there are. Everyone running Red to Blue needs to be a partisan bulldog.

And, of course, if the shoe were on the other foot, would any of these three Republicans hesitate to stab Debbie in the back? Of course not.

(Hat tip: FLA Politics.)

Elections are my favorite.

I recently caught wind of the following:

Following a week in which the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) lobbed several attacks on Congressman Scott Garrett’s (R-Wantage) skewed priorities, Congressman Steve Rothman (NJ-9) joined the General Wesley K. Clark, Teamsters Joint Council No. 73, New York Governor David Paterson, and numerous New Jersey political figures in endorsing Dennis Shulman’s campaign to unseat Garrett in New Jersey’s Fifth Congressional District.

“After meeting with Dennis and hearing about him from people throughout Northern New Jersey, I am convinced that he will make an excellent Member of Congress.  I am committed to working with Dennis in 2008 so that, together, we can help solve the problems of New Jersey and the nation in 2009,” said Congressman Steve Rothman.

Did you catch that? Rep. Steve Rothman of New Jersey’s 9th congressional district just the other day endorsed Rabbi Dennis Shulman, who is taking on Republican Scott Garrett in New Jersey’s 5th CD. That is to say, an incumbent Dem endorsed a challenger running against a member of his own state’s delegation.

But what does DCCC Executive Director Brian Wolff have to say about endorsements like that?

Brian Wolff, executive director of the DCCC, says the bloggers are making “much ado about nothing,” noting that it’s “customary” for members to remain neutral in races involving GOP members of their respective congressional delegations.

Quick, someone call up Steve Rothman! He’s violating a long-practiced custom! How dare he! Does Chris Van Hollen know about this breach?

Seriously, folks, I think we know this “custom” is bullshit. Debbie Wasserman Schultz herself recognized this back in 2005, when she unhesitatingly supported challenger Ron Klein against fellow Floridian Clay Shaw:

“It’s not good for my relationship with Clay Shaw, but Democrats can’t afford to leave a seat like that uncontested,” she said.

Scott Garrett is a total recidivist crumb-bum, and the people of NJ-05 deserve better. Rabbi Shulman knows this, and that’s why he’s running to replace him. And Rep. Rothman knows this, too, which is why he’s backing Rabbi Shulman. Surely the good folks in South Florida deserve no less from Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

The Washington Post has picked up on our frustration with Debbie Wasserman Schultz:

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) is getting brutally walloped in the liberal blogosphere for refusing to endorse the Democratic challengers to three potentially vulnerable GOP incumbents in Florida.

Liberal bloggers are irate that Wasserman Schultz, who co-chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s Red-to-Blue program, has declined to endorse the Democrats running to unseat Cuban American Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Lincoln Diaz-Balart and his brother, Mario Diaz-Balart.

Wasserman Schultz says she doesn’t want to stab GOP members of her own delegation in the back. But liberal bloggers say she’s killing her own while aiding and abetting the enemy.

I should note, of course, that it’s not just the netroots who are up in arms over this – local Democratic leaders in South Florida are furious, too.

The DCCC’s executive director, however, totally dismisses the concerns of both groups:

Brian Wolff, executive director of the DCCC, says the bloggers are making “much ado about nothing,” noting that it’s “customary” for members to remain neutral in races involving GOP members of their respective congressional delegations.

It may be “customary,” but it’s dead wrong – and Rahm Emanuel fought tooth-and-nail against that decrepit, lazy philosophy. Once upon a time, even Debbie Wasserman Schultz herself did, too. It’s sad to see a proud, strong organization like the DCCC resign itself to tolerating this sort of absenteeism. I have to imagine Rahm’s heart aches to see this.

Debbie, for her part, accuses us of getting things wrong:

Defending herself against the attacks, Wasserman Schultz told us, “The blogosphere sometimes turns into a game of telephone.” She said the bloggers are missing a key point: “I have not endorsed any of the three incumbents, and I don’t support their reelection campaigns.”

Wasserman Schultz said she supports electing Democrats to Congress but that she has to “balance” her political role at the DCCC with her role as a member of the Florida delegation.

Of course, we never accused her of formally “endorsing” any Republican. We have, however, laid out a clear bill of particulars:

1) No Democrat should be permitted to recuse him or herself from campaigning on behalf of fellow Democrats – especially not the co-chair of the Red to Blue program.

2) No Democrat should gush to the press about how wonderful any particular Republican elected official is, especially not those targeted for defeat.

3) No Democratic party organization, the DCCC included, should tolerate either of the above two behaviors.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz is allegedly “frustrated” with us bloggers and wants us “off her back.” (I can only assume this applies to the unhappy local Dems in S. Fla., too.) But if she really cared what we think, she or a staffer could have easily reached out to the netroots. Wolff’s dismissive statement makes it pretty clear that we’re seen as just a minor nuisance.

So it’s time we made our voices heard. If you have a problem with the co-chair of the Red to Blue program saying she won’t campaign for our excellent Democratic candidates Annette Taddeo, Joe Garcia & Raul Martinez, please let her and the DCCC know about it. Whatever you say or write, I urge you to be firm but exceedingly polite. Our message is strong and true – we don’t need to cloud our cause by giving those in power an easy out to attack the messenger.

And what are we asking for? We want Debbie Wasserman Schultz to vocally endorse our South Florida trio and do everything she can to help them get elected (including hosting a fundraiser for each). If she won’t do that, then we’d like her to resign from Red to Blue. And we also want the DCCC to stop tolerating Members of Congress who want to “remain neutral” in contested races.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz (campaign office):

E-mail: AskDebbie@DWSforCongress.com

Phone: 202-741-7154

DCCC Chair Chris Van Hollen (campaign office):

E-mail: chris@vanhollen.org

Phone: 301-942-3768

DCCC Headquarters:

Contact form

Phone: 202-863-1500

Please do not contact Congressional offices as this is purely a political issue. Just keep in mind what we’re fighting for, be polite, and let’s remind the folks in charge that our opinions matter.

From the Daily News:

GOP sources confirm that Rep. Tom Reynolds, a Western NY Congressman since 1999 and ex-NRCC chairman, will announce around noon tomorrow in Buffalo that he will not seek re-election this fall. Reynolds spokesman LD Platt did not return an e-mail seeking comment.

Reynolds of course was NRCC chair just last cycle, presiding over both the Mark Foley page scandal and his party committee’s fundraising scandal. His departure shoots this R+3.5 seat up the takeover charts, and the great news is that we already have an excellent candidate here in Iraq war vet Jon Powers. I’m even more excited about this race now.

P.S. Powers campaigned today with fellow Democrats Dan Maffei and Eric Massa in Rochester, raising the issue of how we care for our veterans. He blogged about it here.

P.P.S. (James Hell) I guess those earlier rumors that Reynolds shot down came true, after all.

Man, I sure do miss the Debbie Wasserman Schultz of old. Just one cycle ago, she was utterly unafraid to stand up for her party and campaign fiercely on behalf of her fellow Democrats:

While her moxie during debates over Terri Schiavo and Hurricane Katrina has earned kudos, it has also gotten the 39-year-old rookie into some trouble. She has rankled the longest-serving and most powerful congressman from South Florida, Republican Clay Shaw, by openly supporting his Democratic challenger.

Shaw’s staff said he tried to welcome her to the Capitol by offering advice and temporary office space and was upset to learn that she was helping state Sen. Ron Klein raise money and meet party leaders.

…

Wasserman Schultz served with Klein in the state Legislature for 12 years, and they are close friends. She was tapped by Democratic leaders to help with recruitment and said she could not stay out of a competitive congressional race.

“It’s not good for my relationship with Clay Shaw, but Democrats can’t afford to leave a seat like that uncontested,” she said.

What happened to DWS? Why are things all of a sudden so different? She took a big gamble taking on Shaw like that – Klein could easily have lost, and the Dems could very well have remained in the minority. Note that the article is from 2005, when Dem prospects didn’t look nearly so bright as they later would. Also note the URL – Debbie was proud enough of that piece to re-print it on her own website.

Now, Debbie Dubya has far less to lose – and yet she’s being far more hesitant. In fact, she’s being downright destructive toward Raul Martinez, Joe Garcia and Annette Taddeo, all in the name of “bipartisan comity.” Debbie was right two-and-a-half years ago – Dems couldn’t afford to leave a seat like Clay Shaw’s uncontested. And they can’t afford to leave FL-18, FL-21 & FL-25 anything less than vigorously contested this cycle, either.

Mario Diaz-Balart, attacking SCHIP:

In a flame-fanning tirade on Spanish-language radio last week, Díaz-Balart called the tax hike [to pay for SCHIP] an “attack on the Cuban-American community.” He added: “It would hurt an industry specifically in Miami-Dade, in South Florida, an industry that is almost entirely Hispanic: those who make cigars by hand, which is a cultural tradition. That industry will not survive.”

Lincoln Diaz-Balart, disrupting Tom Lantos’s memorial service:

The House had a meltdown today in the middle of the memorial service for the late Rep. Tom Lantos, a Holocaust survivor who was chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The service, in the Capitol’s historic Statuary Hall, was disrupted when a Republican House member unexpectedly called for a procedural vote.

And that’s when all hell broke loose.

House Democrats were furious, charging the procedural motion was disrespectful. “Very bad taste, very” as one senior House Democratic aide put it.

Republicans were apparently worried that Democrats were about to force debate on contempt-of-Congress citations against White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) is the member who hit the panic button, so to speak, and called the procedural vote. His real purpose in calling the procedural motion was to protest the lack of a vote on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act – before the contempt debate started.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, grandstanding about that stupid Petraeus ad:

The chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., said the ad “is outrageous and it is deplorable” and called upon her “colleagues on both sides of the aisle” to condemn the ad and, somewhat inexplicably, to apologize to the general for the impugning of his integrity.

Democrats everywhere know that we don’t need people like this in Congress. It goes without saying that the DCCC leadership should realize this, too.

Chatter away!

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D?) has been busy kneecapping some of our best challengers this cycle. Amazingly, she is part of the DCCC leadership  – she’s currently co-chair of the Red to Blue program, which is tasked with helping our most promising challengers. But this isn’t the first time we’ve seen something like this. From Naftali Bendavid’s The Thumpin’ (p. 78-79):

“I’ve got hundreds of examples of members screwing us. I’ve got members telling our challengers, ‘I won’t help you to challenge that X Republican.'” Emanuel continued, “I did say to one colleague once, ‘You have an interesting concept of the word team. But when they come after you, I’ll remind you of what you said to me. Because they will come after you.’ I can give you chapter and verse of people acting like knuckleheads.”

In one example, Congressman Adam Schiff of California, who served on the DCCC’s recruitment committee, declined to recruit a challenger to a California Republican congressman. Schiff explained that he was seen as a bipartisan type and wanted to keep it that way. “I thought Rahm was going to strangle him,” said the staffer who recounted the story. “I’m sure you’ve seen that look before.” (Emphasis added.)

It’s pretty stunning to me that anyone who would take on a leadership role in the DCCC would be so willing to undermine the cause. Yet where we had Adam Schiff dragging his feet last cycle, we now have Debbie Wasserman Schultz doing the same – if not worse – this time out.

This job is not for the faint of heart. Rahm Emanuel knew that. As Larry Sabato said of Rahm, “You need someone whose favorite word is not a or the but fuck.” In other words, we needed a hardass – and we got one, and we won. Rahm did not tolerate sandbagging, whether from Adam Schiff or Alcee Hastings or anyone else.

And we need Chris Van Hollen, the current DCCC chair, to have the same zero-tolerance policy. We know that he has a very different approach from Rahm, but being a hardass isn’t about cursing, or withering glares, or high-decibel rants. It’s about not accepting bullshit from people who want to call themselves your fellow Democrats, whether backbenchers or leaders.

By whatever methods he chooses, Van Hollen needs to make Debbie Wasserman Schultz fall in line. If we want to expand our majorities this fall, we can’t have party leaders holding us back. Health insurance, stem cell research, global warming, the war in Iraq – these are all issues which Democrats are champing at the bit to address. Surely Chris Van Hollen can’t let Debbie Dubya’s personal friendships with the likes of Ileana Ros-Lehtinen stand in the way.

So sayeth Debbie Dubya:

“I can’t say enough good things about Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.”

I wonder, exactly, what sort of good things Debbie Wasserman Schultz can’t say enough of about her BFF, Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

Perhaps it was Ileana’s vote to repeal the estate tax? Hmm, Debbie voted no on that one.

Ileana’s vote to approve weak fuel efficiency standards for cars? Nope, Debbie voted in favor of stricter rules.

How about drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge? Debbie certainly doesn’t support that – but Ileana does.

I know that Debbie voted against making the PATRIOT Act permanent. I just checked, though, and Ileana voted in favor of it.

Now, what about CAFTA? Maybe Debbie approves of Ileana’s support for the bill? Naw, Debbie gave a thumbs-down there.

Alright, alright, let’s see. The House had a big vote on the McGovern bill last year, authorizing withdrawal of our troops from Iraq. Debbie was in favor… Ileana, not so much.

Maybe the Military Commissions Act – you know, the bill which eviscerated habeas corpus rights? Debbie said ixnay. Ileana? All for it.

I’ve got it. Warantless wiretapping – that’s the ticket. Debbie sensibly said “no” when this bill came up in the House last summer. Ileana… oops, she voted for it.

Okay, this is an easy one. What reasonable person opposes stem cell research? Not Debbie, of course. And surely not Ileana, right? Sorry to disappoint – she thinks that blastocysts = human lives.

Man, I’m almost out of ideas, but I still have one more. Debbie obviously voted in favor of SCHIP – only the worst crumb-bums could possibly be so heartless as to deny healthcare to kids. But damn, wouldn’t you know it – Ileana is indeed exactly that sort of crumb-bum.

On the major issues of the day, these women are far, far apart. Debbie, to her credit, strikes a strong progressive stance. Yet Ileana, despite her allegedly “moderate” image, stands with the worst of the GOP in supporting endless war in Iraq, and continued environmental degradation while opposing stem-cell research and healthcare for kids.

It seems to me that saying even one good thing about Ileana Ros-Lehtinen would be more than enough, yet Debbie Wasserman Schultz just can’t get her fill. It’s clear to any rational outside observer that Ros-Lehtinen stands in the way of progressive change, and that Annette Taddeo’s candidacy is our best shot at removing that roadblock we’ve had in a long time. Why can’t Debbie Dubya see that?