Tag: Louis Pope

Budgetary woes: it’s not just a state party thing

While Alex Mooney joined his two Maryland cohorts in pledging to vote for Michael Steele, at least “on the first ballot,” it’s one of those two fellow RNC members who now plays a different role in the election.

Louis Pope was picked two years ago to be the party’s treasurer in a downballot race which attracted much less interest than the Chair’s race. Yet, according to this Washington Times story by Ralph Z. Hallow, Pope approved a 2012 budget which figures to leave the national GOP $10 million in the hole – shades of Jim Pelura!

While one can joke about persistent debt being part of the Maryland GOP’s DNA and it carrying over to the national party once Steele assumed command, the fact that the party may not be able to pay its bills without a large line of credit is a charge contenders for the position have used to hammer the incumbent Steele, who backed Pope for the treasurer’s post.

Obviously politics is somewhat different than a business – and it should be, since there better not be a profit mode in the political arena – but the ideal would be a zero-sum game. Yes, ask any politician and certainly they’d love to have more money to help them get out the vote and convince the electorate their ideas are best. They don’t call money the mother’s milk of politics for nothing.

But our side is supposed to be the conservative one, and this lack of leadership by example tends to paint the GOP with the same big-spending brush it was tarred with during the Bush years. Worse yet, a party hampered by debt in 2012 may have a difficult time digging out of the hole if it has nothing to offer. Obviously another trip to the political wilderness like it had over the last two years is still possible after 2012 if the GOP challenger to President Obama loses and people lose faith in the Republican brand to create the change we really need. Undoubtedly the partisan media will be playing up the contention between Congress (particularly the Republican-controlled House) and President Obama.

There’s no need to rehash the financial truth of the Maryland GOP, since it’s existed in the political wilderness for longer than the national party. Every few decades they capture the governor’s office, but they have yet to crack the Democratic strangehold on the General Assembly. (It just wants to make you go beat some sense into the residents of Montgomery and Prince George’s counties and Baltimore City who somehow keep voting against their best interests. I can see the cushy government job aspect in some areas, but why listen to the poverty pimps in the inner city?)

This financial question may be a key as to why Mooney only committed to Steele for one round of voting and Pope “knows who he will vote for once Steele drops out after the first or second ballot.” That can’t be good news for the incumbent, who may be looking for a new full-time gig in a couple weeks.

In the meantime, look for more “surveys” and other pitches (overt and covert) from the RNC for fundraising. They may not quite be reduced to the “buddy, can you spare a dime” pitch on the street corner, but they could be closer than you think.

The man of Steele in trouble?

One outlet following the RNC Chair race closely has been the Hotline OnCall section of the NationalJournal. While the rest of us were watching bowl games or recovering from a night of revelry (or both) they were again updating their whip count on the race. With nearly half the voters having made a first-ballot commitment, none of the six candidates are over 1/3 of the way to the 85 votes they need to succeed.

Surprisingly, though, the leader at this point is Wisconsin state Chair Reince Priebus. Michael Steele lags behind in second place with 15 confirmed to 28 in the Priebus corner.

Further, while it’s no surprise that our national committeeman Louis Pope and national committeewoman Joyce Terhes are in Steele’s camp, the willingness of newly elected Chair Alex Mooney to shop around is encouraging. I happen to know some aspects of what Mooney is looking for in a Chair, but am not at liberty to divulge them. Michael Steele might not be the perfect fit for Alex, although in later rounds (and there will be later rounds if the last RNC election is any sort of guide) he could gravitate back to Michael if that option is still available.

It’s also worthy to note that the last incumbent RNC Chair also made a bid for re-election, but Mike Duncan lost his race on the heels of a 2008 campaign that saw a Democratic expansion of influence in Congress and capture of the White House. Obviously Michael Steele had a better election on his watch, but there have been complaints that the GOP left a few races on the table – particularly Senate races in Alaska, Nevada, and Delaware where ‘establishment’ GOP candidates lost in the primary and TEA Party insurgents faltered in the general election. (The GOP kept the Alaska seat as Senator Lisa Murkowski maintained her party affiliation while winning a write-in campaign.)

Yet the chief complaint against Steele is financial, with opponents pointing out that the party will need a huge infusion of cash to compete for the White House in 2012. President Obama may run the first billion-dollar campaign (not to mention the free publicity of a fawning press) so in order to compete fundraising needs to be key.

Tomorrow will feature a debate between the six announced candidates, with streaming available here. The election will be held on January 15, with the winner possibly becoming the GOP’s 65th Chairman.