The DCCC's Plague Of New Dem Self-Funders... And Worse

Umm... actually, corporate-oriented New Dem Suzan DelBene wrote herself $5 million in personal checks to crush her middle class opponents and buy a House seat

Because of the innate nature of the Republican Party and what it has come to represent-- basically the longtime conservative quest to preserve the status quo or the reactionary quest to push for a status quo ante-- it surprises no one when you see multimillionaires like Darrell Issa (R-CA), Michael McCaul (R-TX), Fred Upton (R-MI) being "entitled" to committee chairs. Of the multimillionaires who are 50 richest Members of Congress 32 are very conservative Republicans.

Perhaps you've read that the DCCC also recruits multimillionaires to run as Democrats. Not every single multimillionaire is a villain, of course. But, all things being equal, you can probably count on most of them to not relate to the problems faced by ordinary working American families. It's sad when that doesn't only apply to Republicans but to Democrats as well. Last year Steve Israel helped crush working and middle class aspirants who wanted to run for Congress while clearing a path for more sickening ego-driven millionaires. And once they become DCCC-preferred candidates, Israel squeezes them to become politically-unhealthy self-funders.

These were some of his top recruits last cycle and how much they spent from their personal fortunes to buy their congressional seats:

• Suzan DelBene (New Dem-WA)- $2,796,879 (63%) after spending $2,284,034 (57%) in 2010
• Scott Peters (New Dem-CA)- $2,757,452 (63%)
• John Delaney (New Dem-MD)- $2,370,556 (54%)
• Elizabeth Esty (New Dem-CT)- $545,195 (17%)
• Bill Foster (New Dem-IL)- $500,000 (14%) after spending $545,000 in 2010 and $1,998,223 (41%) in 2008
• Denny Heck (New Dem-WA)- $99,000 (5%) after spending $350,000 (18%) in 2010

Each one rushed to join the super-corrupt, Big Business-oriented New Dems. What a coincidence! NOT. And what about Patrick Murphy, the spoiled rich kid and lifetime Republican who switched parties so he could be in Congress? He's a New Dem too, of course, but he only self-funded to the tune of $66,743. But don't worry, his rich Republican daddy started his own superPAC, American Sunrise, to funnel much more substantial sums into Patrick's campaign. And now that he's in Congress, he's been voting with the Republicans on financial and economic issues and working with right-wing crackpots to undermine the progressive agenda.

Today's Boston Globe ran a great big picture of one of the most disappointing of the Democratic freshman, New Hampshire conservative Ann Kuster, grubbing for money in a feature called For Freshmen in Congress, Courting Cash Is Job 1. Having money to defend your seat in elections is obviously essential, but if it's job 1, you don't deserve to be in Congress. And it helps explain why Kuster brags about voting whichever way Steve Israel and the DCCC tell her to vote, no matter how much she disappoints her own electoral base.

At a party-sponsored orientation session, the freshmen-- many still giddy from winning close races in which they espoused grand plans to change the Capitol’s toxic atmosphere-- were schooled in their party’s [does the DCCC define "the party?"] simple list of priorities for them.

Raise money. Raise more. Win.

The newcomers were told to devote at least four hours each day to the tedious task of raising money-- so-called dialing for dollars-- so they could build a war chest and defend their seats, according to those present. That’s twice as much time as party leaders expect them to dedicate to committee hearings and floor votes, or meetings with constituents.

Some members were flabbergasted. One rolled his eyes and walked out of the room.

But just about everyone in Congress signs on. Four months into a new session, Democrat and Republican freshmen in targeted districts say they often spend up to half their days raising money, whether through dreaded “call times” at a party-run phone bank near the Capitol, or attending fund-raisers.

“It may not be exactly like the Bataan Death March, but there are some similarities,” said one freshman representative who did not want to speak on the record for fear it would harm his campaign.

The all-consuming quest for dollars is part of Washington’s permanent, intensely waged campaign for party dominance. It cuts deeply into the typical day of lawmakers, robbing them of time they could spend building relationships with colleagues, dealing with constituent problems, and delving into policy issues. It is a major contributor to party gridlock, and keeps lawmakers dependent on the good graces of lobbyists and other special interests seeking favor on Capitol Hill.

The chase for campaign money is especially grueling for the 18 freshmen who have already been identified as top targets by the opposition in the 2014 election.

Almost immediately after being sworn into office-- or in some cases even before-- targeted politicians in both parties have been forced to defend themselves against negative attacks, bankrolled, in many cases, by the growing array of groups freed to spend without limit on elections by the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling.

Democrats and Republicans alike are compelled to sign confidential agreements with their parties’ campaign committees, pledging to meet specific fund-raising goals each quarter in exchange for a commitment of heavy financial support as the election draws near. Both parties’ campaign committees monitor their members’ progress weekly.

The Democrats’ program to protect its most vulnerable-- called “Frontline"-- commonly requires a member to promise to raise $250,000 per quarter.

Such benchmarks have had a measurable effect. The average amount raised by each freshmen in the first quarter has jumped 76 percent over the past decade to $188,313, according to data compiled for the Globe by the Sunlight Foundation, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that advocates for open government.

Members routinely duck out of the House office buildings, where they are prohibited by law from campaigning, and walk across the street to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee offices in the salmon-colored party headquarters. There, on the second floor, 30 to 40 legislators and their staffers squeeze into the “bullpen,” as some members have dubbed it-- a makeshift call center of about two dozen cubicles, each 2-feet wide and equipped with two land lines.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and its GOP counterpart, the National Republican Congressional Committee, function “basically like telemarketing firms,” said Tom Perriello, a Democrat from Virginia and former Frontline member who lost in 2010 after one term in the House. “You go down on any given evening and you’ve got 30 members with headsets on dialing and dialing and dialing, trying to close the deal.”

The room, devoid of decor or character, is abuzz with the sound of members courting money in all the accents of America. But it can be depressing, participants say, to witness fellow elected officials methodically working through the list of names and numbers that a staffer has organized into thick binders, or index cards, or a computer database-- only to have appeal after appeal rejected in the full hearing of their peers.

But despite such inevitable humiliations, they drive on.

“This is a deadly dull business, and you need to do anything you can think of to motivate yourself to continue doing this,” said the freshman lawmaker who compared it to the Bataan Death March.

...Party leadership is sensitive-- up to a point-- to criticism by members that the focus is too heavily skewed to fund-raising at the expense of governing. Tim Walz, a representative from Minnesota and chairman of the Democrats’ Frontline Program, said, “Unfortunately in the era of Citizens United fund-raising is a part of life, but the needs of your district and advocating for constituents always come first.”

When members are not engaged in the requisite “call time,” they attend breakfast, luncheon, and evening fund-raisers at one of many restaurants with private function rooms dotting the Hill or in one of the handsome lobbyist-owned townhouses located blocks away from the Capitol.

At a March fund-raiser at the Democratic National Committee headquarters, party leaders debuted the committee’s list of the 26 most endangered House members in the 2014 election, half of whom are freshmen.

As lawmakers mingled with lobbyists-- who paid up to $5,000 for the privilege of some face time at a gathering of elected officials-- House minority leader Nancy Pelosi called out legislators’ names, ceremoniously disbursing tens of thousands of dollars from her own campaign coffers over the course of the evening. Her personal largesse is just the beginning of support they will receive from the party and party leaders, as they seek to defend themselves and their seats from partisan fire.

Party leaders introduce freshmen to lobbyists right off the bat and actively encourage them to start working the phones, said Representative Alan Grayson, a Democrat from Florida who was a Frontline member in 2009, lost his seat in 2010, and was reelected in 2012 in a newly created district that’s considered safe.

The pressure to raise money opens the door for special interests, a timeless source of ready money, now available in greater amounts than ever.

"Of course they are all people with specific agendas, generally corporate agendas. So that’s how the ball gets rolling in terms of the interaction that leads to lobbyists influencing legislation, and members turning to lobbyists for money," Grayson said.

Some of the newer lawmakers say privately they feel frustrated by the grinding process and the accommodations it requires. But most declined to even talk about the grab for cash, seeking to downplay the demands of fund-raising on their time and attention.

New Hampshire’s Ann McLane Kuster, a freshman representative elected in November, is among the Democrats’ Frontline corps who has plunged into the fund-raising fray with gusto. She tapped Washington lobbyists, unions, special-interest groups, and ordinary citizens for $316,880 in contributions in the first three months of the year. That is more than double the average haul of House freshmen in safe districts and places her eighth among freshmen Democrats.

But Kuster would not discuss details of the fund-raising side of her new job. Through her staff, she rebuffed multiple requests for interviews on the subject of the permanent campaign. Approached in a Capitol hallway and asked to describe her views of the rush for money, she replied only, “I am fortunate to have great support."

“I’m not distracted by any kind of campaigning at this point,” Kuster added, before hustling off. “I’m not thinking about the politics.”

A crucial swing state, New Hampshire has been the scene of some of the most intensely partisan campaigns in recent years. Kuster’s district has switched between Democrats and Republicans three times in the past four elections. In the last election, Kuster was the top recipient of DCCC money.

Even before an opponent has formally announced plans to challenge Kuster, the National Republican Congressional Committee has begun weekly attacks on her, hoping to soften her up for an eventual GOP rival. It released a Web video highlighting nearly $11,000 Kuster owed in local property taxes. In April the NRCC, in a publicity stunt, delivered tax preparation software to Kuster’s office.

Keep in mind what Grayson said about the sleazy K Street lobbyists many of his colleagues are on the phone with all day begging for money: "[T]hey are all people with specific agendas, generally corporate agendas. So that’s how the ball gets rolling in terms of the interaction that leads to lobbyists influencing legislation, and members turning to lobbyists for money." So far this cycle, Grayson is the only incumbent on the Blue America endorsed-candidates list. There's no chance Ann Kuster will be back on that list this cycle.