Disqualifying Donations for Democratic Candidates-- Meet Chris Matthews' Wife Kathleen

Chris & Kathleen Matthews-- rich people who want a Maryland congressional seat

Lately, we've talked about how certain faux Democrats are being recruited by Beltway power-mongers to run as Democratic congressional candidates. For example, the DCCC was quick to recruit conservative "ex"-Republican Monica Vernon for IA-01 and the DSCC was even quicker in recruiting even worse conservative "ex"-Republican Patrick Murphy in Florida. Murphy, ostensibly a New Dem, votes with the GOP on crucial roll calls more frequently than all but 4 or 5 Blue Dogs and he gave maximum contributions to Chris Christie while Christie was still a Republican running against a Democrat and to Mitt Romney. Vernon is rich and conservative and she and her very Republican husband have contributed thousands of dollars to local and national Republicans, including, in 2012, to Bruce Braley's GOP opponent, Ben Lange, as well as to clowns like Chuck Grassley and John McCain, and $4,000 to the Iowa State Republican Party. The DSCC and the DCCC look for candidates like these; how else could they possibly maintain their breathtaking records for incompetence and just failure?

Now there's a new candidate making tiny Beltway hearts go pitter-patter. Chris Matthews' wife wants to be the Democratic nominee for the open MD-08 House seat that Chris Van Hollen is giving up to run against Donna Edwards for Senate.

Kathleen Matthews is a Marriott company executive with no political experience other than influence-peddling. But that isn't stopping her or her ConservaDem allies. While the political media love reporting on one of their own (we’ve already seen a few rounds of stories about her leaving her job at Marriott and about her husband’s outsized voice in campaign strategy), there was one story from the Huffington Post that caught my eye. As the HuffPo reports, Matthews’ most recent political campaign contribution was to Republican extremist Senator Roy Blunt, just a few months ago and for the current 2016 cycle.

This means that the last donation Matthews made before deciding to run for Congress as a Democrat was to a man with a 0% NARAL Pro-Choice America rating, a 0% Planned Parenthood Action Fund rating, and an "A" rating from the NRA. Steve Israel and others at the DCCC don't care, of course, but how does she expect that Democratic primary voters in Maryland will respond to that?

And since this donation is for the 2016 cycle, Matthews is essentially endorsing a Republican Senator at the same time she's running as a Democrat. Does this mean she supports Blunt’s anti-choice agenda? Does it mean she supporters his pro-gun agenda? Does it mean she supports his anti-gay marriage agenda?  Does it mean she doesn't care whether Democrats control the U.S. Senate?  After all, Blunt has serious Democratic opposition this cycle, and Matthews' donation was a donation toward continued Republican control.

It would be one thing if she had a record to look at in totality. But since she’s never been in public service, never run for office, and never been involved on policy issues, we only have her donations to inform us of her politics. And this is troubling at best.

As progressives, we understand we want our elected leaders to get along with Republicans. But we should never support a candidate who gave money, let alone the maximum amount allowed, to someone who is vehemently anti-choice and bitterly, aggressively homophobic... someone who is actively working to defeat candidates like Russ Feingold on the campaign trail and block legislation from Senators like Elizabeth Warren.

This should absolutely disqualify her for the Democratic nomination for Congress. It goes against so many of the core political principles that Democrats care about. She didn’t just give to a run-of-the-mill local Republican, she gave to the 3rd most powerful Republican Senator in the country and the architect of the “Blunt Amendment,” which tried to limit women’s access to birth control under Obamacare.

What we have in Matthews is another corporate-friendly Democrat with no political compass who will bounce around with the political winds, dine with lobbyists at fancy cocktail parties, and give money to whoever she wants, regardless of what they stand for.

On top of all this nonsense coming from Matthews’ soon-to-be campaign, voters in this district have other choices in the early stages of the race. Among them are Delegate Kumar Barve, Delegate Ana Sol Guitierrez, and Will Jawando. But the clear front-runner is the progressive choice, State Senator Jamie Raskin. Jamie Raskin is a strong progressive who has a decade of proven leadership in the State Senate. He’s earned support from elected officials in the district and from progressives nationwide due to his leadership in championing marriage quality, abolition of the death penalty, supporting women’s reproductive rights, and defending civil liberties. A simple search online provides the perfect contrast to this current news. Raskin's last federal donation? Elizabeth Warren’s 2012 campaign. Enough said.

You can contribute to Jamie Raskin's campaign on the main Blue America ActBlue page. There is no such thing as a contribution too small.