If The DCCC Can't Fight Republicans-- Instead Of Progressives-- They Should All Be Fired

What's wrong with the DCCC? Jason Bresler and Steny Hoyer

I hope you read Lee Fang's blockbuster post at The Intercept yesterday, featuring a secret recording of crooked K Street whore Steny Hoyer trying to crush another progressive candidate for Congress. [We added our two-cents here] and Levi Tillemann addressed it as well:

“Trickle Down Democracy”

American Democracy is under attack. Foreign powers have hacked our elections system, the U.S. president is a purveyor of conspiracy theories, far right-wing ideology and foreign influence. Democrats have an opportunity to fight for truth and democracy and to champion the cause of free and fair elections. We believe that America can solve this crisis if it listens to the voice of the American people. But if Washington insiders meet Trump’s avalanche of corruption with a different shade of corruption, we’ll be right back where we started. That’s what’s happening today. The same people who jumped on the scales during the 2016 presidential election are doing it again. They likely believe they are doing the right thing. We disagree. We’ve made the decision to shine a light onto the dark backroom politics of Washington, DC and let the American people decide.

Background on Colorado’s 6th Congressional District

The Republican incumbent in Colorado’s 6th Congressional District (Mike Coffman) is a lifetime politician who has consistently voted against the interests of working Americans on issues ranging from healthcare, to the environment, to taxes. In a district Hillary Clinton carried by 9-points, his secret to success has been reaching out to the diverse communities of the district (130 languages are spoken in Aurora public schools alone). He has become famous for learning Spanish and appearing on a Spanish-language radio show every week.

Levi Tillemann is an Obama administration alum, clean energy entrepreneur and native Coloradan raised in a working-class Latino neighborhood. He speaks five languages fluently-- including Spanish and Chinese. He supports Medicare for All, a $15/hr minimum wage, a complete transition to renewable energy by 2035 and impeaching Donald Trump. When Obama urged young Americans to “run for something” Levi took up that call.

The Problem

When the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) told Levi he would need to raise $2 million to win the primary, it was a surprise. By late Spring of 2017 it became clear that the reason for the astronomical price tag was the DCCC’s intention to shovel money towards an establishment-backed candidate. The DCCC’s choice was a white collar criminal defense lawyer who represented payday lenders, scam artists (who preyed on senior citizens) and fracking companies; he didn’t even live in the district.  The DCCC was preparing to flood that candidate with money and resources and create “facts on the ground” to ensure he would represent Democrats in November in one of the bluest Republican-held districts in the country.

At least six candidates explored running in the 6th. But one by one the DCCC and its allies picked them off. A free and fair election was never the goal. Instead, the DCCC worked assiduously to ensure that one candidate (their candidate) had the money and connections to outperform. This wasn’t exceptional. In dozens of races across the country, establishment politicians and corporate interests are using big money and political influence to load the dice in favor of candidates that will fall in line with moneyed interests and Democratic leadership. (We saw this on full display in the Texas 7th congressional race, where the DCCC attacked Laura Moser-- one of the two Democrats in a Democratic runoff.) This phenomenon has been catalogued in national publications ranging from New York Times, to the Washington Post, to The Intercept.

Rigging primaries has profound impact on our Democracy.

Because rigging primaries is an insider’s game, these efforts generally fall below the radar of major media outlets. This allows Washington insiders and the DCCC to meddle with impunity. But this means that a tiny elite effectively chooses the candidates who represent us and the negative impacts on our democracy are profound.

As Louis D. Brandeis famously said, sunlight is the best disinfectant. That’s why we’ve decided to shine a light on the particulars of the DCCC’s efforts in the 6th Congressional District and across the country. Over the days to come, we hope you join us in what we view as a national civics lesson. We believe that money and backroom politics are drowning out the voices for change in America and corrupting our democracy. There’s no better time to push for change than leading up to the historic primaries of 2018.

I would like to challenge Hoyer to a one question debate: "Was this the only time over the last decade you (personally) did this to a progressive Democrat on behalf of a crooked right-of-center candidate-- and how did they work out for you?" He'll never accept because he knows the answer and he knows I do as well. Stephanie Taylor a co-founder of the PCCC asserts, correctly, that the DCCC is up to this crap all over the map this year. "Establishment figures like Steny Hoyer and the corporate-funded New Democrats," she wrote, "hurt Democratic chances of taking back the House every time they support uninspiring, corporate candidates with unpopular ideas. The Democratic Party should not be looking to Hoyer's 'leadership' if they want to take back the House-- he's leading them in the wrong direction. Polling in swing districts like KS-3, W1-1, CA-45, CA-25, CA-49, and NJ-3, and all across the nation show that big ideas like Medicare For All, expanding Social Security, debt-free college, and challenging big corporations like Big Pharma are hugely popular. There is a battle for the heart and soul of the Democratic Party, and Steny Hoyer and his corporate cronies already lost. They don't represent the future, and it's time for them to step aside and make room for a new generation of leadership-- one that inspires and motivates the base instead of depressing it."

I asked a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who asked for anonymity-- "I have to wage my battles covertly in order to keep getting invited behind enemy lines"-- if he thinks his CPC colleagues agree with his stand that the DCCC should not be wasting their energy and resources on this kind of crap. "I think," he said, "that the vast majority of them would agree that the DCCC playing in primaries is really dumb and that this cycle has reinforced how really dumb it is."