Cheri Bustos Is Stoking Racial Tensions Among Democrats In Congress

Cheri Bustos and Marcia Fudge

"Cheri has proven herself a flawless leader... of the Congressional Women's Softball Team," a member of Congress told me this afternoon. "Making her head of the DCCC was a big mistake-- at least for us... They should make her captain of the softball team and get her to walk away from the D-Trip." Bustos, a Blue Dog who switched to the New Dems before making her move for Democratic leadership is the most conservative member of Pelosi's leadership team-- by far. According to ProgressivePunch her strong "F" is based on a lifetime crucial vote score of 52.55%, the worst of any Illinois Democrat-- yes, worse than Lipinski's-- and making her 24th worst Democrat in Congress.

As head of the DCCC, she's recreated the committee in her own image-- basically as a quasi-KKK chapter, with the most worthless, right-wing staff in anyone's memory. One source of frustration is her inability to take minorities any more seriously than the NRCC does. On Thursday, Jake Sherman, Heather Caygle and Laura Barrón-López, reporting for Politico, wrote that the DCCC "is locked in a long-simmering battle with prominent black and Hispanic lawmakers who believe the party committee and its chair have short-changed minorities." They wrote that Senior Hispanic and black members of Congress have been privately clashing with Bustos "over her personnel decisions, what they say are tone-deaf comments on race and whether she's lived up to the promises she made during the campaign to win the chairmanship."

“There is not one person of color-- black or brown, that I’m aware of-- at any position of authority or decision making in the DCCC,” said Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH), a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. “It is shocking, it is shocking, and something needs to be done about it.”

Bustos sought a meeting with Fudge, and Fudge said no.

“Until they show me they are serious about diversity, there’s no reason for me to meet with them,” Fudge said.

And Fudge isn’t alone. Interviews with more than two dozen Democratic lawmakers, aides and strategists detailed months of frustration and unanswered questions about Bustos’ efforts to retain minority staffers in top positions, boost Latino voter outreach and hire firms run by people of color. They charged Bustos of being tactless when challenged by lawmakers of color.

“The overall plan for Latino outreach seems to be some 1980s playbook, which doesn't work anymore,” Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) said.

...[T]he depth of discontent with the DCCC, and some of the problems it has faced in the early days of this Democratic majority are out of the ordinary, raising concerns in the party ahead of a tough fight to hold on to the House.

The latest sign of DCCC dysfunction: an exodus of key aides.

Bustos’ then chief of staff, Jalisa Washington-- an African American woman-- left the committee after just two months for a job with the Kamala Harris campaign. Sonia Kim, the party’s director of mail, left for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Just last week, Nancy Zdunkewicz, the party’s polling director, left the committee.

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) said concerns about diversity among the senior ranks of the DCCC was one of “the biggest issues” he tried to deal with as CBC chair nearly a decade ago and remains a problem.

“My hope is that the CBC will be as concerned about the Latino deficit in the staff at the DCCC as we would about an African-American [deficit],” Cleaver said.

The complaints from members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus are, by far, the loudest and most significant. Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA) has met with Bustos multiple times, including this week, to relay ongoing CHC concerns about staff diversity at the campaign arm. Aguilar declined to comment for this story.

CHC members were inflamed in late June when the Washington Free Beacon published a story revealing that DCCC aide Tayhlor Coleman sent a series of derogatory tweets roughly a decade ago, including one that portrayed as her being afraid of Mexicans. (Coleman publicly apologized for the tweets late last month.)

The day after the story ran, Bustos announced in a caucus meeting at the party headquarters that Coleman was getting a promotion to run the Cycle of Engagement, a minority outreach program. Some lawmakers-- well aware of the spate of controversial tweets-- turned to look at each other in shock, according to multiple sources present.

Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, a second-term Texas Democrat shocked by the tweets, said he asked Bustos the next day if they were “fake.” Bustos texted Gonzalez back, saying “I want you to know I listened, I acted. She is no longer in the job.” Coleman is, however, still working at the DCCC.

House Minority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC) said in an interview that he asked Bustos to keep Coleman on staff.

“I asked for her not to be terminated but to please be given different duties and responsibilities, but don’t terminate a young African American woman for something she may have done on social media when she was 19 years old,” Clyburn said.

Clyburn added that it was his “understanding” that Coleman was removed from her position as director of the Cycle of Engagement and moved to a different post internally.

Similarly, Rep. Tony Cardenas (D-CA) didn’t call for Coleman to be fired but wanted her moved elsewhere. The DCCC told Cardenas that Coleman would no longer be working on the minority engagement project or on any issues concerning minorities at all.

But Coleman was scheduling meetings regarding minority outreach strategy as recently as last week, according to messages seen by Politico. A DCCC aide said the committee does not discuss staffing issues.

“Wow, it was my understanding that that individual was no longer in the title that she’d recently been promoted to and that she was in a different position,” Cardenas said. “And also not in the diversity team.”

Cardenas said Bustos has made herself available for meetings with BOLD PAC, the campaign arm of the Hispanic Caucus which he chairs. “I want to see progress. Ben Ray really took it to another level in a good way but we can’t rest on our laurels and we can’t assume it’s going to stay that way,” he said.

Better representation for minorities has long been a central part of Bustos’ campaign. During the three-way race for DCCC chair, Bustos promised to boost Hispanic representation at the top of the DCCC.

After Politico began asking questions about the CHC and CBC’s relationship with the DCCC, the campaign arm sent emissaries to praise Bustos’ tenure as chair-- and argued she’d done more to diversify the DCCC than Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), the former chair who won back the majority just last year. Luján, himself, is Hispanic, and Dan Sena, his executive director, was the first Hispanic person to serve as the committee’s top staffer. [Is that ever a low bar!!]

“The representation within the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is higher now than during the previous chair,” Rep. Jim Costa (D-CA) said.

"I've got to work with four different chairs and I'm very happy with the work that [Bustos is] doing," said Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX). "I think she's doing a great job."

Costa, a Blue Dog of Portuguese heritage is petrified of being primaried by a Mexican-American woman of the Fresno city council, who is nearly as conservative as he is. And Cuellar is also consumed with being primaried and has been promised by Bustos that the DCCC will stand with him against the progressive grassroots Latina challenging him, Jessica Cisneros.

Meanwhile, progressive members of all races are also sick of the way Bustos marginalizes progressive candidates in favor of Blue Dogs and New Dems, longstanding-- though always denied-- DCCC policy going right back to Rahm Emanuel's stint as DCCC chair. Emanuel was Bustos' original role model and mentor in Illinois politics. One high-ranking and very respected senior progressive told me that "the NRCC couldn't find a better ally than [expletives deleted] Bustos... I've never seen any less capable chair. I voted for her, something I deeply regret now."

The GOP is have a field day with this whole horror show. While praying that no one remove Bustos, they are hooting  and hollerin' at the idea that someone in politics is getting an even worse rap for racism than Louie Gohmert and Marsha Blackburn. Michael McAdams, NRCC communications director, sent out a statement yesterday pointing out that thanks to Bustos the Dems "are heading home in a fiery heap of dysfunction, as Politico detailed the rampant incompetence within Cheri Bustos’ DCCC including an exodus of top staffers, overall mismanagement and concerns over a racist and homophobic staffer being promoted to run their diversity outreach program." Congratulations, Cheri Bustos, opening the DCCC up to this kind of criticism from a source like that! Not even in Rahm's or Steve Israel's worst days...

Midterm Report: The Best and the Worst Democratic Freshmen

Time to grade the Democratic freshmen-- or at least to pick out the 10 best and the 10 worst. Which ones lived up to what Alan Grayson laid out in his little monologue above? And which served the interest of careerism and corporate special interests above the interests of their own constituents? Short version-- for people in a hurry-- here are two lists (alphabetized), the 10 best, followed b the 10 worst:

THE BEST:

• Tony Cardenas (D-CA)
• Matt Cartwright (D-PA)
• Alan Grayson (D-FL)
• Jared Huffman (D-CA)
• Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY)
• Joe Kennedy (D-MA)
• Alan Lowenthal (D-CA)
• Grace Meng (D-NY)
• Rick Nolan (D-MN)
• Mark Pocan (D-WI)

THE WORST:

• Cheri Bustos (D-IL)
• Pete Gallego (Blue Dog-TX)
• Joe Garcia (New Dem-FL)
• Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ)
• Dan Maffei (New Dem-NY)
• Sean Patrick Maloney (New Dem-NY)
• Patrick Murphy (New Dem-FL)
• Scott Peters (New Dem-CA)
• Raul Ruiz (D-CA)
• Kyrsten Sinema (New Dem-AZ)

The other day, Obama seemed to help justify the Egyptian military coup by declaring that democracy is about more than just elections. Eric Cantor liked that. The Washington Post didn't. You decide. Meanwhile, though, figuring out which congressmen did best and did worst is about more than just raw voting. Voting on bills that come to the floor is very, very important, of course, but there are other factors as well, like courageousness, leadership, behavior on committees, integrity. Example: freshmen who voted in the House Financial Services Committee-- so somewhat privately-- to gut Dodd-Frank Wall Street reforms and then piled onto a plane with Democratic corruptionist Joe Crowley to celebrate with Wall Street banksters, are never going to get on a 10 Best list. Freshmen with the guts and smarts to sign the Grayson-Takano No Cuts letter, however, have a leg up on any 10 Best list.

The 10 freshmen who signed that letter are a mixed bag though, including really excellent Members like Grayson himself, as well as Matt Cartwright and Rick Nolan and really awful sellouts looking for another way to bash Obama, like Ann Kirkpatrick, or for a cheap way to burnish progressive credentials for the folks back home, like Juan Vargas. These are the freshman signers (in order of date signed):

• Alan Grayson (D-FL)
• Mark Takano (D-CA)
• Rick Nolan (D-MN)
• Matt Cartwright (D-PA)
• Joyce Beatty (D-OH)
• Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ)
• Tony Cardenas (D-CA)
• Donald Payne (D-NJ)
• Dan Kildee (D-MI)
• Juan Vargas (D-CA)

The best freshman and the worst freshman each comes from Florida. Overall best is Alan Grayson, more than just a good voter-- a real leader and organizer. And please do watch that video up top. Ironically, the worst freshman, Patrick Murphy, is also a leader and an organizer-- he's leading other freshmen, really dumb ones, astray and organizing to help push through Boehner's toxic agenda. But let's get to the roll calls that we counted in assessing each freshman. We're listing them in chronological order, starting with a typical cheap trick by the GOP threatening that Members wouldn't get paid 'til a budget was passed. H.R. 325 passed on January 23, 285-144 with 86 Democrats joining most of the Republicans to pass it. It was the first big bill showing that most of the conservative New Dem freshmen would side with the GOP on their agenda. The freshmen who crossed the aisle: Ami Bera (CA), Julia Brownley (CA), Cheri Bustos (IL), Joaquin Castro (TX), John Delaney (MD), Suzan DelBene (WA), Tammy Duckworth (IL), Bill Enyart (IL), Elizabeth Esty (CT), Bill Foster (IL), Pete Gallego (TX), Denny Heck (WA), Steven Horsford (NV), Derek Kilmer (WA), Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ), Ann Kuster (NH), Alan Lowenthal (CA), Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM), Dan Maffei (NY), Sean Patrick Maloney (NY), Grace Meng (NY), Patrick Murphy (FL), Rick Nolan (MN), Beto O'Rourke (TX), Scott Peters (CA), Raul Ruiz (CA), Brad Schneider (IL), Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), Mark Takano (CA), Dina Titus (NV), and Filemon Vela (TX). Chief New Dem Ron Kind and DCCC chair Steve Israel also voted with the Republicans on this and strongly urged the freshmen to do likewise. It helped established a very bad pattern, a pattern that some have since seen through and have broken free of-- like Lowenthal, Nolan, and Takano-- but one that has ensnared too many freshmen in the quicksand of false bipartisanship. Every one of the 10 worst freshmen voted with the GOP on this early bill.

H.R. 444 passed on February 6 and it was another gimmicky GOP balanced budget bill. 26 Democrats joined 227 Republicans to pass it 253-167. The freshmen aisle crossers were Ami Bera (CA), Cheri Bustos (IL), Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ), Ann Kuster (NH), Dan Maffei (NY), Sean Patrick Maloney (NY), Patrick Murphy (FL), Scott Peters (CA), Raul Ruiz (CA), Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), and Dina Titus (NV). So here we were in February and the lines between the good freshmen and the bad freshmen were already starting to become very clear. Most of these would go on to back Boehner and Cantor from then right up until now.

H.R. 273 is intended to freeze the pay of federal employees. It passed 261-154, on February 15, Boehner and Cantor able to claim a bipartisan victory because of these largely worthless freshmen: Julia Brownley (CA), Cheri Bustos (IL), Suzan DelBene (WA), Bill Enyart (IL), Bill Foster (IL), Pete Gallego (TX), Joe Garcia (FL), Ann Kuster (NH), Dan Maffei (NY), Sean Patrick Maloney (NY), Patrick Murphy (FL), Scott Peters (CA), Raul Ruiz (CA), Brad Schneider (IL), Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) and Filemon Vela (TX). You should be starting to recognize the repeat offenders now.

H.R. 933 passed 267-151 on March 6 and the intention was to soften the blow of the sequester for the Pentagon while leaving all the other victims in the lurch. 53 bad Democrats went along with the GOP, including 28 freshmen, these freshmen: Ami Bera (CA), Julia Brownley (CA), Cheri Bustos (IL), Joaquin Castro (TX), Suzan DelBene (WA), Bill Enyart (IL), Elizabeth Esty (CT), Bill Foster (IL), Tulsi Gabbard (HI), Pete Gallego (TX), Joe Garcia (FL), Steven Horsford (NV), Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ), Ann Kuster (NH), Alan Lowenthal (CA), Michelle Grisham Lujan (NM), Dan Maffei (NY), Sean Patrick Maloney (NY), Patrick Murphy (FL), Gloria Negrete McLeod (CA), Beto O'Rourke (TX), Scott Peters (CA), Raul Ruiz (CA), Brad Schneider (IL), Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), Mark Takano (CA), Dina Titus and Marc Veasy (TX).

H.R. 890, meant to prevent the federal government from giving states greater flexibility when complying with a welfare program’s work requirements, passed 246-181 on March 13. Only 18 Democrats crossed the aisle on this one, including 8 freshmen: Ami Bera (CA), Joe Garcia (FL), Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ), Dan Maffei (NY), Sean Patrick Maloney (NY), Patrick Murphy (FL), Scott Peters (CA), and Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), the ones Boehner and Cantor were coming to depend on pretty consistently to make their awful bills "bipartisan."

H Con Res 25 on March 20 was the budget bill. There were a lot of alternatives, starting with a proposal to pass the budget the Senate had already passed, not a great budget, but not nearly as bad as the Ryan budget the House was about to vote on. The Senate budget was defeated in the House 154-261 with 35 Democratic defectors including the 17 worst freshmen: Ami Bera (CA), Julia Brownley (CA), Cheri Bustos (IL), John Delaney (MD), Bill Enyart (IL), Bill Foster (IL), Pete Gallego (TX), Joe Garcia (FL), Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ), Ann Kuster (NH), Dan Maffei (NY), Sean Patrick Maloney (NY), Patrick Murphy (FL), Scott Peters (CA), Raul Ruiz (CA), Brad Schneider (IL) and Kyrsten Sinema (AZ).

When Raul Grijalva introduced the Progressive Caucus budget alternative-- the only budget that would have solved the problems plaguing America-- it lost 84-327. Only 13 freshmen voted FOR it, the better freshmen: Joyce Beatty (OH), Tony Cardenas (CA), Matt Cartwright (PA), Alan Grayson (FL), Jared Huffman (CA), Hakeem Jeffries (NY), Alan Lowenthal (CA), Rick Nolan (MN), Don Payne (NJ), Mark Pocan (WI), Mark Takano (CA), Juan Vargas (CA), and Marc Veasy (TX).

The House Democratic Caucus budget wasn't as good as the one Grijalva proposed but it was still way better than Ryan's. It lost 165-253 and really did encompass a vision for what the House Democrats would like to accomplish. 28 bad Democrats voted against it including 17 freshmen: Ami Bera (CA), Julia Brownley (CA), Cheri Bustos (IL), Suzan DelBene (WA), Bill Enyart (IL), Bill Foster (IL), Pete Gallego (TX), Joe Garcia (FL), Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ), Ann Kuster (NH), Dan Maffei (NY), Sean Patrick Maloney (NY), Patrick Murphy (FL), Scott Peters (CA), Raul Ruiz (CA), Brad Schneider (IL) and Kyrsten Sinema (AZ)-- all the worst garbage in the caucus.

H.R. 624, CISPA, was a domestic spying bill that passed 288-127 on April 18. The Democratic caucus was very split-- 98 against and 92 for. The bad freshmen should be very predictable for you by now, although a few weak links among usually not-as-bad-Democrats went along with it as well: Joyce Beatty (OH), Ami Bera (CA), Julia Brownley (CA), Cheri Bustos (IL), Tony Cardenas (CA), Tammy Duckworth (IL), Bill Enyart (IL), Bill Foster (IL), Loius Frankel (FL), Pete Gallego (TX), Joe Garcia (FL), Denny Heck (WA), Steven Horsford (NV), Hazeem Jeffries (NY), Robin Kelly (IL), Derek Kilmer (WA), Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ), Ann Kuster (NH), Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM), Dan Maffei (NY), Sean Patrick Maloney (NY), Grace Meng (NY), Patrick Murphy (FL), Don Payne (NJ), Scott Peters (CA), Raul Ruiz (CA), Brad Schneider (IL), Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), Eric Swalwell (CA), Dina Titus (NV), Juan Vargas (CA), Marc Veasey (TX) and Filemon Vela (TX).

H.R. 1062 was another conservative initiative to weaken regulations on Wall Street. It passed 235-161 on May 17 with 17 Democrats voting with the Republicans, including 9 freshmen-- Ami Bera (CA), Tony Cardenas (CA), Pete Gallego (TX), Dan Maffei (NY), Sean Patrick Maloney (NY), Scott Peters (CA), Raul Ruiz (CA), Brad Schneider (IL) and Kyrsten Sinema (AZ).

H.R. 3 was a big one-- the Keystone XL Pipeline bill on May 22. It passed 241-175 with 19 Democrats going along for the ride, including 5 anti-environment freshmen: Cheri Bustos (IL), Bill Enyart (IL), Sean Patrick Maloney (NY), Patrick Murphy (FL) and Filemon Vela (TX).

H.R. 1911 was also a big one-- the GOP bill to double the rate on student loans. Only 4 Democrats were stupid enough to vote for that one and 3 are New Dem freshmen with terrible records: Joe Garcia (FL), Dan Maffei (NY) and Scott Peters (CA).

H.R. 1947 was the failed Farm Bill that shredded food stamps for the most needy Americans. Only 24 Democrats voted for it, including 8 freshmen: Ami Bera (CA), Julia Brownley (CA), Cheri Bustos (IL), Bill Enyart (IL), Joe Garcia (FL), Patrick Murphy (FL), Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), and Filemon Vela (TX). There were a ton of amendments that showed how bad some of these freshmen are including one to defund farmers markets by Tom McClintock that drew exactly one "Democratic" vote: New Dem Patrick Murphy (FL). 8 Democrats voted against Jim McGovern's amendment to reinstate the SNAP food stamp funding and 2 of them were freshmen-- Cheri Bustos (IL) and Sean Patrick Maloney (NY).

H.R. 1613 and H.R. 2231 passed June 27 and 28, the two most recent Republican travesties. Both bills, written by Oil and Gas lobbyists, were big giveaways for offshore drilling businesses. The only Democratic freshmen to go along with either or both of them were Ami Bera (CA), Cheri Bustos (IL), John Delaney (MD), Pete Gallego (TX), Joe Garcia (FL), Patrick Murphy (FL), Scott Peters (CA), Raul Ruiz (CA), Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) Marc Veasey (TX) and Filemon Vela (TX).

Don't forget, this report card is only for freshmen. We didn't count Ron Barber (New Dem-AZ) as a freshman and he's literally worse than any of the freshmen. So are 4 other more senior Democrats, the worst of their party in the House, by far. From bad to worse (with their ProgressivePunch scores):

• Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)- 40.00
• Bill Owens (New Dem)-NY)- 33.33
• John Barrow (Blue Dog/New Dem-GA)- 28.33
• Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT)- 26.67

This year, six Republicans have voted more frequently with the Democrats on crucial roll calls than Matheson and Barrow. The DCCC will spend an estimated $4 million in a desperate and pointless attempt to reelect both of them.

Watch the Grayson video up top again-- and keep it in your mind the next time the DCCC asks you for money. Virtually all of it that doesn't wind up their cronies' pockets, goes to reelect these Democrats who vote most frequently with the GOP. In the clip, Grayson reminds Democratic candidates running for office that "If you have two Republicans running against each other, one with an 'R-e-p' next to his name and one with a 'D-e-m' next to his name, it's a tremendous disservice to the public. The public can't choose that way. And if you run as a Democrat, then there are certain things you should stand for. You should stand for Justice. You should stand for Equality. You should stand for Peace... We need more Democrats who are Democrats... You can't beat a Republican by BEING a Republican."

Let's Look At How Lazy "Journalists" Heather Caygle And Laura Barrón-López Misled Politico Readers By Stuffing A Story On Cheri Bustos Full Of DCCC Talking Points

Does anyone outside of Bustos' office seriously think that slogan won the Democrats back the House?

Politico ace reporters Heather Caygle And Laura Barrón-López should go to journalism school-- or somehow get it through their heads that reporters aren't actually supposed to be mindless cheerleaders for the establishment.

"Cheri Bustos," they wrote of the woman quickly turning herself into her party's next Debbie Wasserman Schultz, "isn’t afraid of the insurgent left." That's so cute! I wonder if Bustos paid extra for that. "The chairwoman of House Democrats’ campaign arm has found herself in a very messy-- and public-- spat with progressives over the past week and a half. But the Midwestern moderate"-- ah, yes, Politico's favorite put down of progressives: calling corrupt conservatives like Blue Dog Bustos a "moderate," the most admired political term among American voters. What makes Bustos a moderate? That she votes with Republicans? That she opposes the most popular Democratic initiatives of the time-- like Medicare-For-All, free state colleges, the $15 minimum wage, and the Green New Dream? In Beltway conservative circles, opposing those initiatives is what makes someone "serious" and, apparently, "moderate."

Bustos, they continued "is refusing to budge, despite drawing ire from prominent progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who has encouraged her millions of social media followers to halt donations to the campaign committee in retaliation." [Notice how the boogey man was just created in the narrative, the boogey man who the "moderate" shall vanquish.] Let's see what can they do to make Bustos sound all-American and heroic?

“I’m pretty transparent, I don’t try to do things behind people’s back, I don’t try to mislead,” Bustos said in a brief interview Wednesday, when asked about the intraparty conflict.

At issue is a new Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee policy that prohibits Democratic consultants and vendors from working for a primary challenger to a sitting incumbent if they want the lucrative business of the DCCC.

That stance was considered an unwritten rule for the party, but Bustos decided to codify it at a time when the prospect of left-wing primary challenges looms large among House Democrats.

Despite the outcry from some progressives, many Democrats have rallied behind Bustos-- approaching her on the floor and privately commending her for being willing to confront the left wing of the caucus when others have cowered, fearful of becoming the Twitter target du jour.

Really? Has AOC been bullying Democrats on Twitter, Politico? Who? I must have slept late that day. Who has been a "Twitter target du jour?" I mean other than people hated by Trump? Who? Show me.

Bustos has indeed become a public punching bag for progressives, absorbing blows for moderate and vulnerable Democrats. In return, Bustos has privately encouraged members to voice their support for her actions-- particularly progressives who back the policy-- according to multiple sources.

“We don’t have time for games, we don’t have time for hugs and kisses,” Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA), former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said in an interview, praising Bustos for taking a hard line to protect the party’s incumbents ahead of a difficult 2020 campaign.

The episode underscores Bustos’ approach to the job as DCCC chairwoman amid an ideological clash that has defined the early months of the new Democratic majority. She is the first line of defense in Democrat’s battle to hold onto the House, tasked with protecting more than two dozen seats in districts won by President Donald Trump, including her own.

Her sometimes blunt attitude is a dramatic departure from previous DCCC Chairman Ben Ray Luján, who is known on Capitol Hill for being nonconfrontational and eager to please. But Bustos’ style is one several members said is needed in this moment, as Democrats wage war against Trump and hope to not only hold the House but flip the Senate and White House next year.

“What you see is what you get,” said Lacy Clay (D-MO), who fended off a liberal primary challenger last cycle. “She’s up front about her positions and you have to respect that.”

Added Clay: “She’s brought a new perspective and sometimes you need to change the way you do things around here.”

Lacy Clay pretends to be a progressive but he's a grotesquely corrupt sack, who will always be facing primaries because of how he treats his constituents. It's only a matter of time before some lands the right blow at the right time. He's perfect for Bustos. Couldn't be better.

But other lawmakers, even the ones defending Bustos, have privately questioned her move to “poke the bear,” as one member described her swipe at the left, and put in writing a rule that was essentially followed by the campaign committee anyway.

Three months into her tenure as DCCC chairwoman, Bustos said she wanted to lay down the “ground rules” and follow through on a commitment she made when she ran for the post to do everything she could to protect incumbents. Some lawmakers even specifically raised the vendor issue last fall during the DCCC race, according to one Democratic source. And Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and other members of leadership have also defended the move.

“We’ve got a policy that the caucus supports, the leadership supports, and it plays the long game,” Bustos said Wednesday when asked if she would reverse course on the new vendor policy. “That’s where things are right now.”

But the issue has clearly touched a nerve within the caucus.

Democrats in the centrist New Democratic faction and more conservative Blue Dog Caucus are pleased with the Illinois Democrat’s show of force against primary challenges. But, tellingly, many did not want to publicly comment on the change for fear of escalating what has the potential to become a civil war.

Progressive Caucus leaders Mark Pocan and Pramila Jayapal have vocally condemned the policy change, calling it “undemocratic” and an effort to “blackball” talented consultants. Donors warned the two leaders that they would stop contributing to DCCC if the policy remained in place.

In a heated meeting with Bustos last week, Pocan, Jayapal and Ro Khanna of California voiced their displeasure. Bustos stood her ground and appeared unwilling to change course. Khanna came out of the meeting angry, vowing to fight the policy until it was nixed.

But in the days since, progressives have shifted tactics, saying they want to keep the debate private, with Khanna saying, “these things take time.”

“We’re having ongoing conversations, but dealing with it in the public is counterproductive,” Pocan said, when asked whether Ocasio-Cortez’s tweets to her 3.8 million followers was helpful. “I’m dealing with it in the responsible way to make sure we get rid of the policy and that means dealing with it within the family.”

Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez told Politico on Wednesday she doesn’t have any additional plans to blast the DCCC on Twitter and said she’s “not sure” whether she is going to pay her member dues to the campaign arm.

Though Pocan and Jayapal insist the conversations are not over with Bustos are not over, the three lawmakers appear to be talking past one another. Bustos said she would ask progressives to “play the long game.”

“If we’re going to be successful as Democrats, and going into 2020 with a very, very fragile majority, we got to be on the same team,” said Bustos, adding that the new policy ensures the DCCC will spend “every cent we can to hang on to our majority and not work against ourselves.”

While running for the DCCC post, Bustos pitched herself as a Democrat with a unique ability to appeal to Trump voters while not shying away from taking on the president. The fourth-term lawmaker hails from a rural district in the northwestern corner of Illinois that Trump won in 2016 even as it reelected Bustos by 20 points.

Only a Democrat as tragically lacking as Hillary could lose that district, which was gerrymandered by the Democratic-controlled state legislature so that Bustos would never lose her seat. Hillary's 1 point loss to Trump brought the PVI down to D+3, hardly the red district the Bustos cheering squad makes it out to be. Obama beat McCain there by a whopping 60.0% to 38.5% and then beat Romney 57.6-40.6%. Last year Bustos beat Republican Bill Fawell 142,659 (62.1%) to 87,090 (37.9%). Politico-- and most House Dems-- are too dull-witted to look into the bullshit Bustos has spewed about her epic battle to win the hicks in Trump country. IL-17 may not have embraced Hillary, but this district was drawn for Democrats, and very successfully so. You want Bustos to teach you how to win in a red district? All she can tell you is to make sure your state legislature gerrymanders the Republicans out of it and into IL-18, where the PVI suddenly shot up from a stable R+11 to a blood red R+16. Easy as pie. Now elect me DCCC chair too.

A former journalist and public relations executive, Bustos first impressed other Democrats as a co-chair of the caucus’ communications arm last cycle. She, along with Reps. Hakeem Jeffries of New York and David Cicilline of Rhode Island, helped craft Democrats’ winning message-- encouraging members to focus on economic issues instead of running solely on an anti-Trump platform.

It worked. Democrats swept back into power in the House, flipping more than 40 GOP seats and electing the largest Democratic freshman class in four decades.

Hey, what can I say? If I was editing Politico, Caygle and Barrón-López would have been looking for new jobs 5 minutes after handing in those 3 sentences of patently ridiculous crap that is either stupendously naive or professionally dishonest. How about something to follow it up with-- like people clamoring for Bustos to lead them to the promised land?

Now Bustos is mentioned as a potential future leader of the caucus when Pelosi and her longtime deputies move on. But much of her future in Democratic leadership hinges on how she navigates her role as DCCC chairwoman-- and whether Democrats hold the House.

A natural and constant friction exists between the DCCC and lawmakers, no matter who holds the post. Members have to pay dues to the campaign arm-- fees that Bustos raised across the board after taking the job. And the DCCC has been criticized for not doing more to defend incumbents from primary challenges in the past.

But Bustos is steering the ship at a unique time: Trump is in the White House, Democrats hold the House majority for the first time in nearly a decade, and there is a new, combative progressive wing on bullhorns as dozens of newly elected moderates fend off claims that they’re “radical socialists.”

“We have 50 different groups, and all of whom are screaming for attention from the DCCC and most of them believe that the DCCC is not responding sufficiently to their desires and requests, which is why I’d never want the job,” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO.), adding of Bustos, “I’ve not experienced her wavering on anything, even the difficult and controversial issues.”

An actual journalist, Alex Kotch, in a piece-- As it Works to Stifle Primary Challengers, DCCC Takes More Money from Corporate Lobbyists-- for a nice, more trustworthy publication than Politico, Sludge reports on issues that challenge the DCCC, rather than by licking it's proverbial ass. He makes the case that corrupt conservatives like Bustos can alienate the DCCC (and Democratic Party?) from grassroots activists, because she, the committee and the party's establishment are in the process of selling themselves to Steny Hoyer's amigos on K Street. What the lobbyists expect in exchange will continue the Democratic Party's downward spiral. The DCCC, he wrote "is relying more heavily on corporate lobbyists to collect checks. Lobbyists whose clients include health care, oil, gas, and coal interests, raised almost $440,000 for the DCCC in January and February, Federal Election Commission records show. Many of their clients oppose progressive priorities like a Medicare for All health-care system or a Green New Deal to mitigate climate change."

The DCCC refused to answer questions about it but Ro Khanna did: "I do not take money from corporations, PACs, or lobbyists. The DCCC should not, either."

In February 2016, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) quietly reversed an Obama-era ban on contributions from federal lobbyists and political action committees. Lobbyists raised roughly $100,000 for the DCCC in 2015-16, before raising close to $1.9 million for the committee during the 2018 election cycle. This year, led by centrist Democratic Rep. Cheri Bustos of Illinois, the DCCC has already received almost as much money via donations bundled by corporate lobbyists than in all of 2017.

While most of the Democratic presidential primary candidates support Medicare for All, and 108 House Democrats have signed on to single-payer legislation, the party’s congressional leaders have resisted calls for sweeping changes to the nation’s health-care system. They have instead pushed for improvements to the Affordable Care Act-- the 2010 health-care law-- and lower drug prices.

I don't think Kotch realized it, but when he was reporting on former California Congressman Vic Fazio, now a notorious lobbyist, he was reporting about not just a former congressman but on a pivotal former chairman of the DCCC. Fazio took over as DCCC head in January of 1991 and served 2 terms until January of 1995. Fazio sucked as DCCC chair. Despite Clinton beating George HW Bush during his first term, the House Dems lost a net of 9 seats. Fazio was rewarded for being so bad with another term, a DCCC tradition. Fazio's second term as DCCC was one of the worst in history for the Democrats and he managed to steer the party into a 5 million vote shortfall, a net loss of 54 seats and the loss of the House. An utter failure, Fazio works for the largest, one of the most notoriously corrupt, lobbying firms in history, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. Fazio's clients include Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the nation’s largest pharmaceutical trade association and Gilead Sciences, a company that has earned billions of dollars from sales of a drug based on government research to prevent HIV infection. So far this cycle-- which is just getting started-- Fazio has raised $73,500 for the DCCC.

Kotch also noted that "While the DCCC is trying to keep its vendors from aiding primary challengers, there has been no such push to prevent its consultants from advising corporate clients, whose goals are" [supposedly or formerly or partially or in a make believe land far away from the Beltway] "often at odds with much of the Democratic Party [albeit not Cheri Bustos' part]. Global Strategy Group, which conducted polls for the DCCC last cycle, has worked with the health insurance lobby AHIP. The firm was also a consultant for the coalition that successfully defeated a single-payer ballot measure in Colorado in 2016." For members like Cheri Bustos, that's a a plus, not a flaw. Similarly, another shady firm progressives are WAY better off without, "SKDKnickerbocker, a media firm that’s worked for the DCCC, has provided public affairs support for controversial corporate mergers like the one between AT&T and Time Warner."

Common Dreams also covered the story better than Politico. Eoin Higgins seems more... like a reporter than the Caygle And Barrón-López. Apparently he wrote his story, a bit of a critique of the dreck Caygle And Barrón-López puked up, without any help from the DCCC comms department. "Framing the vendor policy as a way to ensure the Democrats remain in power in the House moving forward," wrote Higgins, "Bustos said the party needed to concentrate on not working against one another. 'If we're going to be successful as Democrats, and going into 2020 with a very, very fragile majority, [we've] got to be on the same team,' said Bustos."

Rep.  Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, broke her public silence on the vendor decision Thursday morning in response to Bustos's interview with Politico. 'It is not playing games for the Democratic party to be inclusive of all its members perspectives,' Jayapal said in a tweet.  'I have refrained from commenting publicly on this issue until now, but I am extremely disappointed that there is no movement on this issue.' Jayapal also made the case that progressives represent a large section of the Democratic caucus overall and took issue with Bustos' characterizing the CPC as 'the far left.' Gee, it made perfect sense in Politico world.

Higgins also figured that policy concerns are part of this story as well. Imagine that! "The imbroglio over the DCCC's move to undermine primary challenges is not the only evidence of tension between the progressive and centrist factions with the party. On Thursday, Common Dreams reported on another point of conflict between the two sides: attempts by the Democratic Party's centrist wing to water down a $15 minimum wage proposal. 'Being in Congress means leading, and we need to lead on minimum wage,' said Jayapal."

Why Progressives Need To Have Ro Khanna's Back-- RIGHT NOW

As you probably know, Ro Khanna (D-CA) was one of the scores of Democrats in Congress who won a seat in an incumbent-safe blue district by primarying an incumbent. More recently we saw Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) do the same thing. All three have been among the most consequential new members in Congress and each is a living testament to the importance of primaries, particularly in districts where one party vastly outnumbers the other so that primaries are the only source of accountability.

The Democratic establishment reacted with another piece of their incumbent protection scheme, this time threatening to put any operative and consultants out of business if they do any work for Democratic primary challengers. Outrageous? That's the heart and soul of the DCCC, particularly now under the command of Rahm Emanuel protégée Cheri Bustos, a grotesquely corrupt and reactionary Blue Dog/New Dem.

Over the weekend, in response to her new policy, Ro Khanna did something no sitting Democrat-- to my knowledge-- has ever done before-- NOT EVER! He directly went after the chair of the DCCC. He wrote two letters that were sent out by DFA and then Our Revolution, slamming Bustos by name, an unprecedented and courageous move that is sure to cost him dearly.

"I'm asking for your help to stop a horrible DCCC decision," he wrote in the DFA letter. "The DCCC has announced a new policy to penalize vendors and consultants who work with primary challengers. It amounts to a blacklist that significantly weakens the Democratic Party and it's a slap in the face to voters who are sick of the status quo."

Representatives Pramila Jayapal, Mark Pocan, and I met with the DCCC Chair Rep. Cheri Bustos earlier this week to express our outrage and get the decision overturned, but it's clear she needs to hear directly from the grassroots.

The DCCC is paying close attention to the reaction on social media. Will you send a message on Twitter to DCCC Chair Rep. Cheri Bustos calling on her to end this new anti-democratic practice?

...The truth is that Beto O'Rourke, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley or I may not have made it to Congress if the DCCC had these rules in place in previous cycles.

We all won competitive primaries helping to create the most progressive and diverse Democratic caucus in history.

This new DCCC policy would have a chilling effect on new ideas and make it harder to elect new leaders. It would also put us out of step with voters who are tired of D.C. politicians holding on to power at any cost.

The DCCC needs to hear from you! Will you send them a message today?

Thank you for taking action. You have my word that I'll keep working with progressives in Congress to overturn the DCCC decision and prioritize voters and the grassroots.

After the establishment's Crowley debacle last cycle-- and with Pelosi's top lieutenant, Steny Hoyer, facing a primary from progressive activist Mckayla Wilkes-- halting primaries became a top priority for the corrupt, careerist establishment of the party. Bustos would never, never have done this without the explicit approval of Nancy Pelosi (who is also facing a 2020 primary-- this one from Shahid Buttar). Khanna's throwing down the gauntlet is nothing short of breathtaking. No Democrat has ever done anything like this before, at least not in living memory.

Saturday he fired off his second salvo: "The DCCC is trying to keep people like me out of Congress."

There is a dangerous new policy designed to keep progressives out of Congress. The worst part? It's coming from within the Democratic Party.

Cheri Bustos, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's chair for the 2020 election, just enacted a policy to blacklist anyone who works with candidates like me who will challenge an incumbent Democratic to win a seat in Congress. This new plan will strongarm progressive primary challengers out of running for office.

Tell DCCC Chair Cheri Bustos that this anti-democratic policy sends the wrong message to voters across the country. It's designed to protect the Washington establishment and runs contrary to everything the Democratic Party should be fighting for – representing working people.

If the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had its way, I wouldn't be in Congress today. Neither would members like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Talib, Ilhan Omar or any other Democrat who had the guts to take on the party establishment and fight for the working people of their district. If we're being honest, this is the kind of policy protecting the Washington establishment that plays directly into Trump's hands-- which is why we need you to speak up and strongly reject it.

Voters are sick of the status quo, and this slap in the face to grassroots candidates needs to be met by all of us raising our voices and demanding the DCCC reverse this tone-deaf policy. The good news is that we have a strong Congressional Progressive Caucus that is fighting to open up the Democratic Party, but change isn't going to happen if it's just us working from the inside. The DCCC needs to hear your voice too.

Sign the petition telling Cheri Bustos to stop protecting the Washington establishment and let grassroots candidates fight for working people without the fear of backlash. Anything less is a betrayal of our democratic values.

We cannot allow these divisive tactics when we need to be building a unified progressive movement that can bring the political revolution our country so desperately needs. Thank you for taking action.

I'd like to add one further request. Blue America has a page devoted to supporting progressive primary challengers to Blue Dogs, New Dems and other corrupt conservatives. We'll be adding some new candidates very soon but we have a couple of great ones already. Please consider contributing what you can to their campaigns, which are under attack from Cheri Bustos and the DCCC. You can do so by clicking on the ActBlue thermometer on the right. Any amount helps, although I like to recommend $20.20.

Cheri Bustos Truth-- A Guest Post By Illinois-Based Author Devin Hansen

Devin Hansen is best known for his powerful and compelling biography of Illinois Congressman Lane Evans, Guts: The Lane Evans Story, co-founder with Bernie of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Evans was one of the most progressive members of Congress during his 12-term tenure in a Midwestern swing district, IL-17, now represented by reactionary corporatist Cheri Bustos. Unlike Bustos, Evans had the guts to vote his conscience rather than what was politically expedient. Hansen’s book makes the point that Evan's distinguished career is proof that a politician can be truthful and idealistic-- and still win. Below is a Blue America thermometer leading to a page filled with the progressive candidates being blacklisted by Bustos and her sick version of the DCCC. Please consider contributing what you can to these House candidates whose campaigns Bustos is sabotaging. We're very proud to run Devin Hansen's guest post:

Before Rep. Cheri Bustos was elected as head of the DCCC, she was featured in an article by Politico titled "The Secret Weapon Democrats Don’t Know How to Use" (May 12, 2017). A month later the Christian Science Monitor proclaimed she was "A Democrat Who Shows How to Win over Trump Voters."

Indeed. Bustos beat her Republican opponent by 20 points in the 17th District of IL, which also voted for Trump (albeit by less than 1%). She was one of just 11 Democrats to win in a Trump district in 2016.

This helped spring-board Bustos to win leadership of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

But is she really the secret-weapon Democrats were looking for?

As a life-long resident of the 17th District, I’d have to argue no.

The 17th District of IL is NOT Trump territory. The district voted for Democrat presidential candidates from 1992 to 2016. And the Congressional seat has been held by a Democrat for all but four years since 1982, mostly by the late Congressman Lane Evans, who was easily one of the most progressive members of Congress (he started the Congressional Progressive Caucus in 1992 with Bernie Sanders, and was labelled the #1 foe of Ronald Reagan his first year in office).

The one Republican to hold the 17th was Bobby Schilling, who rode the Tea Party wave in 2010 and defeated Lane Evan’s successor, Phil Hare, who had been “coronoated” as the candidate in a special election of Democratic Precinct committeeman. Lane had fallen gravely ill and had to drop out after winning the March Primary. The special election angered many Democrats, so in the mid-term general election Phil received only 85k votes, when Democratic turnout is typically in the 130k range.

In the 2012 election, Bustos benefitted from a freshly gerrymandered district, as well as Obama’s re-election campaign, and ousted Schilling by seven points. The new 17th district was redrawn to include the metro areas of Peoria and Rockford, while avoiding the rural areas which surround them. The result was a district that was 68% Democrat and 32% Republican, yet still considered “purple.” Two years later Bustos beat Schilling by ten points in an election that saw a significant decrease in Republican turnout.

Which brings us to the 2016 election where Donald Trump won the district 47.4 – 46.7%. Who was Bustos’ opponent? The man she beat by 20 points? A fuel-truck driver with a GED and head of the Knox County Tea Party, Patrick Harlan. Harlan raised less than $19,000 dollars and had no support from local nor national Republican leaders. He ran on the same issues as Trump such as the wall and repealing Obamacare. He also said he was “guided by the Holy Spirit” and would govern “based on prayer.” I can remember seeing maybe 5 yard signs for this gentleman.

But what about 2018? When Bustos won by 24 points? That year, her opponent was Bill Fawell, a proclaimed Libertarian whose main campaign promise was to audit the Federal Reserve. The Republican Party pulled all financial and campaign support after Fawell posted to Facebook claiming 9/11 was an inside-job, and the Sandy Hook shooting was a “false flag.” Fawell spent less than $20,000.

Now in 2020, Bustos is facing two under-funded primary challengers, neither of which have much support outside of their hometowns. On the Republican side, Fawell is running again, as is a young lawyer named Joy Ester King, who has an impressive resume, but is seen by local leaders as a sacrificial lamb.

Bustos will once again win this district. Not because she is some great political soothsayer. Not because she has some magic formula to get all Democrats to win in Trump districts. Bustos got lucky. A Democratic banana could win this district.

It’s time to pull back the curtain, lift the DCCC blacklist, and let voters truly decide.


UPDATE: Finally, A Credible Opponent

Last month WCBU reported that Peoria Democrat Spanky Edwards-- saying that voters in IL-17 need another option in the March 2020 primary besides Bustos-- is running. He's president of the Peoria Chapter of the ACLU and the chairman of the Youth Works Committee of the Illinois NAACP.

"My job is to challenge the status quo. Because I feel like the status quo still leaves children hungry. The status quo still leaves black men shot in streets by police officers," he said. "It still leaves poverty for black people. It still leaves the immigration issue with our Hispanic brothers and sisters."

Edwards backs a slate of proposals to create more equity, such as Medicare for All, expanded workforce development training, and raising salaries for police, firefighters, and teachers into the six-figure range.

..."I am just a social justice, poor people's option. She can continue to go and represent, very wealthy people, wealthy Democrats. That's fine. But we need an option. And I am that option," he said. 

This'll be Bustos' first primary challenge to a reelection bid.

Will The Absurd Cheri Bustos Legend Win Her the DCCC Chair?

Republicans aren't the only ones who gerrymander states to create safe partisan majorities for themselves. The Democratic Party-controlled Illinois legislature did the same thing. And one of the congressional seats they carved out in a pretty red area is the 17th district abutting eastern Iowa and southern Wisconsin. The legislators carefully-- and awkwardly-- included Rockford and Peoria to give a Democrat the margin of victory they need. That Democrat is conservative Rahm Emanuel protégée, Cheri Bustos. Bustos' legend paints her as a legend who beats back the Republican hordes in this deep red Trumpist district. Her p.r. avoids mentioning that the district has a D+3 PVI. And, yes, Trump very narrowly beat the feeble status quo Democratic candidate in 2016-- 47.4% to 46.7%, but, as context about this "deep red district," Obama beat McCain 60-38% and Obama beat Romney 58-41%. So... gimme a break about Cheri the Dragon-Slayer.

This cycle Bustos herself beat some hapless Republican conspiracy theory nut-job, Bill Fawell 61.8% to 38.2%. She raised $3,642,480 and he raised $27,167. The GOP spent exactly ZERO on him and she won every county in the district.

For a district this blue, she has a really bad "F" rating from ProgressivePunch (51.44), the worst of any Democrat in Illinois (yes, worse than Brad Schneider and even Dan Lipinski) and hers is the 10th worst voting record for any Democrat in Congress! A few months ago, when she decided to make a play for a leadership role, she quietly "left" the Blue Dogs. She's still in the Wall Street-financed New Dem Caucus.

This cycle she served as co-chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, whose big accomplishment was the slogan "Better Life, Better Wages, Better Pizza," which she feels qualifies her to be DCCC chair, a catastrophe in the making.

Yesterday, reporting for the L.A. Times, Jennifer Haberkorn wrote a clueless publicist-generated puff piece on Bustos, Midwest Democrat with a knack for winning over Trump voters seeks higher role in party leadership. What a joke! In the very first paragraph the hackish Haberkorn refers to her as "an up-and-coming Democratic leader," written for her by Bustos' comms director. The piece made my skin crawl and reminded me why I cancelled by subscription to the L.A> Times when it gave up using real reporters and hired stenographers like Haberkorn.

"He worried," she wrote, "that Democrats want to curtail his gun rights, which she deflected by telling him about her own state-issued gun-permit card and about her husband, a police officer. They bonded over their shared support for unions. By the time the last slice (of DPCC better pizza) was gone, Anthis had agreed to support the local candidate Bustos was there to help, vowing to put a Brendan Kelly pin on his red Make America Great Again hat." Brendan Kelly, Haberkorn neglects to mention, is a putrid Blue Dog like Bustos. Down the page she mentions that he lost an Illinois district that a normal Democrat would have won.

Instead Haberkorn turned in the Bustos propaganda, namely that she that she can parlay her "skill of winning over Trump voters into the upper ranks of House Democratic leadership. While many of her rival leadership aspirants are pitching to the left wing of the party, Bustos is trying to carve a niche closer to the middle-- both politically and geographically." Let me unpack that a little, since there is ZERO chance it is something a dimwit like Haberkorn could ever understand. There are no Bustos rivals pitching left. They are all pitching towards the mushy center of the Democratic mainstream. Bustos' idea of "center" is the center of the whole Congress, which is the Republican territory she feels most comfortable in-- and the extreme right of Democratic territory... just like her voting record.

Bustos says her ability to serve as a sort of Rosetta Stone to better understand Midwestern voters will be vital in helping Democrats keep and expand those wins.

“I know how to do well in really, really tough districts,” she said. “We’re going to have more than 30 Democrats in the House coming from Trump districts, so we just have to figure out how to button these up and hang on to them and grow our margin in 2020.”

Trump districts that were Obama districts that a status quo corporate Democrat like Bustos managed to lose in 2016.

And then the pre-packaged pitch that Bustos tells anyone who will listen to her: she "is the only one of about 18 leadership candidates who doesn’t represent a district along one of the coasts. She is one of only two contenders representing a district won by Trump. And she’s probably the only member of Democratic leadership whose go-to road food while campaigning is an indulgent, heart-clogging ButterBurger from Midwestern fast-food chain Culver’s. Her pitch to Democrats of all stripes is that the party’s majority is fragile. If its political pendulum swings too far to the left in next two years or Democrats are seen as coastal elites, they risk losing in those moderate districts, especially when Trump himself is on the ballot, she said. 'We don’t hang on to that majority by having a Democratic message that is viewed as extreme in rural America or in the heartland,' she said." She's talking about districts that were overwhelming won by Bernie with his populist message that goes right up against her own corrupt corporate approach. Here's some more of the canned messaging from Bustos' comms department that novice reporters are fed:

In an autopsy of Democrats’ losses in the 2016 election, she implored fellow party members to focus on voters’ “economic anxieties” by talking about infrastructure, education and small business, and staying away from social issues.

Bustos represents the resurgence of the kind of Democratic moderate who largely got wiped out of the House in the last several election cycles as Republicans built a majority.

She supports abortion rights but doesn’t lead with the contentious social issue. Her stump speech is big on reducing healthcare and prescription drug costs but doesn’t lean into government-run Medicare-for-all. She had an A- rating from the National Rifle Assn. two years ago, but it dropped to F after she endorsed a series of gun control measures.

Moderate Democrats like Bustos will likely be pivotal to the party’s success in 2020. The Democratic presidential candidate will have to appeal to their voters to have any shot of denying Trump a second term. And in the House, 21 Democrats newly elected in Trump districts will have to figure out how to sustain the Democratic enthusiasm they rallied this year while not angering their Republican or independent voters too much. There are only nine Democrats who won reelection in Trump districts this year.

In the race to become head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Bustos is up against another Democrat who won in a Trump district, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, as well as two Democrats from Washington state, Reps. Dennis Heck and Suzan DelBene. All of them, like Bustos, have worked with the campaign group in prior years.

Pelosi, who is facing her own leadership race, has not put her thumb on the scale in the DCCC contest. But Bustos said Pelosi “has personally said to me and many others” that she wants to see a woman in the job. A Pelosi spokesman declined to comment on a private conversation.

Bustos has a record to tout: She’s helped lead coalitions to recruit candidates, especially women and people in the Midwest. She’s raised or given away $3 million to more than 100 candidates. And she won by the largest margin of any Democrat in a Trump district (although Trump won her district by less than one percentage point).

The campaign arm post is not often seen as ideological. But DCCC leaders have sometimes run into political buzzsaws, such as when abortion rights groups-- including NARAL Pro-Choice America-- criticized them for not requiring all DCCC-backed candidates to support abortion rights.

Bustos declined to weigh in on how she would handle prospective candidates who oppose abortion rights, saying she would deal with the issue if and when it came up.

Do you want someone even worse than Emanuel, Israel and Lujan to run the DCCC further into the ground? Bustos is the one. And, Pelosi, by the way has put her finger on the scale, quietly backing DelBene, not Bustos, the worst of 4 bad candidates. Well... tied for last place with Sean Patrick Maloney.

Republicans Aren't The Only Bad Guys-- This Week's Swampiest Crooks: Andy Cuomo, Cheri Bustos, Joe Crowley

Last week, we looked at a video message from Abigail Disney from the Patriotic Millionaires, talking about-- though not by name-- some extremely bad Democrats in New York: Governor Cuomo and Senate Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, of course + The Long Island 6: legislators Todd Kaminsky, Monica Martinez, Kevin Thomas, James Gaughran, John Brooks and Anna Kaplan. Like the clip above, it's part of their campaign to pass a small tax on the super rich-- just people whose annual income is over $5 million. The purpose was to help bail out cash-strapped public schools that are facing further budget cuts, and the long-neglected subway system which just continues to decline. The 45 second clip above is Morris Pearl, the founder of Patriotic Millionaires, talking about a pervasive culture of corruption that defines Andrew Cuomo's political life. "Who says the acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree? Andrew," my friend Skip Kaltenheuser quipped, "apparently fell during a tornado." Cuomo should be listening to his constituents and not just his rich donors. If he did, he wouldn't be blocking this common-sense legislation to make the lives of everyone in his state better.

Last month, no one even knew who Cheri Bustos is. Then this week, for no particular reason other than she could, she took an old DCCC nod-and-wink policy and formalized it into a rule, a rule that is meant to made it harder for Democratic challengers to primary Democratic incumbents. So now her name is well-known-- as an enemy of the netroots, just like her guru, Rahm Emanuel. Now there will be people digging around in her dirt and finding reasons to drive her out of Democratic politics-- or at least make her a pariah the way her buddy Wasserman Schultz is. This week author and former health insurance industry executive Wendell Potter exposed more of her corruption: Democrats On The Take: New DCCC Chair Is A Bets Friend Of Health Insurers-- How Health Insurance Cash Forms Opinions On Medicare-For-All. This is a very important piece for several reasons, not least of which is that as DCCC chair, she has a great deal of say over continuing to disadvantage progressives who favor Medicare-For-All, while pushing Blue Dogs and New Dems like herself, who are in politics to enrich themselves and to build a career-- not to serve; to self-serve. "Here’s a headline," wrote Potter, "you can bet my former colleagues in the health insurance business were thrilled to see last week: DCCC chief: Medicare for All price tag 'a little scary.' But it's part of a big picture with Bustos at the center since she is, explained Potter "a real pro when it comes to shaking down special interests, health insurers in particular, for the Dems."

That headline topped the lead story in the March 6 edition of The Hill, a newspaper widely read by Congressional staff and lobbyists and others in the influence-peddling business in Washington. You’ll see ads in The Hill by big corporations and special interests you won’t see anywhere else-- like the full-page “we’re-not-a-bad-guy” ad on page 2 by opioid maker Purdue Pharma and the two full-page “we’re-part-of the-solution” ads a bit deeper inside by Eli Lilly.

...I mentioned Bustos in a story I wrote on June 25, the day before Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stunned party honchos with her upset victory over longtime incumbent Joe Crowley in the New York Democratic primary. Crowley, as I pointed out, was one of a handful of House Democrats who received campaign contributions from the political action committees of all five of the biggest for-profit health insurers—Aetna, Anthem, Cigna, Humana and UnitedHealth Group. But Crowley wasn’t those PACs’ favorite Democrat in Congress. That distinction at the time went to none other than Cheri Bustos.

So it came as no surprise to see Bustos pouring a big bucket of ice-cold water on the very idea that Congress would give serious consideration to improving and expanding the Medicare program to cover every American, which polls show a big majority of Democratic voters-- and even a sizable percentage of Republican voters-- favor. When Medicare covers all of us, there will be no need for health insurers as we know them-- and we know them increasingly as barriers to getting the care we need. To delay for as long as possible the day Medicare covers everybody, the insurance industry and its allies are showering Democrats with campaign cash and providing their friends in high places-- including Cheri Bustos-- with talking points designed to scare the daylights out of people.

Bustos and I have a lot in common. We both were journalists in our first career: She was a reporter for the Quad City Times in Davenport, Iowa; I was a reporter for Scripps-Howard newspapers in Tennessee and Washington. She left journalism to go work for a big hospital system in Iowa; I went to work for a big hospital system in Tennessee (and from there to Humana and Cigna). She and I even had the same title at the end of our corporate careers-- Vice President of Corporate Communications-- and we both were paid handsomely. The Quad City Times reported that Bustos was making north of $300,000 when she quit to run for Congress. She took a sizable pay cut when she was sworn into office to represent Illinois’ 17th congressional district in 2013. I took an even deeper pay cut when I left my corporate job and blew the whistle on my former employers. I have written about politicians on the take; she is one of those politicians.

Bustos was a proven fundraiser from the start. Since 2011, when she launched her first campaign, she has raised nearly $13 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Even though she was widely favored to win reelection last year (she beat her Republican opponent by more than 24 points), she still raised $4.5 million, much of which she didn’t need or spend. That big pile of Benjamins was considerably more than the average raised by other House members.

And there’s this: Nearly 85 percent of what her campaign took in came from corporate and special interest PACs and large individual contributions. Less than 13 percent came from small individual contributions.

Most of Bustos’ campaign cash last year came from people who couldn’t even vote for her. Nearly 80 percent came from outside of her district and more than half from out of state. None of the big five for-profit insurers that wrote big checks to her campaign are based in Illinois.

Bustos’ comments in the Hill story came a week after Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) introduced The Medicare for All Act of 2019 with 107 cosponsors, and they tracked with talking points now flooding Washington by the health care industry’s new front group, the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future, which comprises health insurers, drug companies and big hospital systems like the one Bustos used to work for. It was created for the explicit purpose of scaring Democrats away from any Medicare for All legislation.

“What do we have-- 130 million-something Americans who get their health insurance through their work?” Bustos was quoted as saying in the Hill article. “The transition from what we have now to Medicare for all, it’s just hard to conceive how that would work. You have so many jobs attached to the health care industry. I think the $33 trillion price tag for Medicare for all is a little scary.”

Now compare that to the messaging in the Partnership’s first digital ad last month attacking Medicare for All proposals. And note, too, that that “scary” $33 trillion figure-- which, by the way, covers a ten-year-period-- came from a study produced by a think tank funded by the Koch Brothers, two rich guys no one would mistake for Democrats. What Bustos didn’t mention is that even that study, biased as it was, concluded that sticking with our current private insurance driven-system would cost $2 trillion more than Medicare for All. Bottom line: Medicare for All would be a bargain compared to the status quo Bustos, who thrives in the swamp that is Washington, is defending.

Did someone mention Joe Crowley? Since 1990 he's taken $1,730,665. After being ousted by AOC, he promptly got a job as a lobbyist at DC's shadiest firm, Squire Patton Boggs (which is not just unethical but also illegal, albeit never prosecuted). Since he was selling access, he refused to return his VIP government parking pass until last week, almost 3 months after he was forced to vacate his offices. Turn on the lookback machine for a few minutes: