The Republican Main Street Partnership has emerged as an outspoken, deep-pocketed player in pro-business GOP plans to beat back tea-party challengers next year. But the group’s new super PAC has an unexpected source for its seed money: labor unions.
The super PAC, called Defending Main Street, has not yet submitted a major donor disclosure to the Federal Election Commission. But documents filed by other groups show that two labor organizations, the International Union of Operating Engineers and the Laborers’ International Union of North America, directed a combined $400,000 to the Republican group in September and October.
Main Street says it has raised roughly $2 million total between its super PAC and an affiliated nonprofit group so far—and that means labor has supplied at least 20 percent of those funds.
For the unions, this is not a surprising move. While both labor groups direct most of their millions to Democrats, they have consistently given smaller amounts to friendly Republicans.
But the scale of these six-figure donations—$250,000 from the Operating Engineers and $150,000 from LIUNA—makes this effort distinct. Plus, the money is coming as the Main Street group has been publicly declaring its intent to crush tea-party challengers in Republican primaries, going head to head with conservative bankrollers such as the anti-tax Club for Growth.
“Hopefully, we’ll go into eight to 10 races and beat the snot out of them,” Main Street President Steven LaTourette told National Journal in October.
[…]
The Operating Engineers’ PAC has given 23 percent of its donations to federal candidates to Republicans this year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, and it supported a super PAC called “Lunch Pail Republicans” last year. At the AFL-CIO’s national convention in September, the Operating Engineers and another group offered a successful resolution urging “that the AFL-CIO take practical steps … to cultivate and nurture relationships with members of all parties” and “encourage moderate candidates” in Republican-leaning congressional districts as part of a “pragmatic, bipartisan approach” to its political giving and advocacy.
“Especially with this crazy political atmosphere, this is a place where we need to be lending support to middle-of-the-road Democrats and Republicans both, and this is part of that effort,” Jeffrey Soth, the Operating Engineers’ political director, said.
Defending Main Street will file its next financial disclosure with the FEC in January.
But remember: just vote for more Republicans and all will be well. In fact, that’s the only way to affect change in DC. Except when it isn’t. Because they’re very much the same as Big Government Democrats, and they care more about their own power — and preserving it and the perks that come along with it — than they do about representing their base. The Republican Party as an institution, in face, doesn’t even have a base any longer. It just has people who — less and less — vote for them as a compromise in order to try to keep open leftists out of office.
And don’t think for a second this isn’t a canny move by the establishment. Because they have figured the new calculus and they are betting more disaffected Dems will be willing to vote for Rs who act like traditional Dems (the “middle-of-the-road” squishes whose government strategy is to lose more slowly) then they’ll lose by alienating their base, who really has one of two choices, in the mind of the Party kingmakers: vote for the lesser of two evils or stay home. And if you stay at home, it’s a win-win for big government, which we much prefer over Reaganism, which literally takes away the very power politicians of both parties have granted themselves.
It’s cynical. It’s not representative government. And it’s why I sincerely hope that this attack on its base by the GOP ends up destroying the Party so that it can rebuild through principle, experience, and a coherent governing philosophy that moves beyond the mere tactics of winning elections.
Karl Rove needs to be wrapped up in his white board and launched into space like some fat, unpalatable burrito whose sell-by date was roughly the last time anyone not completely delusional considered Jeb Bush a legitimate GOP candidate for President.
The fact that Rove and other RINOs have now shown they’ll partner with leftists like the Facebook founder, or hire pro-amnesty consultants to help them develop a narrative to demonize and shame the conservative base, is proof positive that we live in the very system I’ve been noting for years now: a two party system, to be sure, but not in the traditional sense. Instead, it’s the ruling class vs the rest of us, and the rest of us don’t have more than a handful of people in DC to speak for us, and when they do they are cut off at the knees by their own party.
It’s time to go through the states and re-establish constitutional government. Just as we have never suffered from linguistic fatalism — we’ve simply come to believe we have, because our politicians are more cowards than they are fighters — there is no inevitability to the final destruction and deconstruction of the Constitution, whereby it winds up providing cosmetic cover for leftist liberal fascism and velvet-gloved police state tyranny.
We just need to fight. And if we can’t negotiate the obstacles to removing them from entrenched power DC that the national politicians and their various client groups and cronies have erected, then we take a different path toward neutering the selfish and self-serving bastards.
It really is that simple.
(h/t JohninFirestone)
Liz Cheney threw in the towel so one more Establican down. And out.
It struck me as a bit sad to see Gov. Walker too lives inside the bubble. Ah well, the hard lessons evidently will simply have to be learned through suffering.
Mike Enzi will be so relieved to hear that.
will simply have to be learned through suffering.
I’ve no doubt this year will bring the pain, sdferr.
Honestly, Ernst it is a distinction without a difference. Enzi is not reviled and Cheney wasn’t bringing anything to the table.
Possibly not this year leigh, though who knows?
But suppose for a moment that people disregard Gov. Walker’s advice to focus on the democrat opposition rather than focus on replacing miserable incumbent GOPers in the primaries, and the people then on election day resort either to voting in democrats rather than re-elect lousy GOP incumbents, or not casting a vote at all, resulting in much the same thing — a democrat replacing the GOP incumbent — then the actual suffering Gov. Walker would need in order to understand his misapprehension of the mood of the conservatives would only come after the too large number of democrats coming into office next year gets to enact more stupid law and boost more stupid regulation? That scenario would tend to show that Gov. Walker learned nothing from the reelection of the ClownDisaster, which again, is sad.
that whole Main Street thing is Meghan’s coward daddy’s baby
#theydidsomethingtohisbrain
#howcouldtheydosomethingtohisbrainwhenhehasnobrain
That right there is what you might call a leitmotif.
Perhaps even the leitmotif for the whole political establishment, regardless of party.
Scott Walker: From hero to goat in a one (or is it two?) short seasons. I agree, he appears to have learned nothing from Jugears reelection. Does he have presidential aspirations? Is he casting himself as moderate?
Perhaps even the leitmotif for the whole political establishment, regardless of party.
Quite so.
“Maybe,” and “probably,” in reverse of the order asked. Which might suggest that he’s drawn a different set of conclusions from 2012 than you or I.
Sadly some good and seemingly intelligent people seem destined to never learn that Lucy always pulls the football back.
The trick is learning who are the deluded, and who are operatives, not that either should be agreed with.
that Lucy is a nasty piece of work
Probably the daughter of a Republican, given Charlie’s predilections — but without question, a scion of Machiavelli.
herrrrrrres johny
Boehner Heeds GOP Consultants, Embraces Caution, Immigration Reform
Boehner embraces caution? My whole concept of Weepy has been shaken!
I need to go lie down.
TPP Article V Symposium, a Discussion on an Amending Convention of the States
Lots of problems with the Article V Amendment crowd, some they know about, some they don’t. The push itself might provoke the changes sought without actually reaching the Amendment stage, but demanding a Convention is not the proper solution at this point.
It’s like demanding a second opinion after already being diagnosed with cancer and having had a lung removed. This country is too far gone to think that some new cosmetics and a day on the beach will help.
The nullification crowd and constitutional convention crowd are crossing swords.
Nullification is asking for respect. CC crowd, cries “Morons!”
I need to orchestrate a beer summit, tout de suite.
The biggest problem with demanding an Article V Convention is that it will be the Federal Government functionaries who will get to set the time, date, agenda and membership of such convention. There is nothing in the Constitution that says that the States have ANY authority in the process other than kicking it off and approving (or not) the end result. The second major issue is that it must be the legislatures who request the convention, not through popular referendum or Voter Initiative.
Nullification also has very little ground on which to stand, given that Article VI, Paragraph 2 almost explicitly precludes such efforts.
In my House district, MI-3, there is a primary challenge being mounted by a Brian Ellis against the Republican incumbent Justin Amash. Ellis in his ads comes off as if he is “tea party” but he is being backed in Michigan by GOP business interests in Grand Rapids and by a PAC, “The Defending Main Street PAC” which is a subsidiary of “The Republican Main Street Partnership.”
Amash has been a thorn in the side of the GOP establishment the past two years. He is more libertarian that tea party but has done a good job IMHO and is very open about every vote he makes and just why he voted the way he did. Ellis doesn’t seem to think that is a good thing. From the links above.
Constitution? For Ellis it’s “Not my job man” and “Above my pay grade” too.
“The courts will fix it” is how we got The McCain-Feingold incumbency protection act, and the We Control the Very Air You Exhale agency.
To say nothing of the Department of All Your Medical information Belongs to Us.
I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that we’ve got another example here of how loyalty is a one way street with Karl Rove and his ilk.
My favorite line from Scott Walker is this:
“…elect new (establishment) Republicans because a year from now things will be much different if Republicans hold the United States Senate.”
That’s funny, I don’t recall a lot of conservative principles in action the last time Republicans held the Senate (see Medicare, Part D and TARP for starters).
Shorter Walker: “Please elect Republicans because this time we really, really, really mean it”.
Sorry, NO SALE.
Republicans would have to have veto proof majorities in both chambers before Harry Reid didn’t control the Senate.
And even then, he’d act like he did, the media would treat him like he did, and so, where McConnell will be concerned, he in fact would.
And even then, he’d act like he did, the media would treat him like he did, and so, where McConnell will be concerned, he in fact would.
Is that a disparagement of Mitch “Iron Man” McConnell? Say it isn’t so!
Alas, he’s rusted away in the constant shower of Boehner’s tears.
tears of a clown news
GOP LEADERSHIP: BENGHAZI VICTIMS’ FAMILIES ‘ABSURD AND INACCURATE’ IN SELECT COMMITTEE DEMAND
BREAKING: Judge Rules Chicago’s Ban on Gun Sales Unconstitutional