DSCC - Politico - Hodes zeroes in on Ayotte e-mails

Politico - Hodes zeroes in on Ayotte e-mails

By: David Catanese

October 12, 2010

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/43466.html

With polls showing him finally closing within single digits in the New Hampshire Senate contest, Rep. Paul Hodes is returning to a familiar target in his race against Republican Kelly Ayotte: her e-mail account.

Hodes is seizing on an e-mail exchange between Ayotte and her political adviser Rob Varsalone four years ago that he says shows their politicization of a murder case as they discussed her Senate ambitions.

In an initial e-mail with the subject line, “Get Ready to Run,” Varsalone explains to Ayotte the political landscape in the Granite State’s 2nd Congressional District, predicting that Rep. Charlie Bass would likely lose to Hodes.

“Have you been following the last 2 weeks?,” Ayotte responded to Varsalone on Oct. 27, 2006. “A police officer was killed and I announced that I would seek the death penalty?”

Replying the next morning to Ayotte’s state e-mail account, Varsalone wrote, “I know, I read about it. Where does AG Ayotte stand on the Death Penalty? BY THE SWITCH.”

Hodes brought up the e-mail exchange in a debate with Ayotte Monday, and asked whether she thought it was wrong to discuss the death of Manchester police officer Michael Briggs in a political context.

Ayotte said she handled the case with the “utmost integrity” and explained that deciding whether to seek the death penalty in the case of a police officer was one of the most serious decisions she ever made as attorney general.

“E-mails that were sent back and forth from someone who I have known for a long time, who is a friend, who I don’t necessarily agree with everything he wrote in the e-mail, but I can tell you that to me, the 30,000 e-mails that were produced of the time that I have served as attorney general, I’m proud of my record as attorney general,” she said. “I take my duties very seriously, and only base my decisions on the facts of the case, and feel that the appropriate thing to do in that case was how that case was pursued.”

In a post-debate appearance on MSNBC’s “Hardball,” Hodes said it was “stunning” that Ayotte would attempt to use the case of a fallen police officer to further her political ambitions.

“She wasn’t above using a murder case and a death penalty case as a springboard for her personal, political ambitions,” he said. “This is cold, this is ruthless, this is a politician who’s planning to run for years and wants the people of New Hampshire to believe she’s something else.”

The Hodes campaign, which is calling on Ayotte to remove Varsalone from her campaign and plans to continue to hammer the issue, contends the e-mails are even more relevant because Ayotte uses the death penalty case in her television ads to promote her candidacy.

“Justice was done. And Kelly’s the one who did it,” says Briggs’s mother, Maryann Briggs, in an ad that ran in August.

Earlier this summer, the Hodes campaign attempted to make an issue out of other Ayotte e-mails related to Financial Resources Mortgage (FRM), accusing her of failing to detect large-scale fraud involving the company. An open records request for Ayotte’s e-mails and calendars related to the case proved unsuccessful because much of the records were deleted. The legality of deleting e-mails in the state attorney general’s office is now the subject of a state lawsuit.

A Rasmussen Reports survey of 750 likely voters released Monday showed Ayotte holding a 7-point lead over Hodes.

DSCC - HOTLINE: NRSC Faces New Attacks Over Support

Hotline On Call: NRSC Faces New Attacks Over Support

Reid Wilson

December 15, 2009

http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2009/12/nrsc_faces_new.php#more

Being endorsed by the NRSC is becoming akin to the mark of the beast, and conservative activists have found new reason to cry foul at Sen. John Cornyn's (R-TX) committee.

The NRSC has set up joint fundraising accounts with several candidates, generating attacks from others within the GOP who say DC should not be dictating who makes it through tough primaries. The committees, they say, show clear favoritism for one candidate over another.

In NH, an advisor to atty Ovide Lamontagne (R) blasted the NRSC for setting up a joint fundraising committee with ex-AG Kelly Ayotte (R). In CA, Assemb. Chuck DeVore (R) is getting help from conservative blog RedState over a similar account the NRSC set up with ex-HP CEO Carly Fiorina (R). And another joint account that will partially benefit KY Sec/State Trey Grayson (R) will anger backers of ophthamologist Rand Paul (R).

The NRSC has also set up joint committees with Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL), ex-NV GOP chair Sue Lowden (R), Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO), ex-Rep./ex-OMB dir. Rob Portman (R-OH) and ex-Rep. Pat Toomey (R-PA). All but Toomey have rivals in the GOP primary, but all except Lowden are front-runners by wide margins. Lowden has yet to lock down a healthy lead since entering her race.

These are the latest flare ups in an ongoing war between grassroots activists and the GOP's professional class. The NRSC has only explicitly endorsed 1 candidate -- FL Gov. Charlie Crist (R) -- but other candidates have fled from any notion of DC-based backing.

Establishing a joint fundraising committee does not legally bind the candidate and the NRSC in any way. The NRSC can, and has offered to, set up a joint committee with multiple candidates in the same race. In fact, in some ways, setting up a joint committee is better for the NRSC than for the candidate -- if an individual has maxed out to a candidate, their check to the joint committee will be directed to the NRSC, thanks to personal contribution limits.

The NRSC is not bound by any of the agreements to spend the money in certain states, either. The party has also set up joint accounts with Sens. Richard Burr (R-NC), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and David Vitter (R-LA). Murkowski and Coburn are unlikely to face serious opposition next year, while Grassley and Vitter are running far ahead of their rivals.

But national GOPers clearly do favor some candidates over others. NRSC chair Cornyn and other top GOP senators held a fundraiser for Ayotte on 9/22; for Grayson 9/23; and for Fiorina 11/17. And the fact that the party has established the joint committees with those candidates and not with others suggests the NRSC is willing to work closely with them.

Since when is an endorsement something to be shunned? GOP sources and those in the blogosphere point to the NRSC's early endorsement of Crist, which they said was more than activists could stomach. Cornyn is no centrist, but backing Crist, who is disliked among most conservative activists in DC and FL, hurt his standing among the blogging class.

The joint accounts can help the non-establishment candidates too, according to one advisor to an outsider.

"If a candidate already is perceived as a creation of the DC Establishment, ... then becoming even more indebted to the DC powerbrokers by setting up a JFC is just going to energize the base for your anti-establishment opponent," the advisor wrote in an email.

Meanwhile, the NRCC, which spent hundreds of thousands of dollars backing liberal Assemb. Dede Scozzafava (R) in NY-23, has not taken the same punches as its Senate counterpart. After Scozzafava was forced out of the race by conservative activists, the NRCC spent weeks bolstering its outreach to conservatives in hopes of avoiding similar assaults.

Few have criticized the DSCC for similar intervention into their party's primary. The DSCC has joint accounts set up with Sens. Harry Reid (D-NV), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Arlen Specter (D-PA), as well as with MO Sec/State Robin Carnahan (D). Only Bennet and Specter face primary challengers at the moment.

DSCC - Chuck Todd on NRSC "neutrality"

Chuck Todd: How can NRSC claim neutrality in Sen primaries when they open up joint fndrsing cmtes w/their 1st choice recruits?

http://twitter.com/chucktodd/status/6696834671.

NRSC Links Up with Fiorina for Fundraising

By Emily Cadei

December 14, 2009

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/eyeon2010/2009/12/nrsc-links-up-with-fiorina-for.html

The National Republican Senatorial Committee is not officially taking sides in the California Senate primary, but that hasn't stopped it from forming a joint fundraising committee with Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, one of two candidates vying to take on Sen. Barbara Boxer (D).

The NRSC and the Fiorina campaign joined forces to form the Fiorina Victory Committee, according to paperwork filed with the Federal Election Commission on Dec. 4. The committee allows the party and Fiorina to split funds raised via joint events or appeals.

The NRSC has not endorsed a candidate in the primary race between Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett Packard, and conservative state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, but it has been at odds with the DeVore campaign over its perceived favoritism of Fiorina. As a result, DeVore questioned the "utility in further outreach" to the committee, a DeVore spokesman told CQ-Roll Call in October.

The national party also tapped Fiorina to give the weekly Republican radio address Dec. 5.

The NRSC told CQ-Roll Call it is "willing to conduct joint fundraising events with virtually any Republican candidate who asks, provided they have the potential to help the Committee raise money in addition to their own campaigns."

The party has also filed the paperwork for a fundraising committee with Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Trey Grayson of Kentucky, both of whom have contested primaries.

UPDATE: DeVore spokesman Joshua Trevino said the NRSC-Fiorina fundraising effort is "more of the same" of the committee actively providing resources for the Fiorina campaign and only passively providing them to DeVore.

Trevino said the campaign "put in a request last week for a one-on-one meeting" between DeVore and NRSC Chairman Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), but he confirmed that the campaign has not inquired into joint fundraising. "It does not make sense to us to jointly fundraise with an organization that is supporting our opponent," he said.

CQ Politics rates the general election contest in the California Senate race Safe Democratic, the New Hampshire Senate Race a Toss Up and the Kentucky Senate race a Toss Up.

DSCC - Redhampshire: NRSC Sets up Joint Fundraising Committee For Ayotte; Team Ovide Pounces

December 14, 2009Matt Suermann

http://www.redhampshire.com/nrsc-sets-up-joint-fundraising-committee-for-ayotte/

James Pindell over at  NH Political Report has the scoop that Team Ayotte will once again be getting an assist from the NRSC when it comes to fundraising.  According to Pindell the joint committee, was set up as a joint fundraising committee along with Trey Greyson, current Kentucky Secretary of State.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee officially is not endorsing Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kelly Ayotte in her primary, but they did form a joint fund-raising committee with her and two other Senate candidates facing primaries.

The “Ayotte Grayson Victory Committee” will distribute money three ways: to Ayotte’s campaign, the NRSC, and Kentucky Senate candidate Trey Grayson, who faces a primary against Ron Paul’s son.

Of course officially, the NRSC has not endorsed Ayotte in the race and passed along the following statement reiterating that position.  They also previously hosted a fundraiser for Ayotte at their DC offices.

“The NRSC is willing to set up joint fundraising agreements with any of the Republican Senate candidates who are interested in doing so. These committees do not in any way indicate an endorsement from the NRSC, and as Senator Cornyn has stated, the NRSC will not spend money in any of the 2010 primary races,” said Amber Wilkerson Marchand.

Pindell also has a statement from Team Ovide courtesy of Jim Merrill, advisor to Ovide Lamontagne’s campaign.

“The creation by the NRSC of the ‘Ayotte Grayson Victory Committee’ once again shows how clearly the NRSC has anointed Kelly Ayotte as their preferred pick for Senate in New Hampshire, just as they have anointed Charlie Crist, Carly Fiorina and even Arlen Specter before he left the Republican Party. The facts are clear that, whether through hosting multiple fundraisers for the Ayotte campaign, deploying their Associate Political Director to work fulltime for the Ayotte campaign, Chairman Cornyn’s PAC making a maximum $10,000 contribution to the Ayotte campaign, or this joint NRSC/Ayotte fundraising venture, the NRSC and its leadership have picked sides in our New Hampshire primary. The NRSC would do well to recall the advice given to them in a Union Leader editorial earlier this year: ‘The party bosses in D.C. think they know better than the locals how to pick winning candidates. They don’t. They should butt out and let the people who actually live here decide.’ Regardless, Ovide will continue to focus every day on earning the endorsement of the voters of New Hampshire, and not the Washington establishment.”

I’m guessing this will be a narrative going forward in the Senate primary and should be an interesting distinction that will most likely be brought up in the conversation going forward.  Does this also signal an Ovide camp that will be a little more vocal in drawing contrasts with their opponents?  Of course the other question is, would Ovide, or other Senate candidates, consider joining the NRSC program in the future?

DSCC - Red State: Ayotte "establishment candidate... must be beaten"

Fiorina, Ayotte, and Grayson become establishment candidates. That means they must all three be beaten.

Red State: Despite Claiming Otherwise, the NRSC Endorses Carly Fiorina

Erick Erickson

December 14, 2009

http://www.redstate.com/erick/2009/12/14/despite-claiming-otherwise-the-nrsc-endorses-carly-fiorinaeye-on-2010-nrsc-links-up-with-fiorina-for-fundraising/

Fiorina, Ayotte, and Grayson become establishment candidates. That means they must all three be beaten.

I realize we’re playing adolescent word games with the NRSC when it comes to Carly Fiorina. Just last week, John Cornyn said the NRSC would not be endorsing anyone, including Carly Fiorina.

Reconciling that with the fact that the NRSC is entering into a joint fundraising venture with Fiorina is impossible.

The NRSC and the Fiorina campaign joined forces to form the Fiorina Victory Committee, according to paperwork filed with the Federal Election Commission on Dec. 4. The committee allows the party and Fiorina to split funds raised via joint events or appeals.

The CQ article says a few times that the NRSC has not endorsed Fiorina, but that is like Bill Clinton saying he “did not have sexual relations with that woman.” In fact, the NRSC is fully in bed with Fiorina.

Inevitably though, what the NRSC does in response is what they did with CQ.

The NRSC told CQ-Roll Call it is “willing to conduct joint fundraising events with virtually any Republican candidate who asks, provided they have the potential to help the Committee raise money in addition to their own campaigns.”

Of course, what they did not tell CQ is that they really have no intention of doing that. Take Chuck DeVore for example. He has tried a half dozen times to meet with John Cornyn, but has been rebuffed each time. In fact, Cornyn said last week he would love to meet with DeVore, but failed to mention his staff has rebuffed every single offer to meet by the DeVore campaign.

The NRSC cannot keep having it both ways. The Washington punditocracy may buy into the “we have not endorsed anyone” horse hockey, but the rest of us know that line is no better than Clinton’s denial of sex with Lewinsky.

No one is genuinely buying it.