NH INSIDER

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.

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.

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?

WASHINGTON – As a result of their political party’s out-of-control 2009 spending spree, U.S. Representative Paul Hodes (D-NH) and Democrat leaders are reportedly planning to use a spending bill that includes critical funding for America’s troops as a political tool to raise the federal debt ceiling by $1.8 trillion.

According to the Washington Post this weekend, “House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said Friday that leaders were planning to raise the nation’s credit limit by at least $1.8 trillion, a much larger increase than Democrats had contemplated earlier this year.”

Politico recently reported that the Democrats will likely use “a pending $636.4 billion Pentagon appropriations bill that includes $128.3 in contingency funds for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan” as a vehicle to increase the debt limit.

 “As they struggle to pay for their reckless spending habits, it’s not surprising that Paul Hodes and Washington Democrats are seeking to hide a substantial increase in the national debt limit,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokeswoman Amber Wilkerson Marchand. “However, Hodes and the Democrats should not use a piece of legislation that directly impacts our troops in harm’s way as a vehicle to disguise this controversial debate from the American people.”

According to Politico, Democrat leadership is anxious to pass the debt limit before New Year’s to avoid making their vulnerable incumbents face the issue leading up to the 2010 midterm elections.

 “Our troops deserve better from their elected officials – especially during a time of war. It is absolutely shameful that Hodes and the Democrats would use our men and women in uniform as political cover from their unpopular initiatives, and they will be forced to explain their maneuvering to the American people next November,” Wilkerson Marchand concluded.



Pelosi’s Poodle Paves The Way For Democrats’ Next Failed Spending Bill

WASHINGTON – In an important vote in the House of Representatives today, U.S. Representative Paul Hodes (D-NH) voted with Democrat Party leaders against a motion that would have permanently ended the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and used the money to pay down the national debt.

Hodes’ vote comes days after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi endorsed the idea of using TARP money to pay for a second “stimulus” bill less than one year after passing their first failed $787 billion bill.

“Instead of standing up for New Hampshire taxpayers and preventing another failed spending bill, Paul Hodes fell right in line with Democrat leaders anxious to continue their tax-and-spend ways,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokeswoman Amber Wilkerson Marchand.

 “Paul Hodes’ votes for the Democrats’ bloated budget, the $787 billion stimulus bill, and most recently, the massive government health care takeover have pushed our nation’s deficit to record levels,” Marchand continued. “But when he was given the opportunity today to end this out-of-control spending spree, Hodes instead fell in line with Nancy Pelosi once again.”

 “As he seeks a promotion to the U.S. Senate, there’s no doubt that Hodes’ continued votes for the Democrats’ reckless fiscal policies will be a major issue when the Granite State’s fiscally conservative voters cast their ballots in November,” Marchand concluded.