Time to pay the Speaker

You may have heard that a local Congressperson  is looking to have a few fundraisers as she looks at her 2020 renewal of contract. You could bet she's going to be re-elected with 100 percent of the vote, so it's much less of an election than it is just updating the terms of her employment - you know, writing in 2020-2022 where it says 2018-2020 now.  A thinking feller might ask why she'd need money to spend on something she already has, right?

Well, it's a little more complicated than that. You see, when you want to be a player within your party in the House of Representatives, you have to raise some money for said party.  The machine that keeps the power (majority in the house) doesn't run on high-fives and positive vibes.  It runs on money that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) uses to defend current seat holders and support new candidates looking to take seats from the other team.  If you want to stay on top and enjoy the fun of being on top - you have to secure your majority.  That takes money - because campaigns run on money.

Who better than you party members in the House to raise that money?  Those who benefit the most should work the hardest, right?  The Democrats currently have 235 little eager beaver fundraising faces expected to bring Speaker Pelosi and her DCCC the money that will ensure she keeps the gavel.  The better a member does (i.e. raises the most money for the Speaker) the better they are treated when it comes to committee assignments and general everyday life on the Hill.  If you don't hit your mark, you're forced to sit with the science club kids' table at lunch... or end up being shunned to the Veterans Affairs Committee (this committee has almost zero spending power and while Veterans are awesome - the house doesn't have much they can do for them.)

You may remember that Democratic Presidential Primary candidate, second place finisher in the last Texas Senate race and an El Paso Congressman, Beto O'Rourke refused to fundraise for Pelosi and DCCC.  Why? Because he's a selfish jerk!  Just kidding.  Beto made a promise not to take PAC money and when he did that he basically guaranteed he'd never have enough money to pay Pelosi's tax.  I applauded then and I applaud now his moral stability on this issue.  It is very hard to turn down that kind of money that buys you that kind of power.  Beto paid for it by being relegated to lower committees and received no help from the party when announced he was running against Cruz.  There is no free lunch in life or the U.S. political party structure.   And because Beto is pretty much the most amazing campaigner I've ever seen, he raised $80 million for his senate race, which pissed off the Democratic establishment even more... because he didn't share any of it.  In a weird way - if you hate Democrats, you gotta love Beto. 

(For an in depth look at how this all works - https://theintercept.com/2019/09/03/dccc-house-committees-dues/)

Our congressperson is more of a team player and wants a leadership role in the House.  She has a few things going for her that Pelosi likes:

1. Her seat is safe forever - she will never have to leave until she decides to leave.  Leadership hates to put members on great committees only to see them defeated in a primary or a general election. 
   
   
2. She sticks to the party line.  Never have to worry about her saying something Republicanish. 
   
   
3. Has street cred on border issues, Hispanic issues and womens' issues.  You need people in high places that have "authority" on subjects so they can't be challenged by those without such "authority."

What she doesn't have is a lot of money.  Pelosi needs that dough and our congressperson must give it to her.  That's why she's kind of desperate to get some fundraisers together.  And it's tough for her because nobody understands why she needs it because she is unbeatable (election wise.. I think a few of us could take her on the basketball court).  And she can't really tell people that she'll be giving it away to someone else right after you give it to her.  That means she has to take a lot of PAC money.  And that's no bueno in some circumstances because the "woman of the people" image gets a little tarnished when special interests are financing your career in congress. 

If she fails to raise the money then she's on probation and will likely lose the next two years dawdling around a mid-level committee.  At least she can look to the future - she has 30 more years of service in front of her.  She'll get the ship right at some point and maybe you'll be alive to see it. 

 

Comments

[Max Powers]

Her other problem is Texas...not because of the Republicans.

There’s just too many CongressXs in Texas.

36 CongressXs out of 435. That number will more than likely increase after the next census.

There are 31 Texas State Senators. Investing in one brings a better return.

As does investing in US Senators.

Love,

Max

[Puto Ojourke]

Bayto did take PAC money out of California. Z-street or something like that.