Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, targeting a traditional Democratic political base, is getting behind a new effort to bring Indian-Americans into the Republican Party.
He will be the honorary chairman of the “Republican Hindu Coalition,” fashioned after the influential Republican Jewish Coalition, and funded with an initial $2 million from Chicago businessman Shalabh “Shalli” Kumar, of AVG Advanced Technologies, an electronics firm.
Gingrich told the Washington Examiner that like the Jewish group, Kumar’s could give the Republican Party a new inroad to first-generation immigrants that traditionally vote Democratic.
“What Shalli is doing is really making us move towards bringing together people from all over the country, giving them a chance to get involved in politics, and in the process really beginning to give us an opportunity to have a much different Republican Party that’s much broader based,” Gingrich said.
Kumar said he was prompted to form the political group by concerns that President Obama and Democratic leaders are undermining the economic recovery with regulations, and dropping the ball overseas.
“This is the worst presidency, worst for America, the U.S. has ever seen,” Kumar told the Examiner.
And he doesn’t have any hope for a Hillary Clinton presidency either. “She will be ‘Obama-plus,'” he said, adding that the “Clintons in general are driven by personal success rather than success of the country.”
Kumar has long been involved in GOP politics, though he once supported Democrats such as former President Jimmy Carter. Like so many others, he switched after hearing 1980 Carter challenger Ronald Reagan passionately promote free enterprise.
He later befriended Gingrich and the two have a plan to attract 400 founding members to the Republican Hindu Coalition to raise money for GOP candidates and groups, while also convincing Indian-Americans to switch to the Republican Party.
The RHC, which will officially start this fall, will back candidates that will focus on cutting U.S. debt, supporting a strong national security policy against terrorist groups such as the Islamic State, reducing aid to India’s foes like Pakistan, and expanding trade with India. For example, Kumar said he wants to convince U.S. companies to shift manufacturing operations from China to India.
Gingrich said Kumar’s group should help activate Indian-Americans not involved in politics. “A lot of first generation folks feel more comfortable and feel more engaged and more involved if they network with fellow people from their background,” he said.
WEST TURNS GUNS ON ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT
After winning the war to keep the greater sage grouse off the endangered species list, Western governors are now taking on the Endangered Species Act, which they call a failure and economy killer.
The battle, led by Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead, chairman of the Western Governor’s Association, is over Washington’s reluctance to take species off the list after they’ve recovered.
“We can’t get a species delisted,” Mead told the Examiner. “There’s been a lot of listings and only about 1 percent ever get delisted. And 1 percent delisting is a failure. I don’t think the act is working as it should.”
While he heralded the Interior Department for giving the West credit for saving the greater sage grouse, he said Washington also has to recognize that states have helped other listed species, like wolves, recover.
“There’s an extreme opportunity cost that’s lost throughout the states where the species are listed and you can’t get them off,” the governor said. “You wake up one day, [thinking], ‘I can’t build my new municipal school system, I can’t build a housing development, I can’t have this farm and ranch successful. So I think it’s fair to take a look at it.”
NAVAJO NATION REVOLTS, FEELS ‘DISSED’ BY OBAMA, DEMOCRATS
Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye was discussing his disappointment with President Obama when he suggested something radical: “A Navajo Tea Party?”
Probably not, since the 300,000-strong nation regularly votes Democratic. But Begaye said years of being ignored is helping to open the door to Republicans, especially after Obama’s slow reaction to the Environmental Protection Agency’s spill of toxins into the Animas River in Colorado that flows through the nation.
“What happened to the guys that we get behind and vote for, what’s up with the Democrats? It seems like Republicans are really coming forward and making statements and helping us,” Begaye said in an interview.
The secret is respect. “We’re just looking for justice, for people to treat us like human beings, that we do matter, that we do count, and to be treated like they always treated native people over the years is just wrong,” he said.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
