The leader of the feuding Hatfield family, who fears Obamacare will bankrupt the medical careers of his three children, is jumping into politics to help a West Virginia pharmacist win an open House seat and join the GOP effort to repeal the president’s trademark program.
“They’re going to be put of business,” Mark Hatfield said of three children: a pediatrician, a dentist and a pharmacist. “Obama’s destroyed health care,” he told Secrets.
Hatfield, a descendant of one the families in the bloody Hatfield and McCoy rivalry, is supporting Ken Reed, a center-right candidate from Berkeley Springs, W.Va. Reed is one of seven Republicans seeking to replace Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, who is running for the Senate.
Reed owns a handful small town of pharmacies with his wife and joined the race because he fears Obamacare and other federal regulations will put many small businesses and doctors out of business as insurance companies favor larger operations.
“This is no fun,” he said of campaigning. “I just wanted people to leave me alone.”
As he’s campaigned through the sprawling Second District, he’s found people angry at Washington and eager for a local businessman to go to Washington.
“[Reed is] not a politician, he’s a concerned citizen who decided to get involved. I think he would go there and stand up and speak his piece,” said Hatfield, who has been promoting the candidate on his popular Facebook page and in community meetings.
“It’s time for a change. The people really are angry,” said Hatfield, whose 1863-1891 family feud was recently made into a TV miniseries starring Kevin Costner as family patriarch “Devil” Anse Hatfield.
INDIANA’S GOV. MIKE PENCE NUDGED INT0 2016
A growing number of conservatives are calling for Indiana Gov. Mike Pence to consider running for president in 2016, believing that while others claim to be Reaganesque, the former radio host and House GOP leader is the real heir to the throne.
“I really like Pence,” said Gary Bauer, president of American Values, a conservative family group and one-time presidential candidate.
“To many, many conservative leaders, he is the first choice,” said Republican direct-mail fundraiser Richard Viguerie.
Pence has played down talk of a bid, but he raised his profile significantly this month when he took a well-publicized trade mission to Germany.
“To me Pence is the one who is most Reaganesque while being pretty darn conservative,” said Bauer.
OBAMA’S ALOOFNESS THREATENS AGENDA
President Obama‘s refusal to write a fiscal 2015 budget in line with pre-approved spending caps and his team’s take-it-or-leave-it approach with budgeteers and appropriators is angering lawmakers and threatens to undercut his second term agenda — even among Democrats.
Congressional sources said that since Obama submitted his budget, which busts through spending caps on defense, neither he nor his budget advisors have met with key members to spell out the administration’s priorities or wave off cuts to favored projects.
Instead, they feel that Obama is forcing them to be the “bad guys” and make cuts, said an aide to a key Obama ally in Congress. “He’s abdicated his responsibility and now it’s up to us to clean it up.”
Obama’s aloofness has been a sore spot even for Democrats for years, but insiders said it has reached a new height with the 2015 budget.
CLINTON SOUGHT TO HIT GOP OVER IMMIGRATION
Memos just released by former President Bill Clinton‘s library reveal that the administration’s political team schemed to use the immigration issue to defeat Republicans in 1994.
Just months into the new administration, notes were swapped inside White House offices discussing how to use immigration to knock out Republicans in California, Texas, New York and other states.
Concerns among current Republicans that President Obama will use the issue against them have helped to stall progress on immigration reform. The memos provided ammo to Republicans who have warned pro-immigration moderates not to trust the president’s promises to play nice on the issue in exchange for a deal.
POLL: 75 PERCENT OF GOP OPPOSES REDEFINING MARRIAGE
As Republican moderates in Nevada and other states press the GOP establishment to jump aboard the same-sex marriage express, conservatives are fighting back with polling that shows a huge majority want to stick with the man-woman formula.
The WPA Opinion Research poll provided to Secrets found that 82 percent support marriage between a man and woman and 75 percent want politicians to refrain from redefining that traditional definition.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
