Liberal activists aligned with New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are pushing to oust a House committee chairman who they say needlessly delayed Democrats’ push to gain access to President Trump’s tax returns.
Rep. Richard Neal, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, faces a Sept. 1 Democratic primary challenge from Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse in his Springfield, Massachusetts-based district. Morse is aligned with the far-left Justice Democrats, most famous for helping Ocasio-Cortez beat a member of the House Democratic leadership in her 2018 primary for a Bronx- and Queen-based New York seat.
Justice Democrats aim to send a message to party leaders about the perils of tacking too far to the center and ignoring its activist liberal base.
Justice Democrats already on the cusp of a major victory for 2020 in New York’s 16th District, taking in the northern tier of the Bronx and parts of Westchester County. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, first elected in 1988, is behind in the Democratic primary against middle school principal, Jamaal Bowman. The June 23 race has not been called yet due to swaths of outstanding absentee and mail-in ballots, but Engel would have to win an overwhelming amount to claw his way back.
In Neal’s race, liberals’ anger stems not only from what they call his ideological impurity but tactical errors in dealing with Trump. Justice Democrats and allies on the Left fault Neal for failing to move more swiftly to obtain access to Trump’s financial records after he became Ways and Means Committee chairman in January 2019, following the Democratic wave election two months earlier that gave the party its first majority in eight years.
The issue returned to public view on Thursday with a pair of Supreme Court decisions regarding efforts to compel disclosure of Trump’s financial information. The court cleared the way for New York City prosecutors to seek the documents. But in a separate decision, it ruled Congress could not, at least for now, see many of the same records. The ruling means that it will be likely months, if not years, before Democrats can release those documents to the public.
The president and his allies saw the ruling as a major victory.
“Well, the rulings were basically starting all over again, sending everything back down to the lower courts, and you start all over again. So, from a certain point, I’m satisfied. From another point, I’m not satisfied because, frankly, this is a political witch hunt, the likes of which nobody has ever seen before,” Trump said in his first reaction to the ruling. “It’s a pure witch hunt. It’s a hoax, just like the Mueller investigation was a hoax that I won. And this is another hoax. This is purely political.”
It’s that sort of reaction that grates on liberals about Neal’s efforts to seek the Trump financial documents, as head of the House’s tax-writing committee. Neal’s decision to wait months before eventually suing the federal government for the documents has some on the Left wondering if that allowed the court to easily duck responsibility on ruling for either side definitively so close to an election.
Investigative journalist Zach Everson in a tweet laid the blame at Neal’s feet, particularly his legal tactics against Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, would Democrats say is required under law to produce Trump’s tax returns if Congress requests.
“1. @RepRichardNeal waited 4 months to request @realDonaldTrump‘s tax returns,” Everson wrote. “2. When Treasury missed deadline, Neal gave an extension. 3. After Mnuchin refused to comply with a subpoena, Neal waited 5 weeks to sue.”
Many on the Left have long been suspicious of Neal, who opposes “Medicare for all” and other left-wing policies. Following the Supreme Court’s decision, Morse blasted Neal’s handling of the case.
“What good is Richie Neal’s power in Congress if even Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch are doing more work to hold Trump accountable than he is,” Morse said at a press conference. “A real Democrat would have subpoenaed Trump’s taxes on day one, instead of delaying because he was more focused on cozying up to his Republican colleagues for votes on a bill to help his corporate donors.”
Despite the heat from liberals, Neal is still favored to win reelection in the fall. According to last quarter’s FEC filings, Neal has $4.5 million on hand compared to Morse’s $139,718.
