This week, Congress will consider whether to eliminate limits on coordinated campaign spending for both major political parties. This might sound like an expansion of freedom. It is actually a crass power-grab by the establishments of both political parties.
The measure has been attached as a rider to the must-pass omnibus spending bill. It would allow the Democratic and Republican parties to legally coordinate and spend unlimited dollars on their hand-picked nominees or preferred candidates in primaries at any time.
On its face, this may sound like a reasonable extension of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United, which allows “independent political expenditures by non-profit corporations.” That decision, based on our First Amendment, made sense. But that’s not what’s happening here, because no other entities are being given this privilege.
This is a ham-fisted attempt by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to make himself and other party leaders the most powerful people in Washington. If this rider is enacted, the party establishment will be able to dictate to candidates and sitting senators with unlimited financial authority. They would be able to hammer anyone who ever opposed them. Worst of all, if this rider goes through, it will give the GOP establishment a massive strategic advantage to support their handpicked candidates.
We have some history with this in Colorado. In 2010, McConnell and the NRSC decided they did not want Ken Buck as the GOP nominee in Colorado, so they spent coordinated money attacking him in the primary. Buck won the primary, but the NRSC’s attacks hurt him badly, arguably costing him the general election.
As a conservative, I’m all for raising spending limits. I am all for more speech. But while I believe that these coordination rules are completely silly, what is good for the goose should be good for the gander. If the National Republican Senatorial Committee can coordinate with their establishment picks in primaries, then multi-candidate PACs that are subject to strict contribution limits should be able to coordinate with conservative insurgents as well. Let’s remember: if McConnell and the GOP establishment had their way, Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Pat Toomey, Marco Rubio and Ben Sasse would never have been senators. They’d have been perfectly happy to stick us with Charlie Crist, Arlen Specter, and all the rest.
Today, the base of the Republican Party is calling for a different type of individual to drive the bus. We want a different kind of leadership, and that requires nominating different kinds of candidates from what the establishment in Washington wants for us.
The fact that McConnell is using a must-pass spending bill to expand his power base at a time when he should be focused on repealing and replacing Obamacare, stopping President Obama’s executive amnesty, and pausing the Syrian refugee program is outrageous.
McConnell seems to have missed an important lesson recently: Conservatives got rid of Speaker John Boehner for behavior like this.
Robert Blaha is the Vice-Chairman of Integrity Bank and Trust in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions.
