December 12, 2005

RI Senate '06

Club For Growth Endorses Laffey

Marc Comtois

Club For Growth President Pat Toomey--who knows a little something about taking on a moderate Republican incumbent--has an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal in which he reveals that his organization has officially endorsed Steve Laffey for the RI GOP Senate primary.

[Ronald] Reagan helped define the mission of the Republican Party. By re-establishing limited government as the central principle of the GOP, he laid the groundwork for the political revolution that bears his name. Almost 30 years later, the Republican Party is at a similar defining moment. Once again, challengers to certain Republican incumbents are needed to help restore limited government to its rightful place at the center of the Republican agenda.

Today, the Club for Growth PAC will endorse Steve Laffey, the Republican Mayor of Cranston, R.I., in his primary challenge against Sen. Lincoln Chafee. Steve Laffey is a pro-growth, Reagan Republican. Sen. Chafee epitomizes the GOP's waning commitment to limited government and economic freedom.

Toomey proceeds to explain why the Club for Growth is against Senator Chafee:
Sen. Chafee has consistently opposed tax cuts. Citing the federal deficit, he opposed the Bush tax cuts that have generated our powerful economic expansion. But his concerns about deficits don't extend to government spending. Bills he has sponsored would add nearly a half-trillion dollars in new spending over 10 years. The National Taxpayers Union gave him a dismal 49% rating for his profligacy with taxpayer money. A close ally of organized labor, he opposes school choice, and just last month voted for a minimum-wage increase. A recent Boston Globe profile describes his ideology as "well-suited for a centrist Democrat."

Despite his liberal record, Sen. Chafee is warmly embraced by the Republican Party establishment which dutifully enforces an unprincipled, though ironclad, mutual-defense agreement that ignores ideology.

Sounds familiar. After explaining why the Club for Growth is philosophically opposed to Sen. Chafee, Toomey explains why they have chosen to endorse Mayor Laffey.
Steve Laffey makes a stark contrast. After an inspiring climb from rags to riches, he returned to his hometown to run for mayor and rescue the city of Cranston from impending insolvency. As mayor, Mr. Laffey ruthlessly attacked the mismanagement that had caused Cranston's problems. He cut costs, established financial controls, rooted out waste and took on bloated union contracts in the courts--as well as in the court of Rhode Island public opinion. Today, Cranston has recovered its investment-grade credit rating and the voters there have re-elected him twice. This in a city where only 14% of voters are Republicans!

As a senator, Mr. Laffey would cut wasteful spending, especially corporate welfare; make the Bush tax cuts permanent; expand international trade; reform insolvent entitlements and fix broken tort laws. In short, he's precisely the kind of pro-growth, limited-government Republican the Senate badly needs more of.

According to Toomey, the RI Senate GOP Primary is only part of a larger battle for the heart and soul of the Republican Party.
After 10 years of controlling Congress, Washington Republicans have an identity crisis. It was Republicans who gave us a farm bill that only a Soviet central planner could love; a campaign-finance reform bill that expands government's unconstitutional restrictions on speech; a prescription-drug entitlement program that Lyndon Johnson could only have dreamed of; and a transportation bill with more than 40-times as many pork projects it took to earn Reagan's veto. So, we ask a fair question: Is Reagan's vision of limited government--the fundamental principle that brought Republicans to power--still part of the Republican identity, or has it been abandoned in favor of the seductive power of controlling unlimited government?

UPDATE: This endorsement has prompted me to scrounge around for other endorsements. I had forgotten that NARAL had endorsed Senator Chafee in May in hopes that the early endorsement would "help the senator sink a potential primary fight from Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey." (Guess that didn't work) More from the story:

Chafee expressed pleasure with the endorsement and said he will try to stress to NARAL members today that the Senate should not cut back the ability of Democrats to filibuster President Bush's judicial nominees, many of them conservative opponents of abortion.

Keenan said NARAL opted to give Chafeee its first endorsement of the 2006 campaign for several reasons. One is that NARAL supports incumbents and "we stand by our friends," such as Chafee, who have amassed what NARAL considers to be good records on the issue.

NARAL gave Chafee a 100-percent rating on its review of how senators voted last year on legislation the group considers important.

Keenan also emphasized NARAL's devotion to helping Republicans who support abortion rights. "We need Lincoln Chafee's sensible, moderate, Republican voice" in the Senate, Keenan said.

Keenan was asked why NARAL did not prefer [Secretary of State Matthew] Brown, a candidate who has pledged to apply a "litmus test" to all judicial nominees -- opposing any who do not show support for abortion rights.

She answered that Chafee has a record of tough votes, while Brown has no congressional voting record.

Some Democrats are now pointing to NARAL's strategy as flawed.

I'll keep my eyes peeled for more endorsements as they occur.

8:15 AM
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I find it sickening that the Club for Growth invokes "Reagan Republicanism" as some kind of virtuous pure form of Republican leadership. That is utter bull. Reagan was a corrupt politician who undermined democracy by carrying on covert political operations. He also deregulated the Savings and Loan industry, causing financial disaster for many people. He also increased the federal deficit to 1.4 TRILLION DOLLARS.

He also talked about reducing federal spending, but IT DIDN'T HAPPEN. Here is a quote from writer Tom Curry at MSNBC:

FEDERAL SPENDING LITTLE CHANGED

But Reagan never was able to bring about the conservative revolution that his disciples had hoped for.

When he became president in 1981, federal spending accounted for 22 percent of the Gross Domestic Product; when he left office eight years later, federal spending was 21 percent of the GDP.

“Ultimately, the fact that Ronald Reagan left office as the most popular president in modern history means that he settled for less change than either he or his supporters wanted or could have gotten,” Wall Street Journal editorialist John Fund wrote in 1989.

Another conservative, Ralph Reed, former executive director of the Christian Coalition, viewed the Reagan presidency with chagrin: “His eight years in office did little to transform a political culture that had become insensitive to religious values and uncaring about innocent human life.”

Reed said conservatives “woke up the morning after Reagan’s two terms to discover that many maladies still afflicted our nation and many pathologies had grown worse.”

For a quick timeline review of some of the corruption and abuse of power issues to which I allude, check here:

http://www.oldamericancentury.org/bushco/bushcontra.htm

However, I am quite happy about the endorsement from Toomey. This will certainly help Laffey win the Republican nomination. And yes, for all you conspiracy theorists out there, it is because I want to see another Democrat get in on the national level.

Posted by: citizenjane at December 12, 2005 9:18 AM

A major interest group has endorsed Steve Laffey's candidacy? So much for Laffey standing up to the special interests.

And let's not forget that Laffey actually RAISED taxes in Cranston so that residents are now paying the highest property tax rate in the state. Seems like the Club for Growth is ignoring a key piece of Laffey's record. By the current standard that the Club is using to determine if someone is "conservative," Jack Reed would qualify based on his stance on the War.

I think we can all agreet that Jack Reed is no conservative and that we don't want another Democrat in the Senate. But by supporting Laffey, it makes it that much easier for another liberal Democrat to win in RI.

Posted by: Sarah at December 12, 2005 10:34 AM

This is great news. Liberals like Chafee need to understand that you can't keep spending and taxing us to death.

Posted by: warren at December 12, 2005 10:51 AM

"CitizenJane" and "Sarah,"

Your selective use of the truth does not help your credibility.

Reagan was one of the greatest politicians, if not human beings, ever to walk the face of the earth. He did what he believed to be right, in support of liberty and freedom of all people, regardless of what those in the other party tried to do to undermine him. He was an extraordinary man, and your criticism shows that you still know so little about him. You could learn a lot from reading any biography about that great man (Ronaldus Magnus).

Secondly, the Club for Growth is not a "special interest." They do not seek any subsidy from the government. They fight pork, unlike our esteemed junior senator. They also use their own money to do it. What they stand for is limited government and fiscal discipline, in the Reagan tradition of the Republican Party.

Mayor Laffey raised property taxes, not because he wanted to; he did it because he didn't have a viable alternative. He did the responsible thing; not the easy thing -- unlike most politicians. Now that Cranston is back on a solid fiscal footing, taxes might be able to be lowered in the near future. Unlike the federal government, cities cannot just print more money when they need it. It is untrue that Cranston has RI's highest property tax rate. Try finding accurate statistics, not repeating old lies.

That a national group like the CFG chose to endorse him, even though he had to raise taxes to prevent Cranston going bankrupt, shows that they aren't a one trick "cut taxes at any cost" group. They are for real fiscal discipline, which is what is supposed to make the Republican Party different from the Democrat one. They know that Mayor Laffey is in this for the long haul now, and believe that he can win. Don't underestimate him. Actually, please do. It will make his job much easier!

Posted by: Will at December 12, 2005 10:02 PM

"Will,"

Your hero worship for Reagan shows an unbelievable and frightening ignorance for the hundreds and hundreds of books documenting the corruption, lies, and disastrous fiscal and social policies of the Reagan era.

Good luck with blindly following Laffey. Perhaps it will earn you a nice little beadledom somewhere someday.

Posted by: citizenjane at December 17, 2005 2:19 PM

Citizen jane is that short for Jane Fonda. I think it is especially true after a comment that you made above dispraging President Reagan. Let me guess you are whole hearted and in full support of The Democratic Senator of Rhode Island Chaffee. Maybe you and the senator should read some books about Reagan. You might learn something. Nah probably not.

Posted by: Fred on the Blog at December 22, 2005 10:21 PM