Speaking of... 
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/dec/30/rnc-pushes-unprecedented-criticism-of-bailouts/
 


Tuesday, December 30, 2008 

EXCLUSIVE: RNC draft rips Bush's bailouts 

Ralph Z. Hallow <http://www.washingtontimes.com/staff/ralph-z-hallow/> ( 
Contact <http://www.washingtontimes.com/staff/ralph-z-hallow/contact>) 

*EXCLUSIVE:* 

Republican Party officials say they will try next month to pass a resolution 
accusing President Bush and congressional Republican leaders of embracing 
"socialism," underscoring deep dissension within the party at the end of Mr. 
Bush's administration. 

Those pushing the resolution, which will come before the Republican National 
Committee at its January meeting, say elected leaders need to be reminded of 
core principles. They said the RNC must take the dramatic step of wading into 
policy debates, which traditionally have been left to lawmakers. 

"We can't be a party of small government, free markets and low taxes while 
supporting bailouts and nationalizing industries, which lead to big government, 
socialism and high taxes at the expense of individual liberty and freedoms," 
said Solomon Yue, an Oregon member and co-sponsor of a resolution that 
criticizes the U.S. government bailouts of the financial and auto industries. 
Republican National Committee Vice Chairman James Bopp Jr. wrote the resolution 
and asked the rest of the 168 voting members to sign it. 

"The resolution also opposes President-elect Obama's proposed public works 
program and supports conservative alternatives," while encouraging the RNC "to 
engage in vigorous public policy debates consistent with our party platform," 
said Mr. Bopp, a leading attorney for pro-life groups who has also challenged 
the campaign finance legislation that Mr. Bush signed. 

If enacted, the resolution would put the party on record opposing the $700 
billion bailout of the financial sector, which passed Congress with Republican 
support and was signed by Mr. Bush, and opposing the bailout of the auto 
industry. The auto bailout bill was blocked by Senate Republicans, but Mr. Bush 
then reversed course and announced that he would use financial bailout money to 
aid the auto manufacturers. 

The RNC usually plays a policy role only every four years when it frames the 
national party platform, which typically is forgotten quickly. 

In 2006, some party members presented a resolution challenging Mr. Bush's plan 
to legalize illegal immigrants and enact a guest-worker program. Mr. Bush's 
lieutenants fought back, arguing that the party should not tie the president's 
hands on a policy issue, and the RNC capitulated, passing an alternate White 
House-backed resolution instead. 

This time, the backers of the new resolution say they will not be deterred by a 
fight, and say they have the numbers to pull off this rebellion. 

"We have enough co-sponsors to take this to the RNC floor" at the party's Jan. 
28-31 annual winter meeting in Washington, Mr. Bopp said. "I will take it to 
the Resolutions Committee, but I intend to press this issue to the floor for 
decision." 

North Dakota Republican Party Chairman Gary Emineth said it's time for the RNC 
to end the disconnect between what the party platform says and what elected 
Republicans do. 

"It is time the party gets involved in policy issues and forces candidates to 
respond to the platform," Mr. Emineth said. "Frankly the way we view the 
platform is a joke. We work hard to drive our principles into the platform, 
then candidates ignore it." 

"If the party doesn't move in this direction, we will continue to be 
irrelevant. Whoever has the larger star power will continue to win, and what 
they stand for and believe will become less relevant," Mr. Emineth said. 

House Minority Leader John A. Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch 
McConnell, both of whom voted for the financial bailout but opposed the auto 
bailout, declined to comment. 

White House spokesman Tony Fratto defended the Bush administration's actions, 
saying, "We understand the opposition to using tax dollars to support private 
businesses we also oppose using tax dollars to support private businesses. But 
this was the necessary and responsible thing to do to prevent a collapse of the 
American economy." 

Several RNC members including some of Mr. Bopp's fellow conservatives are not 
pleased with the idea of having it make policy instead of simply minding the 
campaign fundraising store. 

Ron Nehring, chairman of the California Republican Party, said the party also 
can't be seen endorsing a do-nothing approach. 

"We have to be careful not to confuse passing resolutions for action, or 
creating a situation where people interpret the lack of some resolution as an 
excuse for inaction on an important issue," he said. 

The resolution says: "WHEREAS, the Bank Bailout Bill effectively nationalized 
the Nation's banking system, giving the United States non-voting warrants from 
participating financial institutions, and moving our free market based economy 
another dangerous step closer toward socialism; and WHEREAS, what was needed, 
and is still needed, to fix the banking industry is not a bailout, but rather a 
commitment to fiscal responsibility." 

The financial sector bailout passed the House by a vote of 263-171 with 91 
Republicans backing it, and passed the Senate by a 74-25 vote with 34 
Republicans in favor. The auto bailout passed the House by a 237-170 vote with 
32 Republicans supporting it, but was blocked by a Republican-led filibuster in 
the Senate, with just 10 Republicans voting to advance the bill. 

The RNC's sole job historically has been to raise money for candidates and to 
pass the party line down the food chain to state and local leaders. Policy has 
been set by the party's congressional leaders and, when a Republican sits in 
the White House, by the president. 

The same has been true for the Democratic National Committee. 

The Bopp-Yue vanguard say they are determined to change that. 

"For the past eight years, the RNC has been the political outreach of the White 
House," said Arizona Republican Party Chairman Randy Pullen, another resolution 
co-sponsor who led the 2006 immigration fight and who opposed Mr. Bush's 
"economic policies promoting the 'ownership society' because they would 
eventually lead to the financial meltdown we are currently experiencing." 

"It is now time for the RNC to assert itself in terms of ideas and political 
philosophy," Mr. Pullen added. "If we don't do it now, when will we?" 

Mr. Bopp, a social conservative who has served as counsel to pro-life groups, 
said, "We must stand for and publicly advocate our conservative principles as a 
party 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days of the year." 

The RNC revolutionaries leave no doubt they mean to turn the committee into 
policy-producing and enforcing machine. 

"In the long run, we want to see this committee play an active 
philosophical-policy leadership role for the national GOP," Mr. Yue said. 

But it remains unclear whether the rules or the machinery exist for enforcing 
such a resolution on Republican elected officials. 

*Jon Ward contributed to this report.* 





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