Dems Angry Over Parker Griffith's Defection To GOP

Alabama Slammer: Democrats Fret Over Parker Griffith


The outlook for the 2010 elections just grew dimmer for Democrats, with the abrupt announcement Tuesday that Rep. Parker Griffith, an Alabama freshman, was jumping to the Republican Party.

While Griffith’s departure from the now 257-member Democratic Caucus will have almost no impact on the balance of power in the House, his party switch highlighted the growing unease among the Democratic Party’s most vulnerable members about the party’s ambitious national agenda and its role in contributing to the deteriorating political environment in which they must run for reelection.

Publicly, congressional Democrats mostly remained silent, a reflection of the unexpected timing—Griffith blindsided House leadership with the news and had even attended Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s pre-recess holiday party—and a desire to downplay the significance of his exit.

In the only statement issued by a top Democrat, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen simply asked for the party’s money back after devoting considerable resources to his 2008 election and reelection campaign.

"We were committed to helping Mr. Griffith deliver for his constituents and successfully helped Mr. Griffith fend off the personal attacks against him from the far right,” said Van Hollen in a statement. “Mr. Griffith, failing to honor our commitment to him, has a duty and responsibility to return to Democratic Members and the DCCC the financial resources that were invested in him. His constituents will hold him accountable for failing to keep his commitments.”

A Griffith spokesman confirmed to POLITICO Tuesday that DCCC money would be returned.

During last year’s election, the DCCC poured over $1 million into Alabama’s 5th Congressional District in an effort to fend off attacks on Griffith from the National Republican Congressional Committee and other conservative groups. Pelosi herself recently donated $2,000 to Griffith’s campaign coffers.

Martin Frost, a former DCCC chair who dealt with a handful of Democrat-to-Republican party switches during his late 1990s tenure, dismissed the significance of a single party-switching member.

“I don’t think one party switch means much of anything, quite frankly,” said Frost. “I’m sure the DCCC would rather no one switch, but one switch is not a big deal.”

“This is one guy in the south who’s made a political calculation. He could have won as Democrat and he felt it would be easier as a Republican,” said John Anzalone, an Alabama-based Democratic pollster.

Still, privately Democrats acknowledged the announcement came as a serious blow to a party that, over the last several election cycles, had made significant inroads in conservative southern districts like Griffith’s, which delivered 61 percent of the vote to John McCain in 2008 but nevertheless managed to elect a Democrat to an open House seat.

The situation is compounded by the worrisome recent uptick in retirements in politically competitive districts—among them veteran Southern Democrats like Tennessee Reps. John Tanner and Bart Gordon—and comes amidst troubling polling data for various Democratic incumbents.

“There’s a real backlash in the conservative districts against Washington and the president,” said one senior Democratic operative. “In any right-leaning district…you’re going to see the incumbent looking at numbers they’ve never seen before.”

“I just think it really shows the moderates feel they don’t have a voice in the party, they don’t like where we are going as a party, and that should be troubling for Democrats,” said another senior Democratic strategist. “Less than a year into a Washington that is controlled by Democrats, they’ve lost hope, they feel disillusioned, and they don’t think there’s anything to stick around for.”

On Tuesday morning, House Democratic leadership aides made rushed calls to at least two first-term members who frequently vote with Republicans—Reps. Walt Minnick of Idaho and Bobby Bright of Alabama—to gauge whether they were also planning to switch parties.

In a statement to POLITICO later in the day, Minnick said he had no plans to leave the Democratic caucus.

“Nothing should be read into or inferred about Congressman Bright’s future based on an individual decision by another member,” said Bright spokesman Lewis Lowe.

Griffith framed his announcement as a rebuke of Democratic leaders and the agenda they put forward during his first 10 months in office.

“Unfortunately there are those in the Democratic Leadership that continue to push an agenda focused on massive new spending, tax increases, bailouts and a health care bill that is bad for our healthcare system,” Griffith said in a statement. “I have always considered myself to be an independent voice and I have tried to be that voice in Congress—but after watching this agenda firsthand I now believe that the differences in the two parties could not be more clear and that for me to be true to my core beliefs and values I must align myself with the Republican party and speak out clearly on these issues.”

For Republicans, Griffith’s announcement was the culmination of a months-long, behind-the-scenes courtship effort. GOP sources said Griffith reached out to House Minority Leader John Boehner and met with NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions after first approaching an Alabama delegation colleague, GOP Rep. Jo Bonner. On Sunday, Griffith notified Boehner that he was prepared to make the switch official. GOP sources insisted that no deal was struck between Griffith and the House Republican leadership over his move.

Democratic aides said Griffith had actually approached House leaders after the August recess—a time in which he faced raucous town halls—to discuss a party switch. But aides said today’s announcement caught them off guard, and that Griffith gave them no indication that he was planning to bolt.

Democrats said in hindsight Griffith telegraphed his intentions in August when he told a local newspaper that he wouldn’t vote for Pelosi as Speaker again because she was too divisive.

“For people who have been working with his office and watching him, it wasn’t a big surprise,” remarked one senior Democratic leadership aide. “You connect the dots and it’s not a big surprise.”

Still, on the eve of an historic congressional health care vote, the announcement was an unwelcome reminder of the resistance to the measure—Griffith referred to it in his statement as “a major threat to our nation”—and of the increasingly stormy midterm election environment.

“Just about every signal we’ve had so far indicates that 2010 is going to be a tough year for Democrats, and this is another flashing red light,” said Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political scientist. “The Democrats telling us Griffith’s switch doesn’t matter remind me of the Republicans who insisted that Arlen Specter’s party flip made no real difference. No, these things matter considerably, and they are indicators of which way the wind is blowing in a political season.”


Sources: Politico