When the Netroots went to work for Democratic majorities in 2006, we knew that we were supporting some conservative Democrats in a lot of districts. Each of us had to define our own breaking points, and we all took some arguably merited criticism for lack of progressive purity. Now that we have majorities we don’t have to succumb to the temptation to support Blue Dogs and New Dems in the interest of a greater good. Over at OpenLeft, Matt Stoller, Chris Bowers, et. al., are profiling BushDems…essentially Democrats that are totally unreliable on big votes. But, our problem can run deeper than how Democrats vote. What do we do when Democrats lie to us about how they will vote?
Freshman Indiana Democrats (Hill, Ellsworth, and Donnelly) were honest about their social conservatism. Chris Carney (PA-10), however, promised to support Hate Crimes legislation, and then voted against it. His excuse?
[Howie] Klein’s group [Blue America] planned to stay quiet despite Carney’s having what they viewed as one of the worst records in Congress until he allied himself with what Klein calls “a bunch of horrid homophobes” and voted against the hate crime bill that he said the congressman promised during the campaign to support.
“It makes many of our contributors says what difference is it if we had Sherwood in there,” he said.
The group’s Blue America PAC that raised $545,000 for progressive candidates wants Carney to refund $8,210 raised for him.
Carney denied misleading the group and said it was naïve on their part to think he would vote 100 percent in sync with their views.
If there is a case that can be made for a big tent within the Democratic Party that includes some very conservative members, there is no case for members that lie to us about how they will vote and then contemptuously call us naïve.
Carney’s district is extremely conservative (PVI R+8.0) and he only won it because the incumbent was accused of choking his mistress. It’s not like we can go run a progressive candidate against him in the primaries and think we’re going to replace him with a better Democrat that will win in the fall. No, that’s not what this is about.
The problem is not that Carney is voting his district. The problem is that he lied to people to get their financial support and some free positive media and now says that his ideal candidate for president is Chuck Hagel.
The best way to punish him is to just withhold all support and point out that he has character issues. We probably can’t hold this seat in the long run anyway, so there shouldn’t be too much concern about making an example of Carney.
Do not come to the Netroots and make promises you have no intention of keeping. If you are going to vote against hate crimes legislation and endorse a Republican for president, then say so upfront and let the cards fall where they may.