REPUBLICAN DEATH WISH - ELECTION 2018

Also published on Newsmax.

Campaign losses are more “suicides” than “homicides”.

The Republicans were poised to beat the odds during the 2018 “Mid-term” election, then everything went wrong. Trump’s last minute targeting of key Senate races recovered some, but not all, of the opportunities for Republican gains. The House was another matter.

History was on the Republicans’ side - Trump’s 2016 victory did not extend to House or Senate races. Democrats gained two Senate seats and six House seats. The absence of “coat tails” meant there was a dearth of “at risk” Congressional Republicans. At the same time, ten Democrat Senate incumbents, who had benefited from Obama’s 2012 trouncing of Romney, were potentially easy targets in states where Trump won handily.

Enter the Lemming Factor. 

It did not take long for media pundits and liberal pollsters to declare that Trump’s behavior and policies would generate a “Blue Wave” overwhelming Republicans in 2018. The prevailing wisdom was that dozens of Republican incumbents in Districts won by Hillary Clinton were going to be decimated. Easily spooked Republicans bought into this analysis. They overlooked the fact that the Republicans who won in 2016 Hillary Districts were the strongest, not the weakest going into 2018. 

Facts did not matter. On November 9, 2017, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee and an incumbent who consistently won re-election by over 60%, announced his retirement. Other Republican incumbents soon opted to leave. By early 2018, 26 safe Republicans, who had weathered Hillary’s best effort, had retired, creating potential for Democrat gains. Surprisingly, more than enough for Democrats to retake the House.

Republicans actually began losing the House in February 2017. Speaker Ryan and his leadership team determined their best course of action was to distance themselves from their new Republican President. 

Ryan missed the opportunity to coordinate with the Republican run Executive Branch to open and re-open investigations against Obama, Clinton, and all their minions. This could have included delivering the Comey Report on Hillary Clinton’s email abuses to a Grand Jury and inevitable indictments. Every witness who refused to testify under Obama could be forced to testify. Every document refused under Obama could be released. 

Aggressively exposing Obama/Clinton misdeeds 24/7 would have build the case for Republican government and crippled Democrat candidate recruitment and fundraising for 2018.

Ryan and his committee Chairs blew it, and paid the price. The Democrats caught their breath and rebounded from 2016. Unfortunately, starting in January 2018, House Democrats will show Republicans how total war is waged - 85 subpoenas are already being prepared. 

Trump also contributed to Congressional losses. He laid the ground work for defeat in March 2016 when his inner circle chose to ignore advice and offers for help from Reagan alumni. Trump and his team embraced Washington functionaries from Bush, Romney, and Never Trumper networks to plan and run his Presidential Transition. 

In 1981, the Reagan Transition and early White House relentlessly tracked down and removed every Carter operative and all Democrats who had careered into the bureaucracy. Every possible threat to Reagan’s revolution was marched out the door, stripped of their security clearances. By March 1981, Reagan had a clear path to greatness.

Thanks for bad, possibly malicious, advice Trump left large swaths of Obama/Clinton operatives in place, along with their security clearances and access. In the name of austerity, Trump’s slow, and in many cases nonexistent, insertion of loyalists into key Executive Branch positions left him open to being blindsided, undermined, and outmaneuvered. Chief of Staff, Reince Priebus, filled White House and Agency slots with “RINOgators” from among his Republican National Committee associates. This meant countless opportunities were lost to make Trump’s revolution a lasting operational reality beyond Executive Orders.

Trump’s final error was not declassifying, unredacting, and releasing all documents relating to the bogus Russian collusion probe. Starting months before the election, Nunes and a small band of Congressional Trump loyalists, along with conservative pundits, pleaded for Trump to release these documents. Exposing “sources and methods” was not an issue. The “Deep State” wanted to avoid embarrassment and convinced Trump to do the wrong thing. 

The documents, as characterized by Nunes and others who had actually read them, would have destroyed the Democrats, the Mueller Probe, and the liberal media. A pre-election release would have eviscerated the opposition and possibly saved the House.

The one hope America has is that House Democrats will excel at “jumping the shark” and overreach well beyond the Senate Democrats’ fraudulent attacks on Justice Kavanaugh.

Democrats’ desire for investigation not legislation will not bring down Trump. Pursuing their revenge fantasies will only prove they are not ready to rationally govern. 

November 3, 2020 will be another day of reckoning.

CREEPY CONGRESS

#CREEPYCONGRESS  #NAKEDEMPERORS  #DEEPSWAMP

Published in Newsmax.

“Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

The darker side of Washington unfolds around us - Members getting drunk to the point of falling off bar stools and then being dragged to the House Floor to vote; married Members hitting on and picking-up young female staffers and interns; lobbyists bringing attractive female “associates” with them to draw Members to their tables. It was stomach turning. We, sadly, could only shake our heads in amazement and shame. We pledged to rid the House of this culture of moral abandon if we ever got control of the Chamber.

What an insane place it was.  Could the Republicans actually change such a dysfunctional and abusive environment?  A close friend and colleague walked in on his boss having sex with a young female staffer in the middle of his desk. The married Congressman immediately fired this senior legislative aide and warned him that he would make sure he never worked again in Washington if he ever told people the real reason he was let go.

House staffers would relate countless stories of staffers they knew who had to do personal errands and favors for House Members or face immediate dismissal. Tantrums by Members, sometimes resulting in physical harm, sometimes in mass firings of their staffs, were commonplace. Our running joke was that the U.S. House of Representatives was America’s largest adult daycare facility.

We encountered ever stranger evidence of the most corrupt, dysfunctional, and surreal operating environment in any of our professional careers. The fact that this abuse and mayhem was being fueled by public funds appalled all of us.

Every hour that went by unearthed amazing stories of abuse and chaos. Were they fact or fiction?  Some overlapped material already known, but others broke new ground for audacity…this was flagrant abuse of congressional power. “It’s almost too much to bear. What kinds of people are running this place? This is madness!”

The worst stories related to how sexual favors were demanded by both supervisors and Members. They told of how stress and hopelessness led to fist fights and, in one case, a knife fight. They told us of how their supervisors and the Capitol police looked the other way.  Everyone seemed scared of what powerful Members and their handpicked managers would do to them… this sickened us. Was this really happening in America?

These horrific descriptions are excerpts from the book “Naked Emperors” that was published in 2008 [https://www.amazon.com/Naked-Emperors-Failure-Republican-Revolution/dp/0742558819/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1511223742&sr=8-1&keywords=faulkner+%22naked+emperors%22].  It revealed rampant abuse dating back to the 1970s, documented with over 300 footnotes and countless interviews. 

In 2008, the public was not ready to confront just how bad Congress had become.

Thankfully, victims are now more willing to come forward and the media is more willing to believe them.  Decades of damage occurred because few wanted to risk reprisals from the powerful they unmasked. It is tragic to think of all the lives that are forever damaged by not stopping this sooner.  Too many politicians and journalists callously looked the other way. 

Finally, Congress seems to be coming to grips with its institutionalized abuse. House Speaker Paul Ryan has mandated sexual harassment training for both Members and staff.  He is the first Congressional leader saying he is willing to stop the systematic and systemic cover-up of their toxic work environment. 

We can only hope that Ryan and the Republicans are sincere and that the era of Congressional perversion and abuse may finally be over. 

[Scot Faulkner advises corporations and governments on how to save billions of dollars by achieving dramatic and sustainable cost reductions while improving operational and service excellence. He served as the Chief Administrative Officer of the U.S. House of Representatives.  He also served on the White House Staff, and as an Executive Branch Appointee.]

Why Republicans Continue to Lose

A shorter version was published at http://www.newsmax.com/ScotFaulkner/candy-crowley-establishment-Tip-ONeill/2016/10/10/id/752603/

Republicans always seem to fight the wrong battle, at the wrong time, the wrong way.  Republicans inevitably break ranks at the first sign of trouble.  Republicans shoot their wounded, even if the injury is just a sprain.

Democrats never break ranks.  Democrats will lock arms and deny, dismiss, and defend no matter what. Democrats will always rescue one of their own no matter the odds or how gravely wounded.

The “hot mic” tape of Donald Trump sounding boorish is now dominating the 2016 Presidential Campaign.  It is a safe bet that the Democrats, and their many media allies, have a Trump stockpile of embarrassing material ready to roll out in the coming weeks.

Trump and his supporters are confronting asymmetrical warfare.  His offensive words are considered more damning and any of Hillary Clinton’s misdeeds. 

The Democrats have always played dirty.  In 1980, Speaker Tip O’Neil withheld a Washington, DC police report on conservative Congressman Bob Bauman’s sexuality for eighteen months in order to release it five weeks before Election Day.  Its timing was designed for maximum damage with minimum recovery time.

Democrats want to win at all costs.  Democrats want to gain, maintain, and expand their power.  Democrats never waiver from these goals.  Democrat spokespeople coordinate their talking points and stay on message.  They will tackle anyone attempting to lift the curtain on truth.  They will destroy anyone challenging their hold on government.

The most infamous and extreme example from the Democrat’s “win at all costs” playbook is covering up Ted Kennedy’s misdeeds.  On July 18, 1969, Senator Ted Kennedy killed 28 year-old Mary Jo Kopechne in a tragic car accident on Chappaquiddick Island near Martha’s Vineyard. Liberals in politics and media suppressed the incident by ignoring Kennedy’s multiple lies and inconsistencies. Kennedy went on being a liberal icon. Media continued to dismiss and minimize Kopechne’s death, and Kennedy’s countless sexual affairs. Earlier this year, in the propaganda film about Clarence Thomas’ confirmation, Hollywood portrayed Kennedy as a defender of abused women.

The other side of the Democrat’s playbook is character assassination of Republicans.  In 2012, Mitt Romney was portrayed as a callous and clueless elitist.  Senator Reid (D-NV) bragged that he lied about Romney not paying taxes, boasting, “it worked didn’t it?  He lost!”  The facts never get in the way of a good attack.

Over the past few months, Democrats have never talked about the substance of the leaks damaging to Hillary Clinton.  In lock step, Democrats immediately attacked the veracity of the leaked material and then the leaks’ source.   By the time definitive proof was available, the media and the public had moved onto to other things.

In 2012, “bin Laden is dead and Detroit is alive” was the mantra that would defy the facts.  The Benghazi attack was drowned out with the bogus video story.  Candy Crowley did her duty by throwing a body block against Mitt Romney in the second Presidential Debate to maintain the lie.

In 2016, “America is safer and more prosperous than ever” is the Democrats' mantra.  Every terrorist attack on American soil is stifled or obscured with bogus alternative motives.  Economic reports are “cooked” or spun.  Nothing must stand in the way of Obama’s third term.

Some Republicans, and many of the conservative media, do their best to counter the Democrat onslaught.  However, they are constantly crippled by most Republicans who break and run when the first shots are fired in anger.

During Bill Clinton’s Presidency, Republicans bungled their investigation of Chinese campaign donations in exchange for trade concessions and ownership of a portion of the Port of Los Angeles.  That was true treason. 

Instead Republicans impeached Clinton on sexual issues and his countless lies. Even with overwhelming evidence, five Republicans voted “not guilty” on perjury and ten voted “not guilty” on obstruction of justice.

Republicans bungled impeachment by self-immolating over their own sexual affairs, including the resignation of Congressman Bob Livingston on the cusp of his becoming Speaker.  Republicans had hoped to shame Clinton into resigning or at least confessing.  They forgot that Democrats have no shame.

Republicans always seem to get it wrong.  They will shoot their wounded, like the current Trump conflagration, and then become hypocrites with favored members of their Washington Establishment.  Mark Sanford was welcomed into Congress after his lying to the public over being on the Appalachian Trail while he was actually with his Argentine mistress. Republicans rallied around re-electing Senator David Vitter after his prostitute scandal.  Where is the ire about them from Kelly Ayotte and Paul Ryan?

The stakes for 2016 are the greatest since the 1980 election.  A Clinton Presidency means loss of the Supreme Court for at least a generation.  A Clinton Presidency means open borders and open immigration, overwhelming America’s culture with third world entitlement and Islamic fundamentalism.  A Clinton Presidency means expansion of government spending and reach beyond even Obama’s wildest dreams.  A Clinton Presidency means American foreign policy continued disarray and continued decline in America’s ability to defend itself and its allies.  A Clinton Presidency means increasingly bolder confrontations of the West by Radical Islam, Russia, and China.

A Trump loss will tear the Republican Party apart.  Establishment and Faith-based factions will annihilate each other with “I told you so” arguments for Bush or Cruz.  Democrats will laugh as they prepare a Texas Castro brother to take the Presidency in 2024 with the slogan “time for a Hispanic!” from the same playbook that was used for “time for an African American!” and “time for a woman!”

THE DEATH OF OVERSIGHT

Previously published at: http://www.newsmax.com/ScotFaulkner/politicians-constitutional-congress-appropriation/2016/06/03/id/732179/

Congress is losing its Constitutional tug of war with the Executive Branch. 

Politicians and pundits can point fingers, but the death of Congressional power is a suicide not a homicide.  They are doing it to themselves.  Congress is allowing the current Administration to get away with increasingly bold power grabs.  The result is an unaccountable government.  

Congress can control the Executive Branch through its Constitutional power of the purse.  What is funded exists and grows, what isn’t funded shrinks or vanishes.  The current Congress is not doing this.  Worse, it is neglecting its fundamental role in government oversight. Congress has lost its willingness to tie funding to adherence to the law and Congressional intent

The most appalling situation is in the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. For the second year in a row, Congress is way behind performing its basic responsibility of passing Appropriation bills.  Only two have made it onto the House Floor.  None have been considered by the full Senate.

In the past, Appropriations Committees met to build the case for spending public funds.  Administration witnesses made their case for spending.  Appropriation Committee Members made their alternative case, and either tore down or supported what the Administration witnesses proposed.  What should occur is a dialogue designed to align Congressional intent, and Executive Branch actions, to public spending.  What should emerge is legislation filled with spending numbers.  Supporting these numbers should be a narrative, in the hearing record and committee reports, building a compelling case for how and why public finds are being spent, or not spent.

None of this is happening in the current Congress.  The result is Congress ceding spending control to the Administration and destabilizing the Constitutional balance between coequal Branches.

In 2015, there were 128 House Appropriation hearings prior to marking-up legislation. In 2016 there were only 88.  The House only listened to 253 Administration witnesses. Their oversight was conducted by hearing from only seven of the 73 Inspector Generals.  No one from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) was involved.   No one from oversight groups documenting government waste and abuse were heard.

It gets worse.  In the 1980s and 1990s, Appropriation hearings lasted three or more hours.  Hearings in 2016 averaged 77 minutes.  When you factor in the opening remarks from the Chair and Ranking Member and the opening statement of the main witness, less than 25 minutes were devoted to Q&A per witness. 

These 88 Hearings devoted minimal time to major national concerns.  Only two hours were spent on EPA funding, the Secret Service less than one hour, and less than one hour was spent on the crucible of Republican populism – the Bureau of Land Management. 

No wonder only three to five Members attended each hearing; even though all Subcommittees have at least eleven Members (Defense has sixteen).

House Committees broadcast their hearings online and archive them as podcasts.  None of the 47 Senate Appropriation hearings were broadcast or archived.  The public only knows that three Inspector Generals appeared, and there was no one from the GAO or government watchdog groups. The public remains uninformed as to what 121 witnesses had to say beyond the text of their prepared remarks. 

Republicans are missing their annual opportunity to build their case, on the official record, for the spending battles to come and to sway the electorate on who is best at stewarding public funds.  Swapping sound bites on friendly media outlets is a poor substitute for proper oversight.

Republicans are being negligent to the point of malfeasance by ignoring government accountability. 

Return of the Jedi

By selecting House Budget Chair, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, Governor Romney has put the Republican Party and the Conservative Movement back on track.

In 1980, Reagan was supposed to pick Rep. Jack Kemp as his running mate. FBI and other background checks had been done. However, last minute rumors about Kemp's "roving eye" sunk his chances - leaving the Reagan team in disarray in Detroit. Reagan’s longtime friend, Senator Paul Laxalt, was "Option B", but this was an era when running mates from adjoining states was unheard of (regional balance) and some felt Nevada was still viewed as a mob-run den of sinners. Senator Lugar and former Treasury Secretary Simon were Options C & D, because neither was viewed as capable of igniting national excitement.

Many commentators fixate on the Detroit Convention being about forging a “Dream Ticket” of former President Gerald Ford as Reagan’s running mate. Outside of party moderates and a few operatives, bringing Ford and his sidekick, Henry Kissinger, onto the podium with Reagan would have been a “Nightmare Ticket” – undermining everything Reagan and the conservative movement stood for. As one of Reagan’s Congressional Liaisons at the Convention and as a close friend of most of his Regional Political Directors, I watched this strategic turmoil play out within the Renaissance Center and the VIP Sky Suites ringing the Joe Louis Arena. Ford and Kissinger went public with their own delusion of a "Co-Presidency". This included Walter Cronkite infamously egging them on during his live interview. Reagan and many of his inner circle felt the only way to regain control of the situation was by reaching out to his former opponent George H.W. Bush.

Thus history took a strategic, and for many true-believers like myself, terrible turn. It was supposed to be a “Conservative Continuum” of Wilkie-Taft-Goldwater-Reagan-Kemp allowing a limited government ideology, rooted in the Enlightenment and America’s founding principles, to evolve into an ever more inclusive and creative political force. Reagan to Bush brought in a family dynasty, where Bush 41 "cleansed" the Executive Branch of Reaganites, turned-off rank and file conservatives, and opened the door for faith-based big government activists to fill the void. Bush 43 turned everything upside down with big government at home and Neo-conservative adventurism abroad. Bush and the ersatz Republicans also embraced Rove's micro-targeting the electorate, which plunged the sixty-year modern Conservative movement into a pandering mush.

Paul Ryan got his start working with Wisconsin Senator Bob Kasten (a good friend from my own years in Wisconsin politics), who embodied the “Conservative Continuum”. Ryan then worked directly for Jack Kemp, the great hope of the “Conservative Continuum”, as his speechwriter during his 1996 Vice Presidential campaign. Therefore, Ryan’s basic instincts run to the “Conservative Continuum” instead of "big government conservativism" of the Bush dynasty. In a master stroke, Governor Romney has made 2012 about not only America’s past and present, but about an inspiring vision for its future.