Merkley campaign spokesman Russ Kelley acknowledges that the DSCC is helping out - although he hammered the point that it's Merkley and his in-state campaign staff running the show, not the beltway boys.
That advance team of consultants from Little Rock, Ark. was recommended by the DSCC, Kelley says, but it was Merkley's campaign that decided to hire them - although he wouldn't say whether it was Merkley's campaign or the DSCC that paid for their
services.
Unlike his DSCC spokesman, Kelley has no problem acknowledging that Schumer is, in effect, choosing sides in the party's primary vote, which takes place next May.
"Where we are getting is making the national connections we need to defeat Gordon Smith," he says. "One of the things they did is to put us in touch with one of the top political advance teams in the country."
Novick spokesman Jake Weigler says the national Dems should wait on the sidelines until after Oregon's Democratic primary voters decide on a nominee.
"It raises serious questions if outside groups are going to hijack the process," he says. This is the first time I've seen Russ Kelley, Merkley's Chief of Staff in the House, reply to something on Mr. Merkley's campaign. Usually it's manager Jon Isaacs or online coordinator Carla Axtman. Not that there's anything wrong with that, just interesting to see.
I think it's a little funny for Russ to admit that they're getting money and an advance team from DSCC--perhaps even paid for by the committee--but that the in-state team is running the show. The "in-state" team at Widmer Brewing is making their own decisions, too--but their distribution contract with Anheuser-Busch certainly helps give them a competitive advantage. Just because you run your own franchise doesn't mean that corporate's not helping you and looking over your shoulder.
But in any case, as I've mentioned before on this topic it doesn't really concern me that Mr. Merkley's team is availing itself of the friendly help--who wouldn't? Obviously if the money is from Skinheads of Salem that's a different matter, but these ARE Democrats, after all. But that doesn't mean that Chuck Schumer and Co. are doing the right thing by picking favorites in the primary--especially given the quality of both candidates.
To their credit, Blue Oregon ran the story this afternoon, doing a good job in describing the controversy. One point of contention I might make is that calling DSCC an independent PAC and not "Democrats back in Washington" is a pretty extreme dodge; the DSCC is headed and solely made up of just those folks--Democrats back in Washington. They are members of the club, deliberately picking who they want to be in the club next. That would be cool--except it's the job of Oregon Democrats to do so, not the DSCC. |
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