CA-10: Ellen Tauscher and Speaker Pelosi

Some say the feud between Nancy Pelosi and Ellen Tauscher has always existed. Some say that it that it is a Hatfield-McCoy story that goes back generations in east coast politics. But one thing is clear, it erupted in the press during the summer of 2001:

The story nonetheless laid bare a dispute that belies the solidarity of Bay Area delegation, arguably the most liberal in the nation. Its origins are a matter of dispute. Some believe Tauscher sees Pelosi as competition. Some believe Pelosi feels betrayed after helping Tauscher first get elected in 1996.

The rift has isolated Tauscher to a certain degree from her California colleagues, who almost universally are behind Pelosi.

"I've searched my heart why Ellen Tauscher would not support Nancy Pelosi for whip," said California Sen. Barbara Boxer, a firm Pelosi backer who was appalled at Tauscher's assertions. "I cannot figure out in my wildest imagination as to why she is not excited at this history-making prospect. Her doing this says to me she is a very bitter person."

Boxer wasn't the only California Democrat who was "appalled" at Tauscher not supporting a fellow woman of the delegation, the move infuriated John Burton (who many people at the time viewed as almost as powerful than the governor and overly protective of Pelosi.

It wasn't just the fact Tauscher abandoned Pelosi that made the situation so controversial, it was also the manner in which the story exploded:

In a culture where even the worst of political enemies are referred to as "my good friend," each struggles to find nice things to say about the other.

Their long-running dispute spilled onto the front pages of Roll Call -- the newspaper of Capitol Hill -- with an eyebrow-raising banner headline: "Pelosi Denies Whip Threats: Tauscher Charges Intimidation" as members were preparing to adjourn for their summer recess.

The Roll Call made no attempt to conceal the fact that the story was all Tauscher's doing:

Exposing a rift between two of the House's most powerful women, Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) charged this week that allies of Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in the state Legislature are threatening to weaken Tauscher's district in redistricting as retribution for her decision to back Pelosi's opponent in the race for party Whip.  [...]

The rumors, according to Tauscher and associates both in Washington and California, began soon after.

If Tauscher's first mistake was shivving Pelosi, her second mistake was to go whining to Roll Call about it:

Tauscher charged that the effort is being led by state Sen. John Burton (D), a former Member of Congress and close Pelosi associate who is now the Senate's President Pro Tempore. [...]

Though he evidently intended to bury the rumors Burton nonetheless made little effort to disguise his contempt for Tauscher, suggesting that she was inviting trouble by voicing her concerns.

"The best way to get a problem with me is to run crying to the press," Burton said gruffly.

Burton described his close relationship with each of the Members in the Bay Area delegation, but pointedly excluded Tauscher from the list, concluding, "Ellen is not one to determine where her district would be."

In the end, Tauscher's two blunders ended up with Burton creating a new 10th District that would remove any fear of Tauscher losing in a general, but one that was specifically designed to allow her to lose in a primary if she kept undermining Pelosi.

Tauscher wasn't redistricted out of a seat, but was given a clear shape up or ship out choice.

Yet Tauscher was defiant, insisting that she would continue her DLC push to water down the Democratic Party.

Remember, Tauscher's one of Washington's rising Blue Dog Democrats -- she's vice chair of the Democratic Leadership Council -- and that leaves the liberal Bay Area Democrats feeling blue. [...]

"Our party is trending toward districts like mine -- coalition swing Democratic districts," Tauscher said. "The old guard is threatened by us. There's a real concerted effort to say, 'We don't want to grow any more like her.'

"The fact is, I've worked hard with my Bay Area colleagues. I don't rub their noses in the fact that the DLC picked up four seats in the last election.

If we're going to get the majority (in the House), we need to be more moderate."

Since then, Tauscher's side has been rejected by Democrats while Pelosi is about to be sworn in as Speaker.

Not only did Tauscher end up on the wrong side of history, potentially even worse is she ended up on the wrong side of Burton, who does all he can to help Pelosi:

In San Francisco, Pelosi's friends and allies concede that one adviser stands head and shoulders above the rest: John Burton, the tart-tongued liberal famous for championing the cause of the poor, elderly and homeless in Sacramento and as a House member in Washington. His sister-in-law, the late Rep. Sala Burton, wife of legendary San Francisco Rep. Phil Burton, summoned Pelosi to her deathbed to urge her to run for Congress.

It was Burton's top goal to get Pelosi the gavel, which has been completed. Now it is time to shore up Pelosi's support, which begins in a district Burton knows so well you'd think he drew it himself.

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•  tip jar

  For the political junkies who love old tales.

  by blogswarm on Thu Dec 21, 2006 at 09:10:55 PM PDT

•  Phil Burton was a legend

  as he was the perhaps the most able liberal legislator that we have ever had in the House, and always stood up for the poor and ordinary people. (Ted Kennedy is comparable in the Senate).  Burton himself lost the Majority leader's job by one vote in 1976.

  Ellen Tauscher is a piece of garbage, is a Rethug is all but name, and whores out for the corporations all the time.  She has a record worse than Melissa Bean (who lives in a district where she has little choice but to vote the way she does) while representing a strong Democratic district.  Tauscher always like her hero Joe W. Lieberbush finds a way to bash Democrats and prop up Rethugs.  
  Her motto is Blame Democrats first. We need a congressperson who stands up for the people.
  Not Ellen Tauscher.

  by IhateBush on Thu Dec 21, 2006 at 09:14:47 PM PDT

  •  huge supporter of Joementum

    SF Chronicle:

    "Joe just couldn't compete," said Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Walnut Creek, an early Lieberman supporter.

    "I think this is not a rejection of Joe. This is more about satisfying the Democratic desire to have somebody who is going to go out and beat George Bush. He's just a very, very good man, but he's not what it's going to take this time in the voters' opinions," Tauscher said.

    In his withdrawal speech, Lieberman acknowledged that his centrist positions may have cost him in the campaign.

    I don't see the Connecticut for Lieberman Party playing very well in a solid, Bay Area, Democratic district primary.

    by blogswarm on Thu Dec 21, 2006 at 09:18:13 PM PDT

  •  Well

    Her vote for the bankruptcy bill and the fact that she has received money from Sallie Mae have made more inclined to support a primary challenge to her. I generally don't like primary challenges except in cases of gross corruption like Bill Jefferson.

    But actually siding with those whom I perceive to be idealistic purists who want to push people out of the big tent also is something that makes me uneasy. Yet the bankruptcy bill and student loan industry are issues of big concern to me.

    So I feel conflicted.

    by jiacinto on Thu Dec 21, 2006 at 09:28:24 PM PDT

    •  She didn't just support

      the bankruptcy bill, she cheerleaded for it.  TNR even wrote that the letter she penned to Denny Hastert urging he hurry it to the floor "should turn your stomach".

      And to throw another log on the fire, she has voted for a total repeal of the estate tax.

      She is a corporate Dem through and through.

      by juls on Thu Dec 21, 2006 at 09:38:10 PM PDT

    •  She cannot be called a Democrat and be

      aligned with the opposition...that is what I would call being conflicted.

      by Mr SeeMore on Thu Dec 21, 2006 at 09:40:53 PM PDT

  •  you mean John Burton?

    by calderonn on Thu Dec 21, 2006 at 09:47:27 PM PDT

    •  No I mean Phil Burton

      who was John Burton's older brother.  John Burton also served in Congress too, but Phil Burton was the powerhouse.  John Burton was also a big time druggie in the 1970s when he was in Congress, he was addicted to cocaine, until he kicked the habit in the 1980s.

      by IhateBush on Thu Dec 21, 2006 at 09:54:47 PM PDT

      •  And

        Both are from Milwaukee.

        by kaleidescope on Sat Dec 23, 2006 at 07:59:44 AM PDT

•  Not an old tale

  It is a window into what Tauscher is.

  Should we rub it in that Dean's DNC took back the Cngress?

  by Big Tent Democrat on Thu Dec 21, 2006 at 09:24:57 PM PDT

  •  Dean and bloggers are nothing

    check out what Tauscher's people are feeding the SF Chronicle:

    But defenders of Tauscher note that Kos and some others in the blogosphere sharply targeted the moderate Lieberman -- and got credit for getting him defeated in the Democratic primary -- only to find their influence was viewed as profoundly weakened when he was handily re-elected as an independent in the mid-term elections.

    And Tauscher's former Campaign Manager and Chief of Staff:

    Last year, their misguided efforts were primarily concentrated on now re-elected Sen. Joe Lieberman, although they also targeted various "moderate" (bad word for the netroots) members of Congress in their primaries, such as Congresswoman Jane Harman and Congressman Adam Schiff.

    by blogswarm on Thu Dec 21, 2006 at 09:34:17 PM PDT

    •  personally, the message Tauscher should get

      from us is "you're next".

      The nicest thing I can say about her is that she's just as fit for office as Joe Lieberman and President George W Bush are.

      I don't think Tauscher has the option of running on a "Connecticut for Lieberman" party in CA if she gets her worthless ass kicked in the primary.

      by alizard on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 04:19:16 AM PDT

      •  that is correct

        she can't appear on the primary ballot as the candidate for say, a Bunch of Folks for Tauscher Party and the Democratic party, and if she loses, she can't get on the general election ballot as Lieberman did, since the laws are different in California.

        Thus if a really good challenger were to challenge her , she would have no choice but to win. Losing the primary would more or less mean she's off the ballot in the general unless she ran as say, a write in.

        by schadelmannII on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 09:25:43 PM PDT

        •  though the idea of

          Ellen Tauscher running as a "Connecticut for Lieberman" candidate is just plain funny for a California voter. As her coming out third in a field of three in a general election would be.

          by alizard on Sat Dec 23, 2006 at 06:09:23 PM PDT

•  Well Ellen Tauscher is just causing problems

  The Democratic party is plenty moderate.  And it has been for a VERY LONG time.  And in fact the only real new policy iniatives to deal with globalization and deindustrialization have come from the left.  The right has only offered gibberish, racism, and religious fundamentalism.  I'm sick of DLC types and the media talking about "moderation".  It is not moderate to support illegal wars.  It is not moderate to support taxation schemes that bankrupt the country and make no sense to the overall economic picture.  It is not moderate to support torture or to support undermining the constitution by suspending Habeas Corpus.  It is not moderate to support a President who is a massive idiot and has fucked up everything he's ever touched.  I wish people would bring this up.

  by SoCalLiberal on Thu Dec 21, 2006 at 09:38:24 PM PDT

  •  the DLC are no more

    moderate than they are progressive. The DLC misuse of these two words are simply their attempt to profit politically via an Orwellian corruption of the English language.

    They are the corporate Right Wall Street Wing of the Democratic Party, and would do both parties a favor if they would defect en masse to the GOP. This would give the GOP a viable political party without the Religious Right, resulting in two united and idelogically coherent political parties.

    by alizard on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 04:27:23 AM PDT

•  2008 can't come soon enough

  to take down this corporate hooker who cannot help herself in undermining the party that made her career happen.  

  by michael1104 on Thu Dec 21, 2006 at 10:08:30 PM PDT

•  Tauscher has made too many enemies

  Tauscher has set herself up to be targeted by establishment progressives and neophyte progressives.

  A new kind of progressive alliance may come from an effort to replace Tauscher with a better democrat.

  Each election should have at least one DINO that can serve to unite progressive Dems.  Moderate democrats are fine with me, but they should be kept honest and helpful to the party by the threat of a strong primary threat.

  2006 -- Lieberman, Wynn, Cuellar  

  2008 -- Tauscher, Wynn, Mollohan (if he obstructs the FBI), Jefferson (if not indicted by then)

  etc.

  by Predator Saint on Thu Dec 21, 2006 at 10:26:56 PM PDT

  •  I would keep Cuellar on the list

    he is totally worthless, we can do much better.

    Add Dan Lipinski to the list as well.  And I would support any challenge to the corporate whore Jim Moran, who never has seen a job killing environment polluting trade deal that he didn't love.  But too many people here seem to like his anti-Semitic anti-war screeds.

    by IhateBush on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 12:08:52 AM PDT

    •  Jim Moran has a lot of problems

      Jim's had a lot of problems and the recent articles about the ahem GENEROUS bailouts of his personal financial foibles, coupled with other problems, would seem to indicate he's on "borrowed time" (pardon the pun) until Alexandria and et al can come up with a better candidate....

      by schadelmannII on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 09:27:13 PM PDT

  •  Pelosi Can Help

    By threatening corporos who are thinking about contributing to Tauscher.

    by kaleidescope on Sat Dec 23, 2006 at 08:03:12 AM PDT

•  That's a really funny article...

  because Tauscher is basically complaining about the plan to draw her a much more Democratic district.  Think about that.  What Democrat complains about having a more partisan Democratic district?  It does make sense though.  With the roughly equally Democratic-Republican district that she had pre-2001, she could justify her DLC ways.  With her current district which has a 12.5 point Democratic registration advantage, her DLC ways are out of touch with her district.

  CA-10 Registration Stats:

  Oct. 2000

  Democratic: 41.74%
  Republican: 40.14%

  Oct. 2006

  Democratic: 45.01%
  Republican: 32.52%

  by ortcutt on Thu Dec 21, 2006 at 11:08:13 PM PDT

  •  Even more so

    kerry won the district 59-40, Ellen W. Busher needs to go.

    by IhateBush on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 12:05:28 AM PDT

  •  a less democratic district hurts her, eventually

    if you make it more "swing" you're pulling in Pombo voters, eventually. the seats are so gerrymandered you really could draw her into a GOP leaning seat. And she'd lose that race, despite her alleged "moderateness" unfortunately.

    For whom besides Ellen that's bad for, I'm not sure. But people forget until 1988 parts of the bay area had not elected a Democrat to the legislature for literally over 100 years.

    Yes I said years. Ted Lempert's unbelievable win in 1988 started the change. And the guy was a 26 year old law student who'd just finished school. Now everyone thinks Califorina and the Bay area are bright blue and always have been. NOT!

    by schadelmannII on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 09:29:43 PM PDT

•  Taucher and medical marijuana

  Through 2005, she voted against the bipartisan Hinchey/Rohrabacher Amendment to the Justice Department budget, which seeks to prevent appropriated funds from being used to arrest or prosecute patients whose use of cannabis as medecine is legal under the law of the State, such as California.

  She switched sides in 2006. I have no clue as to why the change.  

  by ben masel on Thu Dec 21, 2006 at 11:38:14 PM PDT

•  Enough griping! Who's your candidate?

  So who's standing against her in the 2008 primary, and what are people doing in the District to make it happen?

  All this talk is fine, but where's the action?

  by Ivan on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 05:18:11 AM PDT

  •  There's Plenty of Time For A Candidate To Step Up

    What's your agenda here?  If it's to defend Tauscher, you should do so openly.  What's being presented here are not "gripes."  They are evidence of a Democratic Congressperson not doing her job, not representing the people who put her there.

    This is what democracy looks like--educating the voters about what a politician has done to betray their trust.

    When a politician breaks faith with their constituents and the broad majority of their party, people look around for some form of redress. A primary challenge is a form of redress.  But first the groundwork needs to be laid.  And that's what people are doing.

    by Paul Rosenberg on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 09:22:23 PM PDT

  •  It doesn't work like that

    There's a long period of sounding people out, recruiting, conferring with prospective supporters, etc., mostly done quietly.  That is sure to be going on now.  A lot of potential opponents to Lieberman were sized up and/or wined and dined before Ned Lamont publicly took on the task.  

    by clyde on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 09:29:17 PM PDT

•  Unfortunately the article doesn't talk policies

  Policy No. 1 is the Iraq war.  Do you see how Tauscher stands on the war from the is article?  She claims that she has a more conservative base than Pelosi.  She holds the same seat that Jerome Waldie held in the 70s and nobody was more liberal than he.  The wingnut Rethugs were after Waldie once he voted for articles of impeachment against R. Nixon.  Wingnuts lost with Nixon and Waldie was overwhelmingly re-elected in 1974.

  The Contra Costa seat is one with demographically the best educated populace in California.

  Unlike Connecticut, the people of ET's district will realize she is not moderate or mainstream.

  by Literacy on Sat Dec 23, 2006 at 08:20:36 AM PDT