Over the past two weeks, we've watched as the latest Eric Cantor brainchild to rebrand the Republican Party, the National Council for a New America, was launched, and then crashed and burned.
And today, Roll Call raises some interesting points about who paid for this failed effort:
As Roll Call reported on Monday, Cantor staff and GOP ethics attorney Jan Baran have walked a very fine line to comply with House rules in funding, publicizing and staffing the new organization. [...]
The NCNA’s original launch letter carefully — though disingenuously — declared "this is not a Republican-only forum."
Disingenuous indeed. The National Council for a New America (NCNA) is a veritable who's who of the Republican Party; Eric Cantor, Mitch McConnell, John McCain, Jeb Bush, Bobby Jindal and Sarah Palin, to name just a few. To date, there are no Democrats or Independents involved whatsoever.
And the NCNA's first event, an all-Republican forum where the Democratic Party came under fire:
The Arlington event, properly, was paid for from Cantor campaign funds. But, as Roll Call reported, leadership aides on Cantor’s House staff, paid by taxpayers, do the lion’s share of the organization’s work.
The NCNA’s Web site, WeThePeoplePlan.org, was designed by a House staffer and directs visitors immediately to Cantor’s leadership Web site — all taxpayer-funded.
Baran and Cantor’s deputy chief of staff, Rob Collins, say the NCNA is organized as an "informal caucus" of House and Senate Members that is permitted to use House resources because "this is not the sole function of anyone in [Cantor’s] office."
So, a group that is made up entirely of Republicans, whose purpose, according to Eric Cantor's office, is to improve the GOP's electoral prospects:
In the last two election cycles, we haven’t done that great, to say the least. So we need to both put forward where we stand and be an intake vehicle. This is part of that process.
... is largely being paid for by taxpayer money because Eric Cantor & Company call it a bipartisan effort.
On one hand, it's infuriating to know that our money is paying for the latest attempt by GOPosaur to regain power. On the other, it's been such an abject failure that we may want to consider it money well spent.