Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ)
Republican infighting flared up at a recent meeting of House Financial Services Committee Republicans. Republicans are still
struggling with loyalty and discipline in the wake of unusual levels of opposition to John Boehner's continuing status as speaker and repeated fights over policy, with the far-right vandal caucus standing in the way of Boehner's agenda. At the meeting late last week, Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer report, committee Chair Jeb Hensarling told subcommittee chairs they're expected to pay their dues to the National Republican Congressional Committee and follow the leader on procedural votes, and everyone knew that Hensarling was talking to New Jersey's Scott Garrett:
Garrett first responded that his procedural vote against leadership was a matter of conscience. Then he stunned the room with this explanation: He had not supported the NRCC in the past, he said, because it actively recruited gay candidates and supported homosexuals in primaries.
Some lawmakers grew noticeably angry, pointing out that the NRCC does not get involved in primaries, nor does it care about the sexual orientation of candidates. Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), a member of leadership who led the NRCC’s candidate recruitment during the 2014 election cycle, said that Richard Tisei, a gay Republican whom the NRCC supported, was “equally homosexual” when Garrett donated directly to him in 2012, according to a source present.
Garrett, according to source with knowledge of the situation, has cut a deal of sorts. He has agreed to donate to the NRCC’s building fund and recount efforts, but not to the committee directly. Garrett’s office did not respond to requests for comment. The NRCC’s policy is that it does not discriminate based on sexual orientation.
Points to Patrick McHenry (now there are words I never thought I'd say) for that "equally homosexual" line. But you have to give Garrett credit, too: whatever his actual beef with the NRCC, he came up with a reason not to pay his dues that is completely in line with official Republican policy, even if they happily abandon purity when it comes to trying to win elections in states like Massachusetts with candidates like Tisei.