At the end of last week, just one more fissure in the Republican party emerged, this time between the party and its donor base. To be specific, a Republican donor—and a lawyer—filed suit against the party for what he says is fraud. He gave the party money, he says, so they would repeal Obamacare. And they haven't done it.
Bob Heghmann, 70, filed a lawsuit Thursday in U.S. District Court, saying the national and Virginia Republican parties and some GOP leaders raised millions of dollars in campaign funds while knowing they weren’t going to be able to overturn the law also known as Obamacare.
The GOP “has been engaged in a pattern of Racketeering which involves massive fraud perpetrated on Republican voters and contributors as well as some Independents and Democrats,” the suit said. Racketeering, perhaps better known for use in prosecuting organized crime, involves a pattern of illegal behavior by a specific group.
The lawsuit lists as defendants the Republican National Committee and Virginia’s two national GOP committee members, Morton Blackwell and Cynthia Dunbar, as well as the Republican Party of Virginia and state party Chairman John Whitbeck. […]
Heghmann said he has standing to sue the GOP because has been a contributor. Federal Election Commission records show he gave a total of $875 to New Hampshire’s GOP, but no donations were noted for the national party or Virginia. He was a Granite State resident for more than a decade—and a Trump campaign volunteer there—before moving to the Beach last year.
Sure, he's kind of a crank, but that's some commitment to his lost cause, going so far as to file suit. He points to comments made by former Speaker John Boehner after 2012's election. "It’s pretty clear that the president was re-elected. Obamacare is the law of the land," Boehner said. "There certainly may be parts of it we believe need to be changed. Maybe we’ll do that. No decisions at this point." Heghmann's suit says that "In making this statement Speaker Boehner was sending a message to House Republicans and others that Repeal was not going to happen. He was trying to put the issue to rest. […] Nevertheless, the Republican Party continued to use the mails, wires and interstate commerce to solicit donations and votes to secure House and Senate majorities and ultimately the Presidency."
Of course, Republicans were either dumb enough or so consumed with hatred for President Obama that they chose to believe the GOP's promises rather than the reality in front of them. And as long as they were going to keep writing the checks, Republicans running for office were going to keep telling them what they wanted to hear. At least one Republican has finally figured that out.