Friday, December 12, 2008

A kinder, gentler House Republican caucus?

HometownSource.com has reported that the Minnesota House Republican Caucus may be practicing a kinder, gentler brand of caucus discipline for the session that will be called to order on January 6. ("House Republicans talk about proposal-driven comeback," by T.W. Budig, December 3, 2008):
"I made it very clear when I was re-elected leader that the marginalization of members based on how they voted on an override or anything else was over." —Rep. Marty Seifert (R-Marshall), newly re-elected House Minority Leader
"We now have proven beyond any reasonable doubt that if you marginalize the moderates, there’s not of a whole heck of a lot of legislative seats you can win. On the other hand if you ignore the conservative base you’re going to lose a lot of seats like we did in 2006. The key is for both the very conservative and moderate wings of our party to work together." —Rep. Pat Garofalo (R-Farmington)
"I don’t even like the term ‘conservative.’ You’re either a Republican or you’re not." —Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Delano), unsuccessful (conservative) candidate for House Minority Leader
"For our party to prevail we have to ally with people which whom we agree with on five things out of ten — constituents and fellow [caucus] members." —Rep. Jim Abeler (R-Anoka) one of two returning "Override Six" members

We in the blogosphere and in our partisan and ideological circles can afford to be pure in our beliefs. But House members have also explained to me over the years that, whether you're casting a vote from your desk in the Capitol, or meeting with two diametrically opposed constituent groups from your desk in the State Office Building, as a legislator you are still expected by the voters to solve all kinds of fiscal and policy problems of the state of Minnesota. I just hope that the Republican caucuses in both the House and Senate, along with Governor Pawlenty, can agree on, and advance, a core set of center-right Republican principles during the 2009-2010 biennium.

1 comment:

Jim Rongstad said...

If you don't have core principles that you stand firm on, then you are a politician and not a statesman.

Today we are overrun by politicians. Statesman are few and far between.