AN EXPENSIVE DATE
Fox News host and former Gov. Mike Huckabee
threatened to cancel his October 27 appearance at the
Upstate Multi-County Committee of the New York State Conservative
Party annual dinner if the Conservative Party didn’t tamp down
criticism of Huckabee’s refusal to endorse Conservative Party
congressional candidate Doug
Hoffman, who is in a neck and neck campaign
against liberal Republican candidate Dede
Scozzafava. Both are running for the
23rd Congressional district seat vacated by Rep.
John McHugh.
Huckabee, who according to Upstate Committee sources is receiving
a five-figure fee in excess of $20,000 for his appearance, has
refused to personally endorse Hoffman, who is pro-life and signed
the “no-tax” pledge in August before his announced candidacy, and
has informed Hoffman that HuckPAC will not support him either.
Some Conservative Party officials believe Huckabee’s fee is
intended for his PAC. Ironically, the dinner is held to honor
conservatives who exemplify conservative principles.
Huckabee, and his daughter, Sarah, who runs HuckPAC, were said by
upstate Conservative Party sources to be upset that word was
leaked last week that they were lobbying Hoffman to attend the
event but were refusing to endorse the candidate either
personally or through the PAC. “They said the governor might say
nice things about [Hoffman], but would not endorse,” says a party
official. “They also said if our discussions were made public
they might cancel, because it was embarrassing that they were
being put in an uncomfortable position. But they are making money
off our party, I don’t understand why they can’t support our
highest profile candidate right now, too.”
Polls show Hoffman either tied with or within the margin of error
of Scozzafava, both of whom trail the Democrat in the race.
Huckabee’s actions are seen by conservatives as bolstering
Scozzafava, who is pro-choice and only signed the “anti-tax”
pledge last Thursday after National Republican Congressional
Committee staff promised her former Speaker of the House
Newt Gingrich would endorse her. After she
signed the pledge, Gingrich endorsed her on Friday morning.
Gingrich had attempted to stay out of the race, but according to
NRCC sources only endorsed after Scozzafava signed the pledge,
and after weeklong pressure from NRCC chairman Rep.
Pete Sessions. The RNC, alarmed by the
strength of Hoffman’s candidacy in the polls, is said to have
committed $100,000 to Scozzafava’s campaign, which at one point
last week had less than $10,000 on hand.
A former Huckabee presidential campaign source says another
reason Huckabee has thus far refused to support Hoffman is that
Hoffman was first endorsed by the Club for Growth. “Had Hoffman
come to the governor first, before going to others entities for
support, things might have been different,” says the former aide.
“This is all about who is going to help in 2011 and 2012 for the
presidential race.”
During the 2008 primary season, Club for Growth targeted Huckabee
for running deceptive ads about his fiscal record as Arkansas
governor. During the primary season, Huckabee attempted to
portray himself as a fiscal conservative, when in fact he had
increased sales and gas taxes and supported state taxes on beer,
cigarettes and nursing home beds.
Huckabee, however, has supported candidates also endorsed by Club
for Growth. For example, both Club for Growth and Huckabee’s PAC
are supporting the candidacy of Florida Senate candidate
Marco Rubio, who is challenging
Gov. Charlie Crist — the
difference being that Rubio endorsed Huckabee in 2008.
“Hoffman made his choices on who he would seek help from,” says
the former Huckabee aide. “He’s a man who holds political
grudges, anyone who’s worked with him long enough has seen it.
Club for Growth is not an organization he particularly wants to
work with.” Apparently, even if it means nursing this grudge will
provide aid and comfort to liberal candidates, not to mention an
additional seat to Democrats in Congress.
AN OBAMA TIGER’S ARREST
The White House was tipped off by the Department of Justice
on Thursday about the Friday arrest on insider trading charges of
Obama and Democratic National Committee fundraiser and hedge fund
founder Raj Rajaratnam, who was also a
major U.S. supporter of a Maryland-based charity that supported
the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), an organization that
is on the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Terrorist Organization
list.
Rajaratnam was arrested for his role as founder of the Galleon
Group, and was allegedly involved in what DOJ officials say was
the largest-ever hedge-fund insider-trading case. DOJ sources say
that its investigation of Rajaratnam had nothing to do with his
ties to the Tamil Tigers or other pro-Tamil organizations he may
have supported.
“It was clear that the White House might have to answer some
questions about Rajaratnam when the arrest was made on Friday.
This was nothing but a courtesy, a head’s up,” says a Department
of Justice source. “He was a major supporter of the President.
People were bound to ask.”
Rajaratnam donated tens of thousands to the Democratic National
Committee, personally “maxed out” to both Hillary Rodham Clinton
in 2007 and Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns in 2008, and
raised more than $100,000 for Obama through his Wall Street and
Sri Lankan-American connections, according a DNC source.
According to DNC sources, Rajaratnam sought opportunities to
press the issue of the Tamils, an ethnic group that makes up
about ten percent of the population in Sri Lanka. Sinhalese are
the largest ethnic group on the island nation, making up about
four-fifths of the population. Tamils have waged a bloody,
anti-government terrorist campaign against the Sinhalese majority
for years. Earlier this year, the Sri Lankan government announced
that it had defeated the LTTE. In the past, Tamil organizations
have also been represented by prominent Republicans, who have
lobbied on their behalf.
Apparently, Rajaratnam and his fellow Tamil donors had some
success. The Obama State Department, including former Sri Lankan
ambassador and current assistant secretary of state
Robert
Blake, as well as United Nations
ambassador Susan Rice, have
attended meetings with pro-Tamil organizations, and Blake has
made a number of supportive statements to enhance the Tamils
standing, which have been used for fundraising purposes by the
groups.
