{"id":178708,"date":"2018-09-12T21:02:00","date_gmt":"2018-09-13T02:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2018\/09\/12\/why-does-this-guy-have-a-job\/"},"modified":"2018-09-12T21:02:00","modified_gmt":"2018-09-13T02:02:00","slug":"why-does-this-guy-have-a-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2018\/09\/12\/why-does-this-guy-have-a-job\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Does This Guy Have a Job?"},"content":{"rendered":"
In a Congressional district that is important for Democrats if they want to retake the house, Rep. Henry Cuellar, nominally a, “Democrat”, is raising money for the Republican<\/a>:<\/div>\n

Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Laredo Democrat, had breakfast on Tuesday with an embattled Republican colleague, Rep. John Carter. <\/p>\n

But this wasn’t just a friendly bipartisan chat over huevos or chorizo at San Antonio’s Mi Tierra Cafe<\/a>. <\/p>\n

This was a campaign fundraiser for Carter, who is badly in need of cash as he fights for political survival against former Air Force combat pilot MJ Hegar. Ticket prices ranged to $2,700 and Cuellar didn’t just attend. He also encouraged others to donate.<\/p>\n

Congressmen cross party lines to write and pass bills, and Cuellar and Carter have worked together for years. But it’s highly unusual for a lawmaker in one party to help a colleague from the other to keep his job. It’s especially remarkable given that Democrats are angling for a “blue wave” potent enough to dislodge lawmakers who, like Carter, have held safe seats for years.<\/p>\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

“Sadly, this is far from out of character for Cuellar,” wrote the liberal Daily Kos<\/a>, which noted that Cuellar votes with President Donald Trump m<\/a>ore than any Democrat<\/a> in Congress.<\/p>\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

As a member of the Texas House, he supported then-Gov. George W. Bush for president in 2000. Bush’s successor, Rick Perry — now the energy secretary — named him secretary of state, Texas’ chief election officer and the governor’s emissary on Mexico and border affairs.<\/p>\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

As The Dallas Morning News has documented, Cuellar has a long history not just of bipartisan cooperation but of going out of his way to provide political aid to members of the other party. <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Cuellar is in a district that has a PVI of D+9, and this ratfF%$# was renominated without any opposition in the primary.<\/p>\n

There is a difference between a conservative Democrat and a disloyal Democrat, and Cuellar is the latter.<\/p>\n

Nothing will come of this in the party, because he is good at raising money, his PR flack is quoted saying that, “The congressman is a member in good standing [of the DCCC] and has not only paid his entire dues for this Congress but he is also advanced his dues for the next Congress.”<\/p>\n

He raises money that pays the unelected consultants who keep losing elections, so he is safe from the party leadership.<\/p>\n

F%$# that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a Congressional district that is important for Democrats if they want to retake the house, Rep. Henry Cuellar, nominally a, “Democrat”, is raising money for the Republican: Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Laredo Democrat, had breakfast on Tuesday with an embattled Republican colleague, Rep. John Carter. But this wasn’t just a friendly bipartisan chat over …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[513,368,364,387,374],"class_list":["post-178708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-campaign-finance","tag-corruption","tag-evil","tag-hypocrisy","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178708"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178708\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}