At least we can say something for Dave Reichert, the GOP representative in Washington's 8th district: he might be a bit dim, but he's capable of learning. I guess that's what happens when you hold onto your seat by the skin of your teeth.
Back in the 2006 campaign, when he was defending the seat as a freshman, he made the rather embarrassing mistake of saying out loud, in a public debate, that he would vote against his party when his leadership told him to. Literally, that's what he said:
And so when the leadership comes to me and says, “Dave we need you to take a vote over here, because we want to protect you and keep this majority,” I do it.
Reichert had the advantage of a local media that is completely uninterested in exploring whether he's an adequate representative for his district, and they let that one (and pretty much everything else pointing to how ineffective he's been in the job) slide.
But Reichert learned from it. So when he went to a a closed-door meeting with 8th Congressional District Republican precinct committee officers last week, he showed his ability to grow. He was pushed by some PCOs to explain why he's had handful of pro-environmental votes. What happened next is brilliantly cynical, and Goldy got the exclusive:
[B]efore speaking frankly, he had to make sure that he was amongst friends:
Now, first of all, are there any reporters in the room? Does anybody recognize ... are there any people in here that you recognize as strangers? So we know that all of us in here are family, right?
Well, apparently not, hence the leak of this secretly recorded audio from the meeting, which I now provide to you, totally unedited....
Rep. Reichert goes on to explain the “certain moves, chess pieces, strategies” he must employ to hold his “50/50 district,” even if it means breaking with his party, and his conscience, to occasionally cast a vote in favor of the environment.
Uh, I just wanted to be honest with you. You know Jennifer Dunn was an environmentalist, uh, in her votes, too. Uh, she was also pro-choice. I don’t know if most of you remember that now. But, but, if you want to hold on to this district, there are certain, there are certain things that you must, uh, do. This is a 50/50 district.
Notice how Reichert distinguishes between being an environmentalist, and being an environmentalist in one’s votes. That’s kinda the whole theme here.
Now if you look at Senator Brown’s race, uh, he took, in order for him to win that race in Massachusetts, it took 60 percent of the independent votes to win. Now you may not get, if you watch Senator Brown’s votes now over the next six years you might say, “What the heck... why did we vote for him?” you know, Massachusetts people. But he’s going to be maybe 70/30, maybe he’s going to be an 80/20, but at least you don’t have a 99 percent/one. You know 99 D, one percent R. Uh, you have a 70/30, 80/20. You have got to pick your battles.
Hear that? You gotta pick your battles. And while Reichert loves to regale his audiences with tales of being shot at, and staring the Green River Killer straight in the eyes (indeed, at almost six and a half minutes, this may be the longest I’ve ever heard Reichert go without mentioning his stint as sheriff), hell if he’s gonna take on those scary, hemp-wearing, granola-crunching, tree-hugging environmentalists.
Reichert then goes on to detail the defeat of Richard Pombo in California who was defeated largely because of his insanely whacked-out anti-environmentalism, and pleads with his PCOs to under that he's in a really scary place if he wants to keep his job. So while he doesn't want to help the environment, that's the only way he can stay in Congress. For all that, he still only has a 64 percent voting score from the League of Conservation Voters.
Unfortunately, Reichert is a better learner than the Washington Conservation Voters. Their executive director and a number of board members held a fundraiser for him back in March. Ah, the power of incumbency. Hopefully this new disclosure of Reichert's true self will shake up Washington's environmental community and get them to take a chance on the Dem challenger who'd be a truer friend to their cause, Suzan DelBene.