Progressives balk at Alan Grayson’s pitch for leadership post
Rep. Alan Grayson, who is eyeing a run for a Florida Senate seat, is hoping to position himself as the progressive alternative to Rep. Patrick Murphy in the Democratic primary.
But there’s one hitch: Some of the progressives who’ve worked closely with Grayson in Congress over the years aren’t that keen on his candidacy.
The wariness of fellow liberal Hill Democrats toward the verbose Floridian crystallized in late April, when Grayson pitched the 70-member Congressional Progressive Caucus on a plan to make a new leadership position for him. Caucus members quashed the effort, in part because they didn’t want to give Grayson a de facto endorsement from the left wing of the party.
“Alan’s problem is Alan … and the fact that he goes it alone. Many of us felt that the leadership we have needs to be disciplined enough to, on occasion, swallow their own individual wants for the good of the whole,” said a fellow Democrat, speaking on background to avoid riling Grayson.
It’s not the first time Grayson has faced blowback after rubbing fellow Democrats the wrong way. Just a few weeks ago, he specifically targeted 18 pro-trade Democrats in a fundraising email, drawing admonitions from Democratic leadership. He also has a history of colorful and brash comments. He recently accused a reporter of being a “s——ing robot”and described his wife, with whom he’s in the midst of an ugly divorce, as a “gold digger.” He also previously likened the tea party to the Ku Klux Klan.
Half-a-dozen Democrats who attended two Progressive Caucus meetings in April and May said Grayson asked to be named a vice chairman of the group. He wanted, according to sources present in the meeting, a leadership role among liberals if he jumped into the primary against Murphy, a more centrist candidate.
Murphy entered the Senate race in late March and was endorsed by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in May. Although Grayson has not formally entered the Florida race yet, he’s consistently called for a progressive to challenge Murphy.
During the April 29 meeting, Grayson asked that a new position be created — a first vice chair. But caucus members were skeptical and wanted to know why Grayson didn’t run when the group had held leadership elections in January.
Grayson’s request was tabled after 30 minutes of heated debate in April, and again at a May 13 meeting, signaling the caucus is uninterested in bestowing a leadership role on him, congressional sources said.
Lawmakers like Reps. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois and Jared Huffman of California raised objections to the notion that Grayson could use the caucus as an extension of his campaign platform.
“We didn’t want, even though he is a member and Patrick is not, we didn’t want it to seem like all of the sudden he had a leadership role and it was something he could use in a campaign,” a Democratic lawmaker said.
Grayson spokesman Ken Scudder said his boss asked for the new position because he believes “there are certain areas into which the Progressive Caucus should expand, such as offering progressive amendments in committees and on the floor, working together with progressives in the Senate on legislative initiatives, and collaborating with progressive ‘net-root’ groups.”
“Mr. Grayson may or may not bring the motion up for further discussion at a subsequent meeting. If the motion succeeds, he may or may not run for the newly created position, especially since other members of the Caucus have expressed an interest in the position,” Scudder added. “It is certainly not correct to say that the caucus voted ‘no’ on the proposal to create a second vice chair, much less that the caucus voted ‘no’ on Congressman Grayson occupying that position.”
There is liberal support for Grayson in Florida. The Democratic Progressive Caucus of Florida blasted Murphy as too moderate while offering high praise for Grayson’s liberal bona fides.
“Alan Grayson is a populist who knows how to get things done. That’s effective leadership Florida Progressives want to see in the U.S. Senate” wrote Susan Smith, president of the Florida Progressive Caucus.“The stakes are higher than ever, which means we don’t have the luxury of putting up candidates who don’t know how to fight for their constituents. Alan Grayson is known as a Congressman with guts for a reason.”
But, so far, Grayson has not done enough to endear himself with progressives on Capitol Hill.
A lawmaker who’s part of the Progressive Caucus said that he was uncomfortable giving Grayson a leadership role for “any caucus that has my name on it.”
“He has specialized in not only attacking Democrats but other progressives,” the Progressive Caucus member said. “I don’t know why the caucus would grant him this title.”
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/florida-senate-2016-democratic-primary-patrick-murphy-alan-grayson-119039.html
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