FL 16: The waste of a good Democrat. The harm done there now.

[madfloridian]

David Lutrin was already running in FL 16. Then the Democratic Congressional Campaign committee butted in, and chose a Republican to run as a Democrat. More about David Lutrin.


David Lutrin, a school teacher, union activist and staunch supporter of immediate withdrawal from Iraq, decided to run against Foley before Mahoney entered the race. After Mahoney declared his candidacy, Lutrin was contacted by field organizers for the DCCC who asked him to drop out and let Mahoney run unopposed.

More about Tim Mahoney and the harm done.


In this Oct. 26, 2006 file photo, Democrat Tim Mahoney waits for the start of a debate, at a West Palm Beach, Fla. TV station. Mahoney on Monday Oct. 13, 2008 called for an ethics investigation of himself amid reports that he had an affair and then paid the woman to keep her quiet. (AP Photo/J. Pat Carter, File)

He is admitting to multiple affairs, and most likely this seat will go Republican again.

It was an odd situation from the start.

Lutrin said that he also met personally with Mahoney. During a three- hour breakfast meeting, Mahoney offered Lutrin a higher-paying job if he agreed to drop out of the primary. "Mahoney tried to get me to run in a different district. He offered me a job at one of his non-profit organizations where he said that I would make more than I was making as a teacher. He said I could campaign full time while working at his non-profit as long as I agreed to drop out of the race," Lutrin said. Lutrin declined the job offer.

According to Lutrin, when he refused to step aside, the DCCC shored up local political support for Mahoney. The local AFL-CIO chapter, of which Lutrin was a member, came out with an early endorsement of Mahoney's campaign. According to Lutrin, the union told him that "they would like to back a fellow union brother, but Mahoney has more money and more political support from the party." Lutrin eventually dropped out of the race when the local teachers' union decided to support Mahoney.

I have been writing about this since Rahm Emanuel and state Democratic chairwoman, Karen Thurman, started their visits to South Florida to recruit Mahoney.

Stu Rothenberg met with Mahoney and warned he was not a strong candidate.

Stu Rothenberg.
House Handicapping Is Getting Very Silly, Very Quickly

"The test for the Democrats will be in open seats that lean Republican and in districts where Republican incumbents are seeking re-election - and in those districts, the Democrats’ achievements so far are mixed.

The DCCC can rightly boast about recruits such as Diane Farrell (Connecticut 4th), Lois Murphy (Pennsylvania 6th), Ron Klein (Florida 22nd), Patricia Madrid (New Mexico 1st), and former Reps. Nick Lampson (Texas 22nd) and Baron Hill (Indiana 9th). Each has demonstrated an ability to run a strong campaign, and each has significant personal accomplishments.

But some of those the DCCC is promoting as "strong candidates" have far fewer assets, and much more to prove, before they merit the strong candidate label.

For instance, I met businessman Tim Mahoney, who is challenging Rep. Mark Foley (R) in Florida’s 16th. He’s on the DCCC’s list, but if he’s a top-tier candidate, then I’m Thomas Jefferson. I found Mahoney to be an unpolished second- or third-tier House candidate who is not yet prepared for a U.S. House race. He may have some personal money to put into his race, and he may ultimately become a good candidate. Time will tell. But he isn’t one now."

And this article forgets to say that Mahoney was recruited while a registered Republican.

Democrats say Venus man can beat Foley

It took a trip to Venus, but Democrats may have finally found a challenger to take on U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, a Republican formerly of Jupiter. While it sounds like the start of an interplanetary battle, Democrat Tim Mahoney said it's really a contest for the 16th Congressional District, which covers eight counties, including most of Charlotte County.

"He's got real competition this time," said Mahoney, a 49-year-old venture capitalist who lives in rural Highlands County in the town of Venus.

..."Mahoney is chairman of vFinance Inc., a financial services company based in Boca Raton.

Democrat David Lee Lutrin, an elementary school gym teacher from Palm Beach Gardens, has also opened a campaign account to run for the seat, but national Democrats are already encouraging their party to get behind Mahoney. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, has donated money to Mahoney's campaign and was in South Florida earlier this month to help Mahoney raise money. Mahoney said Emanuel is the person who convinced him to run against Foley. "

From a MyDD diary in August....quote from a Palm Beach Post article with a dead link. It does point out that Mahoney was recruited by state party Chairman Karen Thurman and the DCCC. It also mentions he has not been active politically, but was a registered Republican. He is very rich, though.

Diary from MyDD about Mahoney

"The last few Democratic attempts to unseat U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Jupiter, have been spectacular failures, but some Dems in Washington and Tallahassee still dream of finding a credible challenger.

New Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman and folks at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in D.C. have had serious talks recently with vFinance Inc. Chairman Tim Mahoney, whose business finances high-growth companies and has more than two dozen offices in the United States.

It's a red area, but in this climate we could have had a good chance. We are going to lose a seat that might have been ours in 2006 with an honest to goodness Democrat running.

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Truth be told..I never liked Rahm Emanuel. There is something about him that

signals a negative vibe.


Wasn't he also involved in getting a more conservative Democrat to run in PA...I think that was the race where an Iraq Vet wanted to run, and was discouraged by the DLC or the DCCC.
EDIT
Never mind, I was thinking of Paul Hackett..and that was Ohio.

[madfloridian]

2. Here's a good article. It happened in many places.

http://www.truthout.org/article/special-report-democratic-house-officials-recruited-wealthy-conservatives

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Emanuel could almost be a repuke himself...

According to Democratic candidates who ran for House of Representative seats in 2006, Rahm Emanuel, then head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, took sides during the Democratic primary elections, favoring conservative candidates, including former Republicans, and sidelining candidates who were running in favor of withdrawal from Iraq.

I knew that Howard Dean would not have gone along with this crap..and I should have known that Schumer was in on it too..
I hope that Emanuel and Schumer are both defeated in their primaries by much more progressive candidates.


Thanks madfloridian..for that link.

[BrklynLiberal]

4. Found articles that say similar things about Schumer

http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2008/04/chuck-schumer-power-play-in-north.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pachacutec/chuck-schumer-ambition-_b_28370.html

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/dems-stumble-in-ohio-2006-02-28.html

[madfloridian]

5. They have been handpicking and forcing others out for ages.

Needs to stop.

[depakid]

39. I agree completely- he's the very definition of smarmy

[KG]

6. unless the dem party purges its leadership of the rahm emanuels and donna brazelles and their ilk

the 'change' you think could come from a obama presidency will just continue to be a fantasy.

[madfloridian]

29. You can tell how much change will happen by who is on TV....and who is not on TV

You can look at the Dem talking heads, look at who is on the air on CNN and MSNBC...and then think who you don't see.

[madfloridian]

7. Lutrin comments briefly. From the Sarasota SunHerald

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20081016/BLOG01/810160276/2121?Title=Democrats_not_helping_Mahoney_out_of_this_one#

"One of the problems for U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney as he tries to fight through allegations that he had an affair, is that he’s not likely to have a lot of Democrats coming to his side even as Republicans are calling for his resignation.

..."It’s not just the morale significance of the charges against him. From the start of his emergence as a candidate in the 16th District, Democrats questioned his loyalty and commitment to the Democratic Party ideas given that he was a Republican as recently at 2004. (Wrong..He was still a Republican in 2005...probably August.)

“They all know he’s not a real Democrat,” said David Lutrin, the Palm Beach Gardens school teacher I wrote about in today’s H-T.

Lutrin isn’t alone in his assessment. Early on Democratic bloggers chimed in against Mahoney, a venture capitalist who was until 2006, mostly unknown in the 16th District.

And they mentioned Lutrin again a couple of days ago.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20081016/ARTICLE/810160371

"David Lutrin can hardly hold back the "I told you so."

Three years ago the schoolteacher and passionate anti-war activist from Palm Beach County was all set to run for Congress against then-U.S. Rep. Mark Foley. The 54-year-old husband and father opened up a campaign account, started stumping in the 16th Congressional District and thought he had won the blessing of national Democrats.

But then, almost overnight, Lutrin said the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee began pressuring him to get out of the race and told him it was no longer backing him. Instead it was putting resources, including a check from then-DCCC chairman Rahm Emanuel, behind a political newcomer: Tim Mahoney, a multimillionaire venture capitalist and former Republican, who was mostly unknown within state Democratic circles.

That decision may come back to haunt Democrats."

What Karen Thurman and Rahm wrought in 2006 may come back to bite them in the you know what.

[roody]

8. From the same Party that brought us the

700 billion bailout.

[Faygo Kid]

9. This is what we get for recruiting a third-rate Repuke. That seat is gone.

Mahoney will be lucky to get 20 percent. I sure as hell wouldn't vote for him (or the Repuke either, for that matter).

I vote straight Dem, but I would draw the line at that asshole.

[lib2DaBone]

36. I agree. Unfortunately, Rooney is going to get in.

We are going to lose a seat in CONgress. Tom Rooney, (son of Pittsburgh Steelers Rooney family) an attorney and fresh out of West Point Military. Probably a nice young guy but no secret who he will vote in favor of... Neocons, war and the Bankster/Gangsters.

[awoke_in_2003]

37. Which Rooney brother

is he the son of? The one that really runs the organization, Dan, has endorsed Obama. No surprise, as Pittsburgh is a democratic city. If that is his son, i can't believe he is running as a rebublican.

[lib2DaBone]

40. I'm not sure what part of family he is related to...

..I read about him in the local paper and they mentioned it.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

10. I had heard the Dem Party had told him to drop out now - but he won't.

n/t

[FLAprogressive]

11. That's the Florida Democratic Party and Rahm for ya. Two peas in a pod. nt

[dkofos]

12. Rahm needs to stay out of races that are not his own.

Brilliant, put repube in dems clothing up as our candidate.

[FLAprogressive]

13. It's what Rahm does though. nt

[dkofos]

25. He should quit because he sucks at it.

[brentspeak]

35. Why does Emmanuel have say on these races at all?

Shouldn't Howard Dean be running the show? Man, I can't stand Emmanuel.

[madfloridian]

43. DNC doesn't get involved in primaries with Dean there.

Also it is just for the presidential campaign as a rule, but Dean has concentrated on building state parties and getting back state legislatures and state houses.

Van Hollen as DCCC chair now, sort of does the same thing....but he is opening it up some to progressive Dems. When the Blue America PAC candidate won, he sent money to them. That would not have happened before.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

14. And I thought Hiaasen exaggerated the f'd up state of affairs in Florida...

I was wrong.

[madfloridian]

27. Hiaasen tells the painful truth, unfortunately.

This state was a battleground for taking over everything from the bottom up, school boards, city and county commissions....the Gingrich plan.

[hfojvt]

15. very good reasons to not donate to the DCCC or the DSCC

Donate to DFA or PDA instead.

It's too bad Lutrin dropped out before the vote was taken.

[bvar22]

16. K&R

If you Work for a Living do NOT donate to the DCCC/DSCC.
They will use your money against you!
The DCCC and the DSCC are the enforcement arm of the DLC.
Their goal is to rig Democratic Primaries so that Big Business Friendly candidates are your only choice in the General Election.

The DCCC/DSCC have NO BUSINESS interfering in local Democratic Primaries!!!

[The Backlash Cometh]

17. DCCC are a bunch of friggin idiots.

We don't need them to screw things up in this state. Our political system is screwy enough without their help.

[dorktv]

18. I had a feeling it would be something along these lines.

Seriously...was my district the only one where the DCCC picked a humdinger as a candidate?

[JetCityLiberal]

19. As always mad, THANK YOU for keeping us up to date on this

These DLC shenanigans are disgusting. Emanuel is a jerk, sick of him.

Dr. Dean has given us all 50 states not that rethug lite gang.

Paul

[torbird]

20. Tammy Duckworth, redux

The Dem "strategy" in the past was too often to push forward these silly, unqualified but politically well-timed candidates. The result, as we now all see, is that they are shitty people and, in the process of running shitty people for office, the Democratic Party has alienated some very strong candidates who would have done a far better job and were ridiculously overqualified to boot.

[Selatius]

21. Rahm Emmanuel made a major error in throwing David Lutrin under the fucking bus.

Lutrin was arguably more in-line with Democratic Party principles.

Does Rahm Emmanuel want the Democratic Party to lose?

[madfloridian]

26. And he was assisted by Karen Thurman, state chair.

Yes, Lutrin was a Democrat. Mahoney was not.

[dgibby]

28. Well, there are "moles" in every organization, aren't there?

I've thought for a long time that some of our "leaders" don't have our best interests at heart. Reid and Pelosi, Emmanuel. Guess they'd cease to be leaders if we'd choose not to be followers.

[Elidor]

22. I think I need to send a thank-you note to Rahm

As in: thanks for nothing, you fucking idiot.

[Usrename]

23. Rahm Emanuel is what's wrong with this party.

Great post!

A few more DINOs need to be reduced to buffoon status, like Lieberman. They are killing this party.

[FLAprogressive]

24. Agreed! Someone needs to take up a primary challenge to Rahm. nt

[madfloridian]

30. What transpired in 2006...aka Kiss the Ring...CQ quarterly

There was push back about Dean's idea to give power back to the state parties. That is not what Rahm wanted. And Carville became the messenger right after the election.

They wanted more money for selected races. Dean then as now helped out in down ticket races to insure we will have a hand in redistricting and controlling the voting mechanisms.

http://men.style.com/gq/features/full?id=content_5251&pageNum=5

"KISS THE RING
He’s the new kingmaker of the Democratic party. The man who handpicked candidates, twisted arms, crushed dissent, and delivered the nation from one-party rule. So what does the Clinton vet and former ballet dancer plan to do with all that power?
As the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Howard Dean is the one man who could provide the DCCC with a large influx of cash. So Carville followed Lapp’s advice and reached out to him through a donor pal who knows Dean. “This shit has got to stop,” Carville told the friend. “We need to go see Dean. He’s got one thing we need—borrowing power.” Word came back the next day that Dean wouldn’t meet with them. (Later, asked about the incident, a top aide to Dean tells me the chairman has no idea what Carville is taking about.)
The “shit” Carville was referring to was the long-running feud between Rahm and Dean, which boiled down to Rahm’s wanting Dean to give him more money—a lot more—and Dean’s refusing to do it. Normally, the chairman of the DNC is installed by party leaders, but after the Democrats’ 2004 debacle, there were no party leaders, and Dean won the chairmanship by winning over the anonymous state-party chairs and much neglected members of the DNC, the folks who actually vote on the matter. The state parties became his base of support, and Dean promised them two things: more money and more power.

It drove Rahm and Carville nuts. “The thing that stuns me,” Carville says, “is that this is supposed to be a rigged deal—chairman of the party! The congressional leadership, the fund-raisers, people like that are supposed to decide. You are supposed to get a call and are told who to vote for! You’re not supposed to really vote on this shit!”

.."Rahm had only one more option for pressuring Dean: start leaking to the press. A senior aide to Rahm says Rahm believed that if there were enough newspaper accounts filled with details about how Dean’s stinginess was going to cost Democrats the House, Dean would have to cave. But the stories came and went, and Dean held firm. “What I think Rahm didn’t recognize,” Dean’s aide says, “was that’s exactly the wrong way to move Dean.” In the end, Rahm—or rather his staff¬, because at this point he refused to talk to Dean—had to go crawling back to the DNC chairman and accept Dean’s offer of $2.4 million. Even worse, Dean refused to give the money directly to Rahm. “Governor Dean had concerns that Rahm was going to spend it all on TV,” Dean’s aide says. Instead, it would be funneled through the state parties."

The problems with Mahoney in FL 16 are the result of top down politics. Sure, there's a place for it...but never a place for just picking millionaire Republicans.

[madfloridian]

31. Chris Bowers had a post in November 2006 which really addressed this mindset.

The mindset of handpicking candidates, kicking others out, and claiming credit for everything.

Rahm Won Everything

Sarcastic as hell, but powerful.

This is the party policy messenger chosen by Pelosi. He is getting more air time, he gave the radio speech today.

I always say you can tell which way the party is going by who the spokemen for the party are, and who is not on air.

[bagimin]

32. F Rahm

and the horse he rode in on. This could cost Barrack a few votes up there.

[Laelth]

33. k&r for excellent work, as usual, from madfloridian.

This is either a case of poor vetting, party poverty (need a rich guy who can fund his own race), or deep corruption.

Given that it's Florida we're talking about, it's hard to know which.

-Laelth

[brentspeak]

34. Stu Rothenberg is an idiot. I don't see what his opinion has to do with this.

Mahoney did win in 2006, after all.

The point is that Lutrin would likely have won the seat had Emmanuel and the Florida Democratic leadership stood behind him. You're correct on that: they screwed everyone over by endorsing Mahoney over Lutrin.

[madfloridian]

41. Mahoney barely won in spite of Foley's problems.

It's been a close race all the way.

I have no clue if we would have won at all....but Rothenberg had Mahoney's number back then. Way before the Dem leaders caught on. He wrote several things about this race, and I quoted him because no one else was paying attention at all.

[unkachuck]

38. K&R....just emanuel and those crazy DLC'ers....

....doing what they do best: electing Republicans!

....purge baby, purge!!!

[alarimer]

42. Another reason why I call myself an independent these days.

Oh sure, I may vote Dem "most" of the time but I have had it with the DLC and Blue Dogs and Rahm Emanuel.

We do not need more DINOS in Congress; we need more progressive candidates. It is progressives who do things for the people. The DLC and Blue Dogs do things for corporations. I was absolutely disgusted at the corporate-sponsored DNC. It makes me sick. And some people wonder why others say there is not difference between Democrats and Republicans. It is THIS sort of behavior that lends credence to that claim.

I am waiting for the lock-step party types to join in.

[OmahaBlueDog]

44. MadFlo, all we can hope is that we knock out one of the Diaz-Balarts or Ros-Letinen

..because this seat will revert (I hate to say)

[struggle4progress]

45. The DLC's shills screw us over every chance they get

[Jim Sagle]

46. Rahm pulled the same stunt here in Illinois when he knifed grass-roots candidate Christine Cegelis

and installed Hawaiian import Tammy Duckworth in her place.

He then funnelled millions to Duckworth's campaign, but she lost anyway.

[madfloridian]

48. Cegelis has been working her butt off ever since. Couple of blogs about her...

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/11/9/192227/127

"After the primary, Christine Cegelis could have easily went and said "screw it" and walked away from politics, especially given the number of knives stuck in her back by the party leadership. I think many of her more "green" and independent supporters did just that unfortunately.

Instead, after the primary, she went back to her job as an IT professional; a job held for her by her employer - a Republican - who admired what she was doing. After a few short weeks of being out of the political spotlight, settling back into a normal life, she took a position with Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) as a Midwest organizer. She gave up a secure, comfortable, good paying job with benefits, took a pay cut, and started traveling between several states in the Midwest helping to manage field organizers working 10-plus House races.

Using her experience gained on the ground in IL-06, Christine helped field organizers in these races be more efficient, not recreate the wheel, and provided feedback and guidance. This put her in a car on the road a good deal of the time between the May and the General. From an email:


We had 36 organizers on the ground in 7 states 11 Congressional districts and one Senate race (Brown in Ohio). We used a micro-targeted list to only contact voters that we considered swing voters. <...> Wisconsin is a great example. They had over 8,000 voter contacts and the race was won by just over 6,600. The Kissell race is another place where with 2 organizers on the ground we had close to 10,000 voter contacts. Our goal was to have quality contacts with the voters at least 3 to 4 times."

And this blog:

http://www.redpepper.org.uk/Blue-grits-and-the-Penthouse-Party

"Now the 2008 election stretches before them and blues with grit are wondering, as Connie Baker put it to me: ‘Can democratic people take over the Democratic Party?’

It looks like a long shot. In 2004, Baker worked for Christine Cegelis, an anti-North American Free Trade Agreement, pro-non profit healthcare peace activist who took on arch-conservative Henry Hyde in a special election and won 44 per cent of the vote despite being massively outspent. In 2006, instead of helping Cegelis (who had strong grassroots support,) Emanuel went on a candidate-hunt, approaching half a dozen people to run against her in the primary until he found Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq war veteran who towed the Emanuel line on every topic.

Led by Emanuel, all the prominent Democrats in the country – John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi – endorsed Duckworth. She outspent Cegelis ten times over, narrowly winning the primary, but she lost in November, one of the few Democratic defeats of the night.

Today, Cegelis and Baker are active in organisations including Turn DuPage (County) Blue and the Greater Chicago Caucus, a grass-roots coalition of minority and peace and justice groups they hope will be able to shift the result of elections and the direction of the party. But Emanuel appears to be on the warpath again, encouraging primary contests against blue grit backed candidates who show, frankly, too much independent support. As 2008 approaches, blue grit democrats have already had a considerable impact. You can tell by the stops every contender has added to their campaign itineraries (to attend the Campaign for America’s Future-sponsored ‘Take Back America’ conference, for example, or the bloggers’ convention, ‘Yearly Kos’)."

[dansolo]

52. I'm proud to have supported her in '04 and '06

I used to live in IL-06, and I was pissed about how she was treated by Rahm Emmanuel (and Durbin and Obama as well). I think that if she was given more support, she might have pulled out a victory there.

[madfloridian]

53. They went after a lot of DFA candidates.

There...I said it out loud.

[bluesmail]

47. Sounds like Tim Mahoney was sacrificed for The Greater Good.

[DavidLutrin]

49. Thanks Madfloridian

Thank you for all of your support in the past. It is more than
unfortunate that the DCCC, with their meddling, interference,
and overall poor judgment, will most probably cost the
Democrats the District 16 seat this election cycle. Their
short-sightedness and inability to evaluate a candidate on the
content of his/her character and stance on the issues, rather
than the size of the candidate's bank account and hollowness
of their soul not just in this District, but nationwide. This
latest disgrace and failure of character is more proof that we
need public financing of all congressional races to remove the
money factor and finally put the House of Representatives back
into the hands of the people as was the intent of our
forefathers, as stated in our constitution.

[madfloridian]

54. Hi, David...welcome to DU. Mahoney has shamed himself and his state.

Many of us hope you run again. Maybe things will have changed enough for us to keep them out primary races.

I am a retired teacher, was union as well. I am alarmed at this state's condition. Best to you in the future, and thanks for speaking out at FireDogLake. I believe I linked to that interview at least once.

Best to you.

Hang around, we have some good folks here.

[JustAnotherGen]

50. We need MORE people like Lutrin running for Congress

David Lutrin, a school teacher, union activist and staunch supporter of immediate withdrawal from Iraq, decided to run against Foley before Mahoney entered the race.

It's shame that Emmanuel and Schumer have played that game. And every seat counts. This is the type of Candidate that would have gotten elected this year. :-(

[madfloridian]

51. It has happened too often. People like Lutrin and Cegelis and Schneider...

discouraged and actually almost pushed out of races.