KC Buzz Blog

NRCC: No primary endorsements in '08

    Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, new chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, vowed to Roll Call that the committee will not issue endorsements in contested primaries.

   That means that if, as rumored, former Rep. Jim Ryun and State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins face off in the GOP primary for an opportunity to take on Democratic Rep. Nancy Boyda next year, each will be on their own in terms of raising money and setting up an organization.

Posted by Matt Stearns

As he said, he was a Ford, not a Lincoln

   A place for remembrances, thoughts and comments on the death of former President Gerald Ford.

UPDATE: There's some sadness at KU over the death of former President Gerald Ford.

Federal "hanging" judge Dean Whipple taking senior status

   Who is going to be the next Johnson County or Jackson County prosecutor is so yesterday's news. The legal community now is buzzing about who will get the really plum gig: a federal judgeship. 

  KC Buzz Blog heard through the grapevine that Federal Judge Dean Whipple had taken senior status and was trying to confirm it. And lo and behold having lunch today at see-and-be-seen Pierpont's was KC NAACP President Anita Russell and U.S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan Jr.

   And Gaitan kindly confirmed that, yes, Whipple's last "full-time" day is April 30 and that he will no longer be chief judge as of Jan. 22. What Gaitan modestly did not mention is that he will be the next chief judge.

   Taking senior status is not the same as retiring. Whipple will still have an office and staff. He can keep any existing cases that he chooses, but will have more say over which new cases he takes. There are already two senior judges and both carry heavy caseloads.

   Whipple is best known as the final judge in the 26-year, $2 billion Kansas City School District desegregation case. He often railed about patronage and micromanagement in the district and when he ended the case he said the district had a long ways to go before becoming a public school system that KC residents could be proud of. He also oversaw the Kansas City Housing Authority case and often provided wry and punchy quotes from the bench in a variety of cases.

   Whipple came to the bench in 1987 through an appointment by President Ronald Reagan. He had served 13 years as a state court judge in the Lake of the Ozarks area. He had previously served as a county prosecutor. 

    Colleague Dan Margolies says Whipple obtained a reputation as a "hanging judge" while on the state court bench, which Whipple confirmed in one of his earliest cases. In December 1988, he sentenced a real estate developer to 10 years in prison for bank fraud charges. In handing down the sentence, Whipple said he wanted to "send a message" to white-collar criminals, says Margolies who covered the sentencing.

   Politicos and attorneys are also curious to see how partisan of a replacement appointment does President Bush make with the Senate now controlled by Democrats. But several attorneys and politicos said today that Sen. Kit Bond, a Missouri Republican, is good about making sure the president nominates a well-qualified candidate.

  Of course, incoming Sen. Claire McCaskill can have her say and put a hold on anyone she objects to (remember Ronnie White?). Which brings to mind an election-eve comment from Bond about how important a Jim Talent win was to him: "I've tried it with my vote being canceled on every important issue I've worked on."

   Look for a story from reporter Mark Morris in Thursday's Star about Whipple.

Posted by DeAnn Smith

Panel concludes GOP didn't protect pages from Foley but broke no rules

   The House ethics committee reported today that Republican lawmakers and aides failed to protect young male pages from former Rep. Mark Foley's improper advances, concluding an investigation into a scandal that convulsed Congress and contributed to the GOP defeat in last month's elections. The panel said it found no evidence that any current lawmakers or aides violated any rules. But it said it discovered a pattern of conduct among many "to remain willfully ignorant of the potential consequences" of Foley's conduct.

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

JoCo GOP feels the love

   Can it be?

   Moderates and conservatives in Kansas linking arms, working (gasp!) together?

   Looks like it. In a move that could herald a new day, Johnson County Republicans Monday night elected both conservatives and moderates to its leadership team.

   "This is different than what's happened in the past," noted Andy Wollen, state chair of the Kansas Traditional Republican Majority.

   Reeeallll different.

   The new lineup:

• State Rep. Scott Schwab (a conservative) is chairman, succeeding Doug Patterson.
• Arlene Krings (conservative) is vice chair.
• Marvin Kleeb (moderate) is treasurer.
• Brad Seitter (moderate) is secretary.

   "It's enormously significant," said Wollen, who has pitched compromise slates before only to be rebuffed. "It represents an attempt by the Republican Party to find a way to integrate both sides of the party into one unit that can actually function together."

Posted by Steve Kraske

Oh, Noe!

    Thomas Noe, a prominent rare-coin dealer and Republican fund raiser who was convicted last week of theft, corrupt activity and forgery, was sentenced today in a Toledo, Ohio, courtroom to 18 years in prison. Noe was a key figure in financial scandals that cost Republicans a U.S. Senate seat in Ohio as well as four of the five statewide offices in elections this fall, after controlling those positions for 12 years.

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Street-walking in DC

   The Star's Matt Stearns strolls down D Street SE in Washington and finds it's a one-block catalogue of self-inflicted GOP wounds. In other words, a lot of Republicans, including Kansas Rep. Jim Ryun, lived on the street and now are looking to sell their expensive rowhouses.

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

An important political (fashion) lesson today

   Seersucker trumps plaid.

   I mean, come on, Lamar Alexander had to know that Trent Lott had the Republican's whip gig locked up. No self-respecting Southern senator would vote for plaid over seer sucker. 

Posted by DeAnn Smith

Lott back in leadership

  Sen. Trent Lott, ousted from the top Senate Republican leadership job four years ago because of remarks considered racially insensitive, won election to the No. 2 post Wednesday for the minority GOP in the next Congress.

   Lott returned to the center of power by getting the position of vote-counting GOP whip, nosing out Sen. Lamar Alexander. Sen. Rick Santorum told reporters that Lott beat Alexander by a 25-24 vote.

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

So this is what an acid red tongue looks like

   The notion of Florida Sen. Mel Martinez simultaneously serving as the Republican National Commitee chairman is going over as well with right-leaning bloggers about as well as Harriett Miers did for the Supreme Court.

  In fact, the Miers comparison is one of the kinder things being said over at RedState.com where Martinez is compared unfavorably to a "lobotomized sea lion." The Corner's Kathryn Jean Lopez says no one gets it because Martinez is lackluster at his current full-time gig. The Washington Times has their write-up on the donnybrook.

  Oh, and it's never a good sign for the GOPers when Markos Moulitsas over at dailykos.com opines with joy. And no one is forgetting Martinez's lead role in the Terri Schiavo Congressional intervention either.

Posted by DeAnn Smith

Losers always do this

   Remember all the times Democrats said that just a small shift in votes in Ohio would have given John Kerry the presidency, although he lost the popular vote to George Bush by about 3 mill. Well, now it's the GOP's turn to play that game, in exhaustive depth: 

   The Republican National Committee says a small shift in votes would have made a big difference in the election. A shift of 77,611 votes would have given GOPers control of the House, according to Bush’s political team. And a shift of 2,847 votes in Montana or 7,217 votes in Virginia or 41,537 votes in Missouri would have given a GOPers control of the Senate.

   The GOP has calculated that the winner received 51 percent or less in 35 contests, and that 23 races were decided by 2 points or fewer. Also, 18 races were decided by fewer than 5,000 votes, 15 races were decided by fewer than 4,000 votes, 10 races were decided by fewer than 3,000 votes, eight were decided by fewer than 2,000 votes and five races were decided by fewer than 1,000 votes.

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Another hat

   This just in from McClatchy Newspapers: Florida Sen. Mel Martinez, formerly a member of President Bush's Cabinet, will become chairman of the National Republican Committee while remaining in the Senate.

Posted by Darryl Levings

Feeling blue lately?

   The Hotline observes that Democrats won Senate elections in nine red states last Tuesday, while Olympia Snowe was the only GOPer to win in a blue state. In fact, only seven GOP senators now represent states that were blue in 2004: Snowe, Susan Collins, Judd Gregg, John Sununu, Arlen Specter, Gordon Smith, and Norm Coleman. Four of the seven -- Collins, Sununu, Smith, Coleman -- are up for re-election in 2008.

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Mehlman goes postal, will step down

    Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, whose party lost both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections, will resign from his post when his two-year term ends in January, GOP officials said Thursday.

Posted by Keith Chrostowski