Posted on 01/14/2011 3:17:10 PM PST by nickcarraway
It seems fair to ask, when one uses standard liberal catch-phrasing, volunteers for an organization like the NAACP, becomes party to an eminent domain lawsuit to take property from a small business on behalf of the government and is linked to the solicitation of government stimulus funding, just how conservative is said individual?
Given that the individual in question is Reince Priebus, currently seeking the RNC Chairmanship and talking like a conservative, how is it that he seems to have so walked the walk of a typical liberal over the years?
This was only ten years ago, after all. Certainly, there’s nothing wrong with exposing oneself to different peoples and locations and I’m all for the Republican Party reaching out more to minority communities. But whether we do that as stock-in-trade liberals, or present a genuine conservative alternative to the liberal policies of Democrats makes a big difference. So, when one invokes stock phrases like diversity and aligns himself with the NAACP, just what kind of outreach is it Reince Priebus had in mind by attending the University of Miami? Or, just as he talks the talk of conservatism now, is he more a chameleon who says what he has to say to be popular at the time? That’s hardly the type of principled leadership needed for the RNC, especially at such a pivotal time in American history in which the Right and Left are battling to determine the future course of the nation.
In addition to reputation and placement record, Reince chose Miami because he wanted the opportunity to experience living in a diverse community … He was also a law clerk for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in Los Angeles the summer before his third year.
That would be the same NAACP, by the way, that recently tried to malign the tea party movement as racist. Going from the NAACP to the RNC is quite a leap in ten short years. And the years in between weren’t very conservative, either. As recently as 2003, Reince Priebus was using his legal skills to confiscate land from a small business through the power of eminent domain. On behalf of the petitioner-respondent, the cause was submitted on the brief of Charles P. Graupner and Reince R. Priebus of Michael Best & Friedrich LLP, and Harry A. Stein, assistant city attorney of Milwaukee.
The property, which is the subject of this appeal, is a portion of an entire parcel of land acquired by the City of Milwaukee through its power of eminent domain to create a new street design warranted by the demolition of the Park East Freeway in downtown Milwaukee. At the time of the taking, Roadster LLC was the owner of the entire parcel. The subject of this appeal (the property) is a parcel used for parking, with frontage on the west side of North Old World Third Street and the south side of West McKinley Avenue.
Big Government has already pointed out Priebus’ relationship to stimulus dollar solicitations here. Priebus certainly talks the right talk in these Tea Party times. Unfortunately, from his fondness for liberal catch-phrases, work with the NAACP, appreciation for the use of eminent domain to take land from a small business–land it needed to survive–and profiting from Stimulus funds, it’s extremely hard, if not impossible to document that there’s a principled conservative somewhere underneath the facade.
Reince Priebus is currently being touted as a front-runner to replace current RNC Chair Michael Steele. But Priebus’ leading role among a select group of high-powered Wisconsin attorneys targeting clients to assist them in maximizing stimulus dollars, at the same time the anti-stimulus RNC employed him as interim general counsel, raises some troubling questions, not just for Preibus, but for the Republican Party as a whole.
The bottom line is that it doesn’t matter a whole lot how liberal the Chairman is. He doesn’t have a vote and doesn’t make policy. His personal political views are largely irrelevant. What matters is how much money he raises for the GOP, and who he recruits to run.
Michael Williams!
The people that give him money influence the direction the party takes. It doesn’t matter, any way you stack it, the GOP is making a lurch to the left.
So what else do we know about the guy? Why did he win?
Priebus is a pretty conservative guy. He did right by Wisconsin. I only hope we can replace him with someone nearly as good.
I am not sure I would call it a “lurch.”
The main reason the GOP is moving left is that a whole lot of Democrats jumped ship and have moved over to the GOP side. That’s why the Tea Party is so important. We need to remind these guys that we are just looking for an excuse to pull the rug out from under them.
Rupblicans took blue state Wisconsin by sweeping Dems out of the assembly, the state senate, the governors mansion + in national races the R’s took out Russ Feingold, Steve Kagan and David Obey.
He deserves a medal and a parade here in Wisconsin. It was a total bloodbath of Dems getting wiped out of races.
Bloodbath.
The fact that the RNC Chairman has a hand in selecting the 2012 GOP presidential nominee is important and should not be dismissed. That Mr. Priebus claims to be adamantly pro-life is encouraging - to a point. Let's see what else he has to offer conservatives.
I don’t know this guy, but if he is liberal, the RNC will be hurting for money even more than it is now.
He is not a conservative. The TEA party dragged him and the state GOP across the finish line. Several county GOP groups shunned TEA party candidates during the primaries. I don’t care for Priebus but I hope to be proven wrong.
The local talk show hosts (3 from WISN radio) are pretty good at vetting people (Vicki McKenna in particular) and they seem quite happy with Priebus. I will give him this - he was Steele’s campaign manager last time he ran for Chairman of the RNC, so it took some guts for Priebus to challenge him this time.
I think it’s interesting that Boehner wrote a letter of support for Maria Cino. I don’t consider Boehner a strong conservative. I wish he was, but I think he’s a wobbly one.
Remember last year there was some article, maybe on Hot Air, talking about how most of talk radio and otherwise conservative pundits were rooting for the establishment candidates in the primaries? McKenna and the others in WI were all onboard with the establishment. We're such a small state where republicans are concerned, the local radio folks had to protect their interests and support the establishment picks. That's why you never heard the primary challengers on talk radio shows.
BUMP. Good post.
You know, rr, I didn’t think that was so. Some of the most obscure Republican challengers were invited on Jay Weber’s show and Vicki McKenna’s show. I know because I usually sent them a small donation to encourage them.
Not sure which of the other candidates he was trying to push, but his whole goal was (is?) to destroy Reince Priebus, the successful conservative Wisconsin GOP Chair.
He just strikes me as a nervous nelly and I don’t trust him.
The establishment was supporting arguably the most conservative slate of candidates in the country.
That's a GOOD thing.
He struck me as someone not particularly comfortable with doing radio interviews, but, what I took most from his words was his careful choice of words so that he wouldn’t offend various factions of the Republican party.
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