Jim Renacci is fond of lobbing the “Washington insider” label at Betty Sutton, his opponent in the race for all the crown jewels and combination gas stations/Taco Bells in the Ohio 16th.
It’s one of those completely empty phrases that sounds good in a TV commercial when the candidate is standing in front of an American flag backdrop, and one that also plays well with… um, we don’t know… idiots, probably. Worse than conveying no actual information to the voter, it’s disingenuous and lame, even for a cliche, no different than a 30-second ad where, say, Renacci is wearing a blue shirt and then tells you he doesn’t wear blue shirts, ever. And, oh yeah, Washington is broken!
Anyway, CBS did an undercover investigation into a recent lobbyist vacation/fundraiser down in Key Largo Florida hosted by 11 freshmen Republican Congressman, including Jim Renacci. (See, he’s not a Washington insider, he’s a Florida insider.)
For $10,000, lobbyists got prime access to their favorite non-Washington-insider Republican pals, including happy hour, golf, fishing, and some light over-the-pants action.
The point here isn’t that Renacci did anything wrong — there’s nothing illegal about the fundraiser — it’s just that he’s a steaming dungpile of hypocrisy. He totally wears blue shirts. Video below.
This article appears in Mar 14-20, 2012.
typical Republican
There were 11 Reps and how many lobbyists? I believe the actual report only indentified a single registered lobbyist at the event. Besides, fundraisers are just that, Fundraisers! You don’t turn money away that is legit. Now it would be interesting if you can show any one-on-one time between Renacci and the lobbyist. Typical Liberal rag, make something out of nothing when it suits your agenda.