A White House PowerPoint presentation from
January lists Barbara Cubin
as one of the 20 most vulnerable Republican
incumbents in Congress.
When Karl Rove says that the Wyoming Republican
is in trouble, you
know that Cubin has to be getting worried.
This week, the House Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform
has been holding a series of
hearings to investigate allegations of
misconduct at the the
Government Services Agency.
The scandal involves GSA chief
Lurita Doan and
Rove's deputy, Scott Jennings.
In January, General Services
Administration chief Lurita
Doan and Karl Rove deputy Scott Jennings held a
video conference with
top GSA political appointees, “who discussed
ways to help Republican
candidates.” Jennings, the White House’s deputy
director of political
affairs, gave a PowerPoint presentation on Jan.
26 of polling data about
the 2006 elections. When Jennings concluded
his presentation to the
GSA political appointees, Doan allegedly asked
them how they
could “help ‘our candidates’ in the next
elections.”
Aisde from the potential illegality of a
partisan political briefing, which
appears to
violate
the Hatch Act, the briefing is
interesting for what Jennings had
to say about Cubin. Here's
how the Wyoming
Tribune-Eagle summarized
it:
The congresswoman hasn't yet
decided what her plans are,
but presidential adviser Karl Rove says her
current term might be her
last. ... On Wednesday, TP Muckraker, a
progressive Web log, published
the "Priority Defense" list of elected
Republicans whose seats the party
wants to defend in 2008, as well as a "House
Targets" list of elected
Democrats the party considers vulnerable. Next
to Cubin's name [on the
Priority Defense list] is the notation that
Rove says Cubin may not run
again.
Being on the "Priority Defense List" means that
the White House sees
Cubin as one of the 20 most vulnerable
Republicans in Congress. And
when you look at her recent voting record is
there any doubt why?
Cubin has consistently voted against the
interests of our state since being
narrowly re-elected last fall. Just this week,
she voted
against open and accountable government
bucking her own
party and Wyoming's US Senators.
And that's when she shows up. Cubin
missed
almost all of the
votes during the post-election Congressional
session. And as
the state party
noted yesterday,
So far this year, Cubin has
continued to solidify her legacy
as an absentee congresswoman by having the seventh-worst attendance record
of the 435 members
of U.S. House of Representatives. Of
the people who have
missed more votes than Cubin, one had gall
bladder surgery, one tore
three ligaments in a knee, one had urinary
tract surgery, one had heart
bypass surgery, and a fifth is
dead.
For more on the GSA PowerPoint Presentation,
check out
TPMmuck
raker.com and
ThinkProgress.com.
The presentation itself is
available at the House Oversight
Committee's website. (The last link
will take you directly to a
large pdf file.)
