A sleazy, baseless attack on Rep. Dave Reichert

In a desperate and embarrassing attempt to attack a Washington Republican, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is baselessly criticizing Rep. Dave Reichert (R-WA) as a friend to President Donald Trump. Their claims are not just flat out wrong but it was a form press release that they forgot to fully update.

In a press release, DCCC spokesperson Patrick Burgwinkle claimed Trump is “bankrolling” Reichert’s re-election campaign in order to further support the president’s “dangerous agenda.” How? Trump is headlining a fundraising dinner for the National Republican Congressional Committee, which raises money for congressional Republicans.

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There’s a lot to dismantle in this frivolous attack. Let’s start with pointing out the DCCC’s sloppy work because it provides a context to how they operate.

According to Burgwinkle, this press release targeted 23 Republicans who represent districts won by Secretary Hillary Clinton. That may explain why, in this form email, the DCCC refers to Reichert as a female: “With Trump bankrolling Congressman Reichert’s campaign, how can voters ever trust her to break with Trump’s hard-right agenda?” (emphasis mine)

Beyond that pretty embarrassing and unprofessional screw-up, to pretend Reichert’s campaign is bankrolled by Trump is just a tactic to scare Democratic voters in his district.

For one, the fundraiser hasn’t happened so Trump isn’t bankrolling anything. And that re-election campaign for Reichert? He was just re-elected and there’s no opponent announced yet. It’s only February. Moreover, the fundraising from this event benefits all Republicans, not solely Reichert. He’s not even guaranteed a portion of the funds. And if he were, Reichert should be congratulated because he’d be getting funds raised off a president he’s been a harsh critic of.

As you’ll recall, Reichert did not endorse Trump for President. In fact, he said he’d “never” endorse Trump because “I have a family I have raised on certain principles. How can you support a person who violates almost every one of those principles?”

But perhaps the DCCC didn’t know that? They can’t figure out how to update gendered pronouns in press releases, it may be too much to assume they know how to Google stories several months old. Actually, they don’t know how to Google stories just a few days old.

After the Trump executive order that temporarily banned refugee and immigrant travel to the U.S., Dave Reichert was a loud Republican critic. In fact, he clearly broke with “Trump’s hard-right agenda.”

“People got caught up in this who should not have been have been caught up. Their freedoms were taken away, they were handcuffed and held in holding cells — even children — which is absolutely unacceptable and disgusting,” Reichert said.

He’s even co-sponsoring a bill to protect the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals with Progressive Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-WA).

I asked Burgwinkle to justify the DCCC’s implication that Reichert is bankrolled by Trump and is a rabid supporter. He didn’t; he ignored those questions.

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But he did acknowledge the fundraiser has not bankrolled the campaign, though he seems to take issue that Republicans raise “… lots of money that the NRCC uses to elect and re-elect Republican members of Congress.” Just like the Democrats do for their side. Just like the DCCC does in their missions “to support Democratic House candidates every step of the way to victory.”

I asked Burgwinkle if the DCCC supported Reichert’s bill to support DACA and he chose not to answer, instead, claiming incorrectly that Reichert voted to repeal Obamacare (this hasn’t been repealed yet; in fact, the talk is now about repairing).

This email was nothing more than a sleazy political hit piece against a Republican. If they want to call Dave Reichert out on policy positions or legislative support they disagree with, that is obviously fair game. But we, as voters, should reject the hackneyed gutter politics on full display here.

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