This Valentine should have been marked “Return To Sender.”
Our Alison Gendar reports:
The
National Republican Congressional Committee
sent out emails Monday blasting New York Democrats Bill Owens of Plattsburgh and Tim Bishop of Long Island for using taxpayer bucks to take part in a Democratic retreat where members serenaded President Obama with
Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together.”
Problem #1: Neither Bishop nor Owens went to the conference.
Problem #2: Calling it a taxpayer-funded retreat is a stretch.
The three-day Maryland conference ended last Friday with appearances by both President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. Members used the occasion to record their own version of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” for the president – a sign they were on-board and united for his re-election.
They gave Obama the supposed lone copy.
“Tim Bishop may think it’s fun and games to serenade the President with love songs, but it’s no laughing matter. Bishop’s blind support for President Obama and his job-crushing policies shows just how drastically out of touch he is with the values and needs of his constituents,” the GOP email read.
Bishop, though, was back in his Long Island district, taking care of constituents’ concerns, said his spokesman Oliver Longwell. One of Bishop’s events during the period was recognizing a slain Long Island Medal of Honor recipient,
.
Owens passed on the Democratic conference as well, choosing instead to spend the time with his family, his spokesman Sean Magers said.
Faced with a couple of no-shows, NRCC Spokesman Nat Sillin did a quick pivot, asking why two incumbent Democrats would be trying to distance themselves from the President.
“Just the sort of baseless attacks we’ve come to expect from the NRCC,” Longwell said. “The congressman agrees with the president on a lot of things – including some fairness to the tax code, returning outsourced jobs… but also disagrees on certain things: charter schools, the recent trade bills.”
As for the funding, the Democratic Caucus holds a conference every year to set its legislative agenda and strategize for the upcoming elections.
Staff said this year, individual congress members paid for their own room, board and transportation with funds that would come from their political campaign committtees, not tax dollars.
The Democratic Caucus did pick up some expenses – for communal meeting rooms and conference centers – paid for by taxpayer dollars since it is deemed an official congressional event. Caucus staff said they did not have any immediate dollar breakdowns.
“A-ha!,” said a Republican staffer, whose boss attended the GOP’s own version of the retreat.
To which a Democratic staffer archly responded: “Republicans’ pay for their conference with money from outside sources and lobbyists. It’s crazy to say that’s a better approach.”
