GOPAC Is Back

Michael Steele, who just took over as chairman of GOPAC, wants Republicans to know the organization will soon be back as the powerful force it once was under Newt Gingrich.

Steele, the former Maryland lieutenant governor, has replaced J.C. Watts Jr. as chairman of GOPAC, a section 527 political action committee that supports Republican candidates with direct donations and training in running for office.

Steele tells NewsMax that Republicans face a shrewd foe. In effect, he said, Democrats have wheeled themselves out as Trojan horses, ingratiating themselves with voters by pretending to adopt Republican values but then voting as traditional Democrats.

Political Trojan Horses

“I’m here to say we’re dealing with a new type of political opponent — one who has learned and studied us very well as Republicans and has created great Trojan horses,” said Steele, who lost his race for Senate last year. “They come in and they run like Republicans. They espouse their perspective on a number of the core issues that Republicans have been successful on. On pro-life and gun control issues, these guys are hawkish as anyone else. That’s how they’ve won, and that’s how they’re going to continue to win elections, unless we’re prepared to expose the horse for what’s inside.”

What’s inside, Steele told me, are the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy, Steny Hoyer, and Harry Reid.

“What you see inside is a liberal left leadership that is not necessarily going to stand there and promote the same agenda that these individuals who got elected to Congress in ’06 seemed to be promoting,” Steele said.

The way Democrats have exploited the Bush administration’s firing of eight U.S. attorneys is another indication of their savvy, Steele said.

“You put in place this effort to focus on a troop surge and to get some real momentum for the administration’s policy in Iraq, and there’s some signs that that momentum is beginning to take hold, that there’s some success on the ground,” Steele said. “And all of a sudden — boom. You take three steps back with something that’s within the prerogative of the executive branch to do, and that is to hire and fire those at-will employees for whatever reason.

“Bill Clinton fired 93 of them, for goodness sake, and no one blinked an eye. George Bush fired eight in the second term, and you think it’s Armageddon.”

Thus, the Democrats turned innocuous, if poorly handled, firings into a front-page story.

“You just scratch your head and say, ‘These guys are good. Wish we’d learn to be better,’” Steele said.

To win back federal and state offices, Steele said, Republicans must “begin to set the agenda and articulate a vision of Lincoln Republicanism that is in my view reflective of a greater responsibility and opportunity for individuals to continue to create jobs here at home and to provide the level of security that we need to provide across our country, and across the globe.”

Steele is on the lookout for attractive potential candidates. In effect, GOPAC will teach them the craft of running for office.

“We will be focused on building the farm team,” Steele said. “We’re looking much more holistically at the future and saying that we want to build a grass-roots organization that’s focused not just on the talents of the candidate but the talents of the team around that candidate so that we can build a better campaign operation.”

Delaware Gov. Pete du Pont started GOPAC in 1979. Under Newt Gingrich in the 1980s, GOPAC became the Republican Party’s top education and training center. The former House speaker organized campaign seminars and put out workbooks and audiotapes.

GOPAC Is Back

Under Watts’ leadership, GOPAC more than tripled its fundraising, collecting nearly $9 million during the last election cycle. GOPAC trained thousands of Republican activists and assisted Republican organizations in recruiting candidates for local office. GOPAC also provided direct campaign support to candidates in 17 states.

“Our goal is to increase our fundraising,” Steele said. “My theme for the next two years is, ‘GOPAC is back,’” a motto that will soon be added to a re-designed GOPAC Web site.

“We have five state elections that we want to see some success in: New Jersey, Virginia, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Louisiana,” Steele said. “We’re going to bring in a strong team of people to help us build the successes that we need.”