The culture of entitlement on Capitol Hill is well illustrated by the news that Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, Democrat of Texas, not only steered Congressional Black Caucus scholarship money to two of her grandsons and two of her great-nephews, but asked that the checks be sent directly to her relatives instead of to the schools.
Johnson represents a supremely Democratic district — D+23 in the Cook Partisan Voting Index — and thus is unlikely to see severe repercussions at the ballot box for this scandal.
But Georgia Democrat Sanford Bishop might. “Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.) awarded three scholarships from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation to his stepdaughter and wife’s niece between 2003 and 2005, according to records from the non-profit group.” The congressman’s defense is that because the no-relatives rule was not officially put in place until 2008, he technically broke no rules.
On August 23, I pointed to this as a potential sleeper race:
Mike Keown vs. Sanford Bishop, Georgia’s 2nd District.
Reasons the challenger should have no chance: Bishop has represented this district since 1992, and has usually won comfortably, with a floor of 54 percent (in 1996 and 2000) and a ceiling of 69 percent (in 2008). It is 48 percent African-American. Obama carried the district, 54 percent to 46 percent. Bishop is on the House Appropriations Committee.
Reasons the challenger has a chance: Besides the usual factors of high unemployment and frustration with incumbents, as the NRCC crows, Keown has raised nearly $350,000 — more than any of Bishop’s recent opponents and an exceedingly healthy amount in a relatively inexpensive district in which to buy ads. The incumbent’s campaign skills may be a little rusty: “Bishop’s 2010 campaign got off to a rocky start last Wednesday when Press Secretary Aston McRae fired off a three-page e-mail accusing Keown of budgeting issues while serving as mayor of Coolidge and alleged twice voting for a pay raise while a member of the state House of Representatives. Unfortunately for McRae, the e-mail was sent from Bishop’s congressional office instead of from the campaign, and that’s a no-no. McRae pulled the offending document from Bishop’s website and issued a retraction two days later.”
Since then, many other outside observers are coming to the same conclusion. A Republican poll put Sanford up by 6 points, 50 percent to 44 percent.
Southern Political Report wrote that Bishop “should be okay,” but that the congressman, “who usually gets significant white support, may be losing a lot of it over his vote for ‘Obamacare.’” Larry Sabato’s team writes that Bishop “suddenly is in a fight for his political life.” Reid Wilson put Bishop on his list of “Five Democrats Who Might Lose, But Don’t Know It.”
Now word that Bishop used his position as a congressman to steer scholarship money to relatives. You have to wonder if this will be a tipping point, and if not, how far away it could be.