I heard this story while driving into work this morning. Here’s a link. There’s speculation that he’s quiting because he has not been consulted by the leadership on some issues, including one involving his home state. My personal opinion is that he was mostly as a party “face” to demonstrate the GOPs inclusion platform, but that he was largely ignored/marginalized by the party leadership.
How will this effect the GOPs outreach to minorities when the most visible minority quits?
Do the Dems have a chance to make a grab for his seat?
There isn’t a paucity of blacks Republicans would like to be spokesmen, but it doesn’t appear that any have a shot at Congress this year.
Probably the one with the best chance is Colorado Lt. Governor Joe Rogers, who’s running for the new 7th District. He angered the governor, which is why he’s running for Congress instead of re-election. It’s also why the party’s infrastructure is backing another candidate, former state chair Bob Beauprez. And even if he makes it out of the primary it’ll be a tough district to win because it’s split 50-50 among Dems and GOPers (Gore would’ve won it had it existed, I forget if it was with a plurality or a majority). Also, he didn’t live in the district before the CO Supreme Court created it so he could be tagged as a carpetbagger. OTOMH, I can’t think of any other black Republicans with a serious chance at a House race.
Watts’ seat is definitely in play. It’ll most likely be a campaign between two strong candidates, Loyd Benson and Tom Cole. Before Watts it was held by Dem. Dave McCurdy (a major league a-hole, but that’s getting off track here) and has retained some of its Democratic leanings. It’s definitely a possible pickup.
Watts did feel marginalized by the rest of the leadership, that was one of the reasons why he quit. He also has a few personal problems, he got into an altercation with an airport security guard and has nearly come to blows with quite a few members. His hairtrigger temper worried some about his ability to serve as Whip or Majority Leader. It’ll be interesting to see who wins the race for his former seat. The GOP has a choice between a moderate woman (Deborah Pryce), a total nut and buffoon (J.D. Hayworth) or a low-key Christian conservative (Jim Ryun). If they lose the House my bet would be Pryce, if they keep it then Ryun.
I don’t think it effects outreach efforts much, considering how little they had done before. Black Republicans are anything but plentiful in them. This probably won’t effect Hispanic ones that much either.
This whole thing struck me as odd. Didn’t he announce his candidacy with some pomp only a month ago?
Makes me wonder if he has some skeleton in his closet which someone has uncovered and is using to force him out of politics. (Think Primary Colors.) Or is that too far-fetched?
Yeah I had heard that, I know he got into it with a house member Pete Stark, over a welfare proposal , but I didn’t realize that was typical behavior. Thanks for yur insights
I’ll go along with the (excessive) egomania hypothesis. He had already been pushed up front, literally even before taking his seat, by a party nervous about its image, but somehow thought that was due solely to merit and that he should be Speaker in his fifth term.
Combine that with a growing feeling that the Republicans are going into the minority for the next term and for a good long time to come, and that he’d be effectively powerless (not to mention still being the entire GOP black caucus). It’s not too hard to imagine him wanting to avoid that embarrassment. This way, he gets a high-profile, high-paid gig on the Fox talk shows instead of obscurity and helplessness.
What’s with all the athletes going into Congress being Republicans and generally conservative? Watts, Kemp, Largent, Bunning, Ryun … does that have something to do with being rich?
Watts’ case depresses me. It reminds me of the story of Bill Grey, another black Congressman in a leadership role, who looked to be moving up when he suddenly retired.
I honestly don’t think there is a conspiracy here, but the overt fact that both of these black Congressmen felt they couldn’t overcome the obstacles before them to a leadership role is depressing.
Sua can you direct me to some info on Grey, I just googled it and came up empty.
Back to Watts, I’m a moderate so I don’t really have a personal stake in this; but as a black man having representatives in both parties I feel would be a good thing.
Stuffy, I can’t seem to find much on Google, either, so I’ll just tell you what I know.
The Rev. Bill Grey was a Democratic Congressman from Philadelphia, and a right smart guy. IIRC, he had made it up to the number 3 post in the Congressional leadership (majority whip), and looked to be going higher, when he suddenly announced his resignation (again IIRC, he didn’t wait until the end of his term) to become head of the United Negro College Fund, which I believe he still runs. His resignation came in 1992-93 or thereabouts.
Sua, I’m curious why you’re singling out Grey as a disappointment, and not the hundreds of other congresspersons who also don’t move up in the ranks. Affirmative action is good, but only if applied to those who actually have the talent, I’d argue - otherwise it’s just tokenism, and there’s no loss in its absence.
I’m also curious why you think Watts was being held back for some reason - he was placed right in the front window as soon as he won the first time, and his advancement in party ranks was extremely rapid - very possibly beyond his leadership talents. Just how far should a fifth-termer be in his career, anyway? I hope you’re not complaining that he wasn’t the beneficiary of even more tokenism than he already was.
FWIW, I strongly suspect that Watts was using the GOP as much as it was using him. As a Democrat, he’d still be paying dues, and sitting behind the several dozen other members of the black caucus. By choosing a GOP ballot, his advancement, not only in rank but in the public eye, was much more rapid.
Kweisi Mfume also left his seat mid-term to take on the leadership of a black organization, the NAACP. Was he a similar disappointment to you? Or do only Republicans do that?
If the Republican Party has been, and is, seen by most blacks as hostile or at least less committed to racial blindness, it is hardly the fault of blacks for failing to come in and change it. The party has to address the history and underlying realities creating the perceptions. I recall Watts’ own father saying, for instance, that “a black would have to be a damn fool to vote Republican”.
There are two things with that idea that bothers me. First, every ‘minority’ member of the Republican party seems to be considered a ‘face’ used by the Republican party just to win minority votes. Second, at the same time, it seeems that any minority that is Republican are considered to be selling out their race. (Just look at what people think about Clarance Thomas) It seems to me that the Republican party i caught between a rock and a hard place.
As far as Watts’ resignation goes I am kind of suprised. I seem to recall that he was very popular in his district, which I believe was overwhelmingly white. I also seem to recall that he moved up the ladder rather fast for someone of his age. I did not hear about any personal problems he might have had but I don’t follow politics outside Nevada at the state level.
Thanks for the correction, grendel72 - the real line is better.
sleestak, the concept of the GOP engaging in tokenism may have resonance because of the presence of such luminaries as Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond among their elder statesmen. The way Watts was so quickly pushed up into the front window, in a way no white freshman would have been, adds to that, as did “Negro Night” at their last convention (remember that?). Incidents like the disenfranchisement of black Florida voters in the last election add to it. In short, if the GOP really wants to be seen as color-blind, they have to start acting like it.
Regarding Grey and Mfume, I’d like to add, although I’ve never met either of them, that they genuinely thought they could do more good running the organizations they went to than in Congress. Or perhaps the ego boost of being in charge of something played a part.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by sleestak *
First, every ‘minority’ member of the Republican party seems to be considered a ‘face’ used by the Republican party just to win minority votes. Second, at the same time, it seeems that any minority that is Republican are considered to be selling out their race. (Just look at what people think about Clarance Thomas) It seems to me that the Republican party i caught between a rock and a hard place. /QUOTE]
It doesn’t help that the Republican Party (and their conservative supporters) actively fosters an anti-minority (and anti-women) image. I mean, when Ronald Reagan was demonizing welfare with tall tales about “welfare queens” in inner cities spawning illegitimate children and driving around in Cadillacs, he was playing to negative stereotypes of urban blacks and Hispanics. When the GOP runs commercials about the life and times of Willie Horton, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize it wasn’t because they thought the name “Willie” sounded keen. And when conservative commentators like Rush Limbaugh defend stuff like Bob Packwood’s sexual harassment as “boys will be boys”-type behavior, it’s just another reminder that the GOP is ultimately about protecting the well-to-do white guys at the expense of everyone else.
I mean, sure, you’ve got nuts in the liberal wing as well, but at least the liberals don’t glamorize 'em – Jessie Jackson’s “Hymietown” comments received bipartisan denounciation, IIRC.
According to Watts (in his recent book) and a few of his associates, he had been given the title of a position, but was never permitted to exercise his role in that position. Whenever GOP strategy was discussed, they would invite him in for the initial brainstorming, then a day or so later he would have to find out what the decision was from the papers or other members of Congress. He was not only never permitted to participate in a decision, he was not even given an early warning as to what the decision had been.
Is this true? I dunno. However, more than one inside-the-beltway person has expressed the idea that he believed it and a few of them concurred with that decision.
