Last week saw two relatively high-profile political figures switch their party affiliation, one leaving the Dem Party to become a Republican, and the other leaving the GOP to become a Dem. While it’s never a good thing to have a public official abandon, and effectively denounce, your party, I’m inclined to argue that the Dems’ pick-up was better than the GOP’s.
The one that got bigger news coverage was Rep. Ralph Hall, a 12-term congressman from Texas, who announced that he’s switching to the Republicans and will run in 2004 as a member of the GOP.
This wasn’t a huge shock to anyone. Hall is, and has been, a conservative. Not a moderate, not a right-leaning Dem, but a conservative. Hall has been about as reliable to the Democratic House delegation as Zell Miller has been to the Democratic Senate delegation. He endorsed Bush in 2000 and voted for Hastert as Speaker in 2002. Hall has been the quintessential DINO — Democrat In Name Only.
What’s more distressing, however, is that Hall’s switch was not prompted by ideology, but rather, practicality. He told reporters about his decision, “I’ve always said that if being a Democrat hurt my district, I would switch or I would resign.” And therein lies the problem. House GOP leaders refused to consider Hall’s requests for federal spending in his congressional district, not because they considered the expenditures unreasonable, but because Hall had a “D” after his name.
Hall explained that Republican leaders rejected his funding requests and “the only reason I was given was I was a Democrat.”
Hall, in other words, wasn’t struck by a crisis of conscience or a sudden realization about the strengths and weaknesses of the parties. He was, instead, effectively bribed into the GOP.
Nevertheless, the practical effect of Hall’s switch is minimal. It will mean the House Dems have just one less vote this year (a vote which they could rarely ever count on anyway) and have one more seat to pick up in their fight to regain the House majority. For those keeping score at home, the new breakdown in Congress is 229 Republicans, 204 Dems, 1 Independent (who always votes with the Dems), and one vacancy.
Long term, Hall’s switch won’t mean much. He is, after all, 80. It’s not as if Hall will suddenly parlay this party switch into bigger and better things, such as a run for Senate. Which segues nicely into the other significant party switch last week….
In Pennsylvania, state Treasurer Barbara Hafer announced that she was leaving the GOP to become a Dem. Why would it be better for the Dems to pick up a state treasurer and lose a House member? Because of the long term implications.
Hafer is a popular statewide figure in a key battleground state. Under pressure from Pennsylvania’s Dem governor, Ed Rendell, whom she endorsed in 2002, Hafer is likely to challenge Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum in the state’s 2006 Senate race. She’d make a strong candidate. She’s a pro-choice moderate who describes herself as “fiscally conservative and socially progressive.” Hafer also has a compelling personal narrative: before entering politics, she was a registered nurse who became interested in fiscal policy after seeing the misuse of public health funds as a health-care administrator.
With this in mind, on balance, I’d rather have Hafer as a Dem running against Santorum than Hall as a Dem, voting with the GOP in the House anyway.