The funny thing to me about Howard Dean hiring a telecommunications lobbyist to run his campaign is how consistent it would be with the old Dean. And by “old,” I mean the Dean that started his presidential campaign in the fall of 2002.
A lot of people, even many of his current supporters, probably wouldn’t recognize the original candidate Dean, or for that matter, Governor Dean. He was an enthusiastic moderate who touted his ties to the NRA. Far from bashing the establishment, Dean touted his experience as chairman of the National Governor’s Association. Far from deriding Washington and everything about it, Dean reached out to insiders to guide his campaign, including Clinton-Gore veterans like Rick Ridder and Steve Grossman.
The old Dean wouldn’t think twice about hiring an experienced “K Street”-style Dem like Roy Neel to run his campaign. Why would he? Neel is an experienced insider with an impressive background who knows the game as well as anyone.
The problem is no one has seen that Howard Dean in a very long time.
Now that Dean’s hired Neel, however, I keep expecting the campaign to offer a salient argument as to why he’s the right choice for a candidate that expressed nothing but disdain for an establishment that Neel appears to represent. If the campaign’s come up with a good line for this, I haven’t heard it yet.
Last night, for example, in what I can only hope will be the last campaign debate for a while, Tom Brokaw broached this subject with Dean, who had to know the question was coming.
Brokaw: You brought in somebody from Washington D.C. who was in the Clinton White House, promised he wouldn’t go to work as a lobbyist, then immediately went to work as a lobbyist. He is a quintessential Washington insider, admired by a lot of people in the party. But doesn’t that change the whole DNA of the Howard Dean campaign?
Dean: Well, first of all, I didn’t fire anybody this week. We did bring in Roy Neel, and I think he is going to do a great job, former President Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, Al Gore’s chief of staff.
Brokaw: Now a telecommunications lobbyist.
Dean: Who never lobbied and kept faith with his ethics pledge, I might add.
And with that, Dean changed the subject. I was waiting for an explanation or a defense, articulating exactly why there’s nothing wrong with bringing Neel in and why Dean hiring him is consistent with the campaign’s message. Apparently, Dean couldn’t think of anything because after noting Neel’s commitment to his ethics pledge in the 90s, he got away from the matter as quickly as humanly possible.
All of this has happened pretty recently, but I have to wonder how much this will further dishearten Dean’s base.
If David Corn’s column in The Nation yesterday is any indication, Neel’s hire may be a serious problem.
In a column headlined, “A Dis-Endorsement of Dean,” Corn, who has praised Dean repeatedly in recent months, criticized the candidate for “put[ting] his campaign in the mitts of a Washington insider.”
Neel, a former Al Gore aide, was head of the U.S. Telecom Association in Washington in the late 1990s until he left to join Gore’s 2000 campaign. The USTA lobbies on behalf of the telecommunications industry. As its lead lobbyist, Neel was the embodiment of the “special interests” that Dean has assailed on the campaign trail.
For much of the past week, I listened to Dean repeatedly bemoan the influence of corporate lobbyists as he crisscrossed New Hampshire. A sampling:
* “All the things that happen in Washington happen for the benefit of corporations and special interests.”
* “This government is run by a president who cares more about corporations than he does about ordinary Americans, and that is why I’m running.”
* “The ordinary people in this country are supposed to be running it.”
* “There are no special interests in Washington who can buy us.”
No, we only let them oversee our campaigns.
Since entering the race, Dean has insistently said, “we have to take our country back” from the special interests. The slogan on his bus reads, “You Have The Power.” He has decried the hold that business interests have on the federal government. Well, what does he think Neel did when he ran the telecom lobby? Did Neel go up to Capitol Hill — or send his underlings — to beseech legislators to pass legislation with consumers foremost in mind? Did he use his connections with the Clinton-Gore administration to help out consumer advocates trying to protect the rights of “ordinary Americans” as Congress and regulatory agencies handled telecom issues? Is maple syrup good for your teeth?
Neel was part of Washington’s insider network — which does not look out for the people Dean claims he wants to empower.
Sounds like Dean’s lost Corn. I have a hunch there’ll be more defections coming soon.