The DCCC is the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the group of congresspeople and staff supposedly responsible for electing House Democrats. It’s led by “ex”–Blue Dog and New Dem Steve Israel, Nancy Pelosi’s hand-picked choice for the job.

We’ve written about Israel before. To the world his job is simply to elect Democrats, but to the moneymen and -women behind the corporate wing of the party, his job is to:

▪ Elect corporate Democrats to the House

▪ Keep progressives out of office

▪ Make sure pro-corporate Republican leaders like Cantor and Paul Ryan never face credible challenges

That last makes sense, right? If you’re a billionaire Wall Street owner (sorry, selfless funder) of the Democratic party — and you also pay good money to keep people like Paul Ryan in office — your message to Mr. Israel goes like this:

“I got boys in both parties. Hands off my boys.”

… to which Mr. Israel says: “Sure thing, boss. So, when will this check be good?”

I’m not joking, and I’m definitely not the only one writing about it. It’s an open “secret” in DC, and all you need to do to prove it is (a) look at Israel and the DCCC’s funding strategies for House races, or (b) read Howie Klein regularly. I’ve done both.

So what did the DCCC do lately?

Six House Dems voted No to raising the minimum wage; four are on the DCCC “extra help” list

Last week there was a vote in the House to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour. It failed. Every Republican voted against it, along with six extremely conservative Democrats:

John Barrow (Blue Dog/New Dem-GA)

Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT)

Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog/New Dem-NC)

Bill Owens (New Dem-NY)

Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)

Kurt Shrader (Blue Dog-New Dem-OR)

What’s special about that? Four of them are also on the DCCC’s “Frontline” list, House Democrats who will get extra help financing their return to office:

John Barrow (Blue Dog/New Dem-GA)

Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT)

Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog/New Dem-NC)

Bill Owens (New Dem-NY)

Here’s Klein on the Frontline list (my emphasis):

Most of the money the DCCC collects from donors is spent on reelecting incumbents– but not just any incumbent. They have a list of Democrats who they say most need the help. The majority of the Democrats on that list [are] on it because they can’t raise money from the Democratic base on their own because they vote with the GOP so frequently on the most important issues. And wouldn’t you know it– all the ConservaDems who voted against the minimum wage increase (except Collin Peterson and Kurt Schrader who [fund] their campaigns by extorting legalistic bribes from lobbyists with business before their committees)– are on the DCCC’s Frontline list.

That’s pretty straightforward, isn’t it? When you give money to the DCCC, they give lots of it to people who vote with Republicans. And they protect Republicans like Paul Ryan, whom they pretend to hate.

And again, Nancy Pelosi put Israel where he is, twice.

What do mailings from the DCCC look like?

DCCC mailings look just like mailings from Democrats, except they’re not. They’re actually mailings from the billionaire consensus that runs both parties. The logo looks like this:

When you see that logo, or the names of Steve Israel or super-corporatists like Debbie Wasserman Schultz, burn the envelope. Sending money to the DCCC is like sending money to this guy:

… and to all of his corporatist friends in the Democratic party. After all, if Steve Israel didn’t want Ryan in Congress, he could have financed the guy who almost unseated him. Needless to say, Israel gave Ryan another bye.

The money the DCCC wastes on these Members … is money that could have elected dependable progressive leaders like Rob Zerban [Paul Ryan’s 2012 opponent] and Nate Shinagawa, each of whom came close to beating their Republican opponent but got no help from the DCCC….

Another telling story here; search on “Zerban” and read about Ms. Wasserman Schultz.

Paul Ryan and Steve Israel, buds forever I guess. But not your buds, that’s for sure. Just say No to the DCCC, no matter how many War on Women ads they send you. When it comes to your wallet, they’re not your friend.

GP

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