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“This administration is populated by people who’ve spent their careers bashing government. They’re not just small-government conservatives—they’re Grover Norquist, strangle-it-in-the-bathtub conservatives. It’s a cognitive disconnect for them to be able to do something well in an arena that they have so derided and reviled all these years.”

Senator Hillary Clinton

Monday, November 13, 2006

Martinez for RNC

Here's a quick trip down memory lane with the soon to be new head of the RNC.

He's responsible for the famous "Terri Schavio memo" that lead many to believe that Republicans had overreached and were willing to turn a private family matter into a political issue for their own gain. You could even argue this was the beginning of the end for Republicans in 2006.

Martinez, however, claimed no knowledge of what his aids were doing, and it wasn't the first time he's used that defense. An interesting choice for leader of the RNC.

Perhaps these stories shed light on things a little more clearly. Martinez was tied up in fundraising scandals involving a local engineering firm, refusing to return $250,000 that was raised with the help of Jack Abramoff (about halfway down), and my personal favorite:
"Katrina Reconstruction Summit," hosted by Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) and sponsored by Halliburton, among others, brought some 200 lobbyists, corporate representatives and government staffers to a room overlooking the Capitol for a five-hour conference that included time for a "networking break" and advice on "opportunities for private sector involvement."

Turning the destruction of New Orleans into financial opportunities for donors and lobbyists. Martinez should fit right in.