Conservatives are angry about the so-called “CRomnibus” spending bill that was just passed by the Congress. Many are calling it the “cronybus” bill because it seems everything in that bill was designed to help everyone but real Americans.
Members of Congress get a $1,000 a month for a car allowance.
Bankers could get a $303 trillion bailout if derivatives go south again.
Congress upped the limit wealth donors could give to politicians and political parties from $32,000 a year to $1.55 million for a couple.
The CRomnibus funds Obamacare and does not do anything about President Obama’s executive amnesty for illegal immigrants.
Conservatives are furious about the bill. Conservative leaders and organizations called for this bill to be stopped, but the Republican Establishment ignored the wishes of the base and of the American people, and passed this insane spending bill.
Now, the first casualty from the “CRomnibus” may be visable.
Diane Black represents Tennessee’s 6th Congressional District.
Ms. Black was elected to Congress in the Tea Party wave of 2010. Although she does claim membership in the Tea Party caucus it would be an act of absolute fiction to call her a Tea Party politician. To call her a conservative is a bit of a stretch. Heritage Action gave her the second-lowest score of any members of the Tennessee Republican House delegation for the 113th Congress.
It was no great shock that Ms. Black broke with conservatives, supported the Washington Republican Establishment and voted for the CRomnibus bill.
Conservatives in Tennessee did not take this lying down. Within a couple of days of that vote, BeatDianeBlack.com went up.
Beat Diane Black is a project of the Beat Lamar group. This group jumped into prominence in the 2014 primary season. It got behind Joe Carr, who was then a mostly unknown Tennessee state representative. Polling just a month in front of the election had the race at a tie. Unfortunately for Mr. Carr, he ran out of money and could not advertise in the last three weeks of the election, while his well-funded opponent, incumbent Sen. Lamar Alexander could.
One of the worst parts about the CRomnibus bill was the campaign contribution limits changes. Under the new law, individual donations to candidates and parties, which had been capped at $32,000, are now raised to $777,000. Many incumbents, like Ms. Black, will undoubtedly be calling some of their wealthy donors for even more money.
However, the people are fighting back.
Beat Lamar took a network of grass-roots organizations across the state and went door to door with the campaign message. The 6th Congressional District is a far smaller area for grass-roots activists to engage voters.
The strategy is simple. Instead of waiting to see which politician is going to throw their hat in the ring, Beat Diane Black is going out, looking for a good opponent.
This is an idea that many grass-roots organizations throughout the nation should follow.
The voters of Tennessee’s 6th Congressional District are outraged at Ms. Black. She may be the first member of Congress to see such an uprising, but she will not be the last.
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