Last fall, Rep. Joe Wilson of “You lie!” fame quickly went from persona not grata to conservative hero with millions in the bank. Seems like Rep. Randy Neugebauer is trying to become the right’s next big money-maker.
Wilson (R-SC) acted out, then apologized, but quickly turned to the conservative base to raise tons of money from the national attention. Less than 24 hours after Neugebauer’s confession and half-apology for shouting “baby killer” on the House floor, he recorded a video aimed at raising pro-life cash.
Sources close to Neugebauer told us it has nothing to do with the money — and that the Republican wants to draw attention to advocacy on behalf of pro-life issues. But his video was beside a large “donate” button and this note, “Thank you for your support and contributions as I stand firm in my commitment against the government takeover of healthcare and for protecting the sanctity of life.”
Republicans familiar with his campaign say they’ve gotten nearly as many calls with offers to volunteer as they have to donate. He’s also been known to donate surplus campaign funds to the national committees since his district is a GOP stronghold.
In part due to the shock of a lawmaker shouting during a presidential address, Wilson’s opponent Rob Miller (D-SC) also raked in cash after the September outburst. But Neugebauer is in a solidly red district and his rival Andy Wilson, hasn’t had the same luck.
I interviewed Andy Wilson today and he told me that while his haul is relatively minor ($5,000 since the outburst), the money has come in from across the country in small amounts such as $25 and $50. That would suggest more people are taking interest in the campaign, he said.
“I’m grateful for any additional fundraising that can come for exposure on this, but Neugebauer’s Web video is a contrived attempt to solicit funds and increase his campaign donations,” he told me. I asked Wilson’s stance on abortion and he compared himself to Rep. Bart Stupak. He said he supports the health care bill and the executive order President Obama issued to explicitly say there won’t be federal funding of abortions.
An Act Blue page set up to raise money for Wilson under the banner “Stop Neugebauer” had just $265 in contributions as of this writing.
As I reported yesterday, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee tried to raise some money off the incident.
DCCC spokesman Ryan Rudominer said in a statement Neugebauer’s fundraising is a new low. “There is no line these House Republican won’t cross if they think it will appeal to the far right even if it’s at the expense of alienating themselves with Independents and everyone else.”
House Democrats said they were okay to let this one go, since it exposed Republican leadership for not calling Neugebauer out on the spot. But once he started fundraising, that made him fair game for official punishment again, Democratic Hill aides told TPMDC. Leadership hasn’t reached a decision yet on whether they will introduce a resolution admonishing him similar to how they scolded Wilson last year.
