Maybe we should just start calling Nancy Boyda “Two Face.” She has been telling the 2nd District of Kansas from the first day of her tenure in Congress saying she will not take Washington, DC money. Yet her FEC report is choked full with labor union PAC donations, donations from Democrat leadership and all kinds of Frontline money-and has been since day one. The very same Frontline money she promised she would not take.
Now she is going around the district saying she has asked the DCCC not to spend a dime on her re-election when she knows full well the DCCC has already bought the airtime. It is a cheap diversion from what is really happening. Nancy Boyda is lying to her constituents, trying to have it both ways in hopes that the voters of the 2nd District aren’t paying attention to her creative wordsmithing.
From the Majority AP:
“For the second straight quarter, U.S. Representatives Carol Shea-Porter, D-NH, and Nancy Boyda, D-KS, received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations also received by Democrats participating in a political fundraising program both vowed to shun, research by the Majority Accountability Project (www.majorityap.com) has found.
In fact, while both won praise back in their districts for bypassing the so-called “Frontline” program, research shows they’ve been taking those checks since its inception.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) announced in February creation of its 2008 “Frontline Program;” which, according to the DCCC, “lays the ground work for the 2008 cycle by supporting and expanding (House Democrats’) fundraising and outreach operations.” Frontline members, a group of 29 Democrats expected to face fierce re-election contests, receive extra assistance from the DCCC in campaign fundraising. Twenty-four freshmen Democrats are included in that list.
Also in February, Boyda and Shea-Porter refused to join the Frontline Program, reportedly “rejecting financial assistance from their leadership.” Both Congresswomen said participating in the program would jeopardize their independence from party leaders, even though both have been reliable votes for Democrat leaders.
Boyda has sided with Democrat leadership more than 90 percent of the time,according to a review by the Washington Post; while Shea-Porter has been a virtual rubber-stamp for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, voting with Democrat leadership 98.2 percent of the time.
Despite their fierce voting loyalty, both claimed “independence” as the prime reason for publicly forgoing participation in the Frontline program.
“They did invite me, and I really appreciated that,” Shea-Porter told the Concord Monitor. “But I wanted to do what I thought was best for New Hampshire politics.” She told the paper she intended to “run another grassroots, low-budget campaign,” explaining to CQPolitics.com, “it’s really about building trust and relationships.”
Boyda echoed similar sentiments, with her spokeswoman telling the Politico’sJosh Kraushaar, “she ran an independent campaign in 2006, and her constituents want to see her run an independent campaign again.”
But financial records filed with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) paint a different picture.
The Majority Accountability Project reported in April that both members reversed course on their previous public statements, garnering substantial financial support from party leaders such as Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Conference Chair Rahm Emanuel and DCCC Chair Chris Van Hollen.
Their most recent filings show even more aggressive support from senior House Democrats and other special interests supporting the DCCC’s Frontline Program.
Shea-Porter reported receiving $25,000 from a host of Democrat leaders and committee chairs, including $14,000 from Hoyer, $4500 from Emanuel and $4000 from Pelosi. She also received $9500 in special interest dollars through the DCCC.
FEC records show she also received thousands more in special interest PAC dollars, from the same political action committees giving to Frontline Program candidates. Shea-Porter often received those contributions on the same day as those members who publicly participated in the Frontline Program. All told, Shea-Porter received at least $63,700 in contributions also going to Frontline candidates.
Once again, Boyda did even better. Like Shea-Porter, she received $14,000 from Hoyer and $4,000 from Pelosi and, according to Hoyer’s and Pelosi’s FEC filings, the checks were cut the same day. Boyda previously received $4,000 from Emanuel.
But when special interest dollars are included - the same PAC money given to Frontline candidates - Boyda amassed an impressive $79,250 in contributions.
Boyda, who once said “Big Money and the billion-dollar lobbying industry have controlled Congress for too long,” proved herself no slouch when it came to garnering financial contributions from some of Washington, DC’s most well-known lobbyists.
The Kansas Democrat reported receiving at least $9650 in personal checksfrom a host of rainmakers, including Linda Daschle, the wife of former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, former Congressmen Martin Frost and Tom Downey; Clinton Administration Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, now chief lobbyist for the Motion Picture Association; and former House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt’s chief of staff, Steve Elmendorf.”
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