Dems: GOP Defectors Not Welcome

The GOP handling of party-switching Representative Parker Griffith was a sharp contrast with the Democrats' treatment of Sen. Arlen Specter.

It’s pretty illustrative to look at how the Republicans and Democrats treated their respective party switchers in this Congress. Arlen Specter was, at the time at least, an incredibly important coup for the Dems, since he gave them 60 votes. Parker Griffith, on the other hand, shrunk the Republican minority from 81 to 79 — an inconsequential number.

The Democrats basically promised Arlen Specter that he would be the highest ranking Democrat on the Judiciary. He would not be handed the chairmanship but the implication was that he would take over if and when the current Democratic chair, Pat Leahy, stepped aside. That was a very real possibility, since Leahy would certainly move to take over the plum job as chair of Appropriations were the 86-year old Senator Inouye to leave that spot for any reason.

The second that Harry Reid announced the deal the other Democrats on the committee — some of whom have been waiting over twenty years for a crack at being chair — revolted. The promise made to Specter was set aside and he was made the most junior Democrat on the committee, ending any chance of him returning to the chairmanship. After Specter made the announcement he could not renege -- and the Democrats on the committee knew and took full advantage of it.

It’s a great message for the next person the Democrats try to get to switch parties — whatever is promised to you to get you to switch isn’t really binding. The Democrats have probably had their last party switcher for a generation.

The Republicans, on the other hand, went out of their way to accommodate their party changer, Parker Griffith. The Republicans even bumped a member off of the plum Energy and Commerce committee to make a spot for him on that key perch. The genius of the Republican approach is that they didn't wait for a seat to organically open up on the committee -- which they must have known was going to happen soon, given that the resignation of Rep. Neal to concentrate on his gubernatorial run occurred soon afterward. They made sure that future Democrats who could be contemplating the switch noticed that they moved to accommodate the party switcher even at some cost and not a little grumbling in the rank-and-file.

In short, Republicans clearly signaled that party switchers would be welcomed and rewarded, while Democrats signaled that any promises made would not be held to. It's a nice little metaphor for which party is thinking down the road and which can't concern itself with anything but the present.