Lee Fisher vs. "Washington"

Lee Fisher unveiled his big jobs plan yesterday to coincide with his City Club of Cleveland appearance. It’s a compilation of good, strong ideas that have been offered repeatedly by progressives for the last few years: How many times have you heard someone suggest Ohio should create “clean energy” jobs? Really, the only bad thing about the plan is the fanfare and the timing. These are all ideas Fisher could and should have presented a year ago, and which, if he had not resigned as director of development, he could be implementing. The ideas are old news; putting them into effect is what counts.

But what really struck a sour note with me was this part of the intro to his plan:

“Here’s the reality: Washington is broken. Washington's way of doing things hurts Ohio, it hurts Ohio workers and it hurts Ohio families.

Washington creates incentives for big companies to export jobs, not incentives to keep and create new jobs around our state. Washington gives big banks billions in bailouts, but shortchanges small business owners and entrepreneurs around Ohio. Washington busts budgets and borrows from abroad, while families struggle to keep their homes and hardworking Ohioans are out of work.

Well, I haven’t spent my life in the halls of Washington D.C. I’ve spent my life on the ground right here in Ohio.”

“Washington” is the problem? And Lee Fisher is the fresh-faced avatar of “new” politics, the “outsider” standing up to the “old” politics of inside-the-beltway crowd. Really?

I have a couple of problems here. In attacking “Washington,” it reads like Lee is slamming President Obama, Sherrod Brown (he’s been in — gasp! — WASHINGTON for 17 years!) and all the other diligent “insiders” trying to get some damn work done in the face of Republican obstructionism. Currently, “Washington” is controlled by Democrats, so when you attack “Washington” generically, you are attacking our side. Yes, there are some Democrats who are working with Republicans to obstruct progress, but Lee is tarring everyone with a broad brush here. Who on Lee’s campaign thought THIS was a good idea?

And then, let’s get real about who and what Lee Fisher is. Let’s look at his latest campaign report, which I have right here on my desk. I see he received $10,000 from the Searchlight Leadership Fund. That’s Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid’s PAC. Reid held a fundraiser for Fisher in December — in WASHINGTON. Harry Reid isn’t the first name that comes to my mind when I think of someone standing in opposition to the Washington establishment.

Fisher also received $5,000 apiece from America’s Leadership PAC (Michigan Senator Debbie Stanenow), the Leadership in the New Century PAC (Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln, one of the biggest Democratic health-care obstructionists in Congress), the Narragansett Bay PAC (Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island) and the Forward Together PAC (former Senator Mark Warner). He also received $3,000 from the Campaign for our Country (Massachusetts Senator John Kerry), $2,500 from New Jersey First (Senator Frank Lautenberg) and $2,000 piece from PEAK PAC (Colorado Senator Mark Udall) and Opportunity and Renewal PAC (Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley). What a bunch of outsiders!

It’s pretty well known that Lee Fisher is the choice of the ultimate insider club, the Washington D.C.-based Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, and its chair New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez — and that Menendez has been openly discouraging people from contributing to Lee’s opponent, Jennifer Brunner. Yeah, I know — that’s politics. But it’s INSIDER politics, and it’s embarrassing and awkward for Lee Fisher to pretend he represents anything else.

I’m sure some of Lee’s supporters will think I’m being “mean” to him because I support Jennifer. But if Lee wins the primary, Rob Portman isn’t going to be kind. Portman could tie him in knots with this kind of stuff, forcing him to run against his own party in order to maintain the “outsider” fiction, while parrying that he’s backed by the Democratic establishment’s money.

The truth is Lee is the insider’s insider in this race — and he’s run as such for a year. He’s been all about endorsements from insiders and money from insiders, about tying up support from the party establishment. To think he can now turn on a dime and portray himself as the new kid in town — hey, Lee, are you going to return the money Harry Reid and his friends gave you? — is folly. Just be who you are, OK?