Somebody please save U.S. Rep. Parker Griffith from himself. He ran in 2008 in northern Alabama as a conservative Democrat. Because he’s totally cool with screwing over everyone that supported him in order to get reelected, he flipped parties in the middle of the first term. That pissed of his Democratic former supporters and the Republicans he now says he’s sympatico with. He’s angered damn near everybody.
The National Republican Congressional Committee may not have paid attention to the recent party switch, or maybe it’s a mistake that’s not a mistake, but last week a story came out about a direct mail solicitation by the NRCC to get people to help support defeating Griffith in his reelection run.
“We’ve been up on the air all over Alabama’s 5th Congressional District so that voters there know your Democrat in Congress has been falling in line with Nancy Pelosi’s destructive liberal agenda,” reads the solicitation.
The National Republican Congressional Committee issued the letter. While that line might apply to the Griffith elected in 2008, he has since changed sides, switching in December from the Democratic Party to the Republicans. A committee spokesman said the letter was sent because of administrative oversight.
Ha!
Not only that, but Alabama is a state that has an unusual history with unions, compared to other states in the Deep South. Yeah, it’s not as strong as it used to be, but labor still has more pull in industrial areas of the state than most other Southern states. Now, the state AFL-CIO wants its money back.
Speaking at a news conference at the downtown Holiday Inn, Al Henley, secretary-treasurer of the Alabama AFL-CIO, said labor groups felt like they had elected a “pro-working family” congressman in Griffith, but now feel “swindled” by his votes on major legislation.
