Fundraising assists Boehner's grip on House GOP
WASHINGTON — Speaker John Boehner is donating more than $1 million to the House Republican campaign fund this week, a total that suggests he is consolidating power in the House, not planning for retirement.
On Tuesday, the Ohio Republican will announce at a closed-door meeting that he is transferring $1.5 million from his campaign war chests to the party's House campaign committee, bringing his total contribution to $17 million so far for the 2014 elections, more than any of his House colleagues.
All told, Boehner has helped raise $88 million for Republicans for the 2014 campaign. The tally includes contributions from his three fundraising committees as well as direct mail, online solicitations, headlining member fundraising events, and coordinated fundraisers with the Republican National Committee and state parties.
The breadth and pace of Boehner's fundraising runs counter to speculation in recent months that he is mulling retirement. His February purchase of a Florida condo, the exit of a handful of his senior aides for private sector jobs, and frustrations with an unruly House GOP conference have fueled such talk. Boehner has publicly maintained that he wants to remain in the job.
"The reality is, all these rumors about him not being engaged and him retiring are just complete falsehoods," said Rep. Pat Tiberi, R-Ohio, who will cut a $500,000 check to the campaign operation on Tuesday as part of a broader Ohio delegation summer donation pledge."He and his team are more engaged than I've seen them in a long, long, long time."
As the single biggest contributor to the National Republican Congressional Committee since becoming the House's top Republican, Boehner has used his political operation to court allies. Cory Fritz, a Boehner spokesman, said the speaker has donated to more than half of the GOP's 233 incumbents and contributed the legal maximum to 21 of the party's top 2014 candidates.
Transfers from Boehner's committees — he has also written a separate $640,000 check — account for more than 30% of the NRCC's $6 million May haul. He has already headlined more than 150 fundraisers and cut $1.4 million in checks directly to candidates and incumbents. In August, Boehner will embark on a 14-state fundraising tour.
"No one does more to help grow our majority than Speaker Boehner," said Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., a Boehner ally who chairs the 2014 campaign operation.
Majority Leader Eric Cantor's surprise defeat and the subsequent elevation of Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to the leader's job and Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., to the whip's job has further tamped down expectations that Boehner will leave.
While McCarthy and Scalise are well-liked, they are relatively inexperienced and neither enjoys the support for speaker that Cantor had prior to his primary defeat. Without a clear successor or viable opponent, Boehner's allies say his dominance over the House GOP has been strengthened.
Even his detractors appear to be resigned to living with the GOP leadership team. "I think they're well positioned," said Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., who was one of a dozen Republicans who voted against Boehner for speaker last year. Amash said he does not expect a post-election leadership shake-up, despite encouragement from outside conservative activists to do so. Republicans are universally favored by election forecasters to maintain their majority in the House.
It is increasingly clear to the rank-and-file that Boehner faces no serious threat as speaker, even as some remain uncertain whether he intends to stick around. But his money seems to show him digging in.
"This is just another indication of that, and I think that strengthens his hand not only going in to the election but the post-election" leadership elections, Tiberi said.
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