Vulnerable Republican Kowtows to Party Bosses as Tough Re-Election Looms
We suspected that Rep. Katko’s tough re-election bid would push the vulnerable Republican to do some pretty wild things, but even we couldn’t have predicted how far he’d go to kowtow to party bosses.
Turns out, Katko’s vote for Washington Republicans’ tax bill that gave away billions to corporations and special interest groups was only the beginning.
According to reporting from the Post-Standard, Conservative party bosses met last April to discuss Katko’s voting record, apparently pressuring the Congressman to get in line or lose their support. Katko even needed Vice President Mike Pence to call the New York Conservative Party Chairman Jerry Kassar to keep the party’s support.
Kasser himself attributed the noticeable “rightward” shift in Katko’s record directly to their meeting — including attending a taxpayer-funded retreat designed to “woo GOP lawmakers during impeachment,” ignoring Donald Trump’s corruption in Washington, endorsing Donald Trump, and welcoming Rep. Devin Nunes, proud member of Trump’s impeachment defense team, to Syracuse for an exclusive high-dollar fundraiser.
But that’s not all. John Katko, who has taken over $40,000 in campaign contributions from the drug manufacturing industry, voted against a bipartisan bill to lower the cost of prescription drug costs and still hasn’t condemned Trump’s budget proposal to cut billions of dollars from Medicare and Medicaid, jeopardizing health care for millions of seniors, working families, and Americans with disabilities.
It’s clear why this seat is “very important” to the President and Vice President: Katko supports Trump’s agenda more and more every day.
“The closer we get to election day, the more John Katko reveals his true self. Katko continues to bow down to Trump, his allies and the special interests funding his campaign and is leaving the hardworking people of New York’s 24th district behind. The voters will remember come November,” said DCCC Spokesperson Christine Bennett.
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