Priebus Plays in the Gansler Sandbox
Today RNC Chairman Reince Priebus has decided to play in the Doug Gansler sandbox, with a blistering letter to the editor in the Baltimore Sun. And that is unfortunate….
I think all of us can agree with some of the sentiments that Chairman Priebus included in his letter (“As a dad, I’m appalled by his behavior. It’s irresponsible for a parent. And as a lawyer, I also know he likely violated the oath he took as attorney general by selectively enforcing the law”) but there are two pretty big concerns that I have with this letter.
- The letter was submitted without the prior knowledge of State Party Chairman Diana Waterman of Executive Director Joe Cluster. This question was asked on the biweekly State Party Blogger Conference Call and neither had any advance knowledge of the call.
- The letter violates one of the central tenets of politics and war. Sun Tzu wrote “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” With Gansler floundering around with this particular issue, it makes absolutely no sense to throw Gansler a lifeboat by making this issue about Democrats vs Republicans. It was wise for the State Party to take a pass on making a statement on the Gansler issue or encouraging him to leave or stay in the race, because we want Gansler to stay in the race. We want the contrast of having Gansler in the race critiquing the O’Malley/Brown record from the Democratic perspective. There is no reason for Republicans to get in the middle of this.
It’s unfortunate that, of all times, Chairman Priebus chose to intervene in Maryland. I would hope in the future before he gets involved in our state politics that he would at least provide notice to our State Chairman first.
