Amie Hoeber Given Consolation Prize

Weeks after an embarrassing loss in an election to be Montgomery County Treasurer, , former Congressional candidate Amie Hoeber was given a consolation prize by being appointed as Finance Committee Chairman by Montgomery County Republican Chairman Dick Jurgena.

Hoeber’s appointment is consolation prize after she failed in her efforts to become treasurer. Hoeber infamously put herself forward for the post and lost the race when she chose not to show up to the meeting where the Montgomery County GOP elected officers. Hoeber was coaxed into the race by Jurgena who, as it turns out, convinced Hoeber that she did not need to attend the meeting in order to be elected. This was obviously a miscalculation, and Jurgena’s appointment of Hoeber as Finance Committee Chair is an effort to place Hoeber.

This also partially explains why Jurgena turned on us here at Red Maryland, who had vigorously defended Jurgena in the past,

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In the wake of Jurgena’s comments, Red Maryland has suspended all cooperation with the Montgomery County GOP including accepting advertising revenue until Jurgena apologizes or his removed from office.

Hoeber’s choice as Finance Chair is bizarre given the fact that her campaign was largely funded by donations from her bank account as well as by a SuperPAC funded by her husband. Hoeber’s campaign took in $1,177,501 during her Congressional campaign; of that more than 2/3 ($787,000) were direct contributions from Hoeber or loans from Hoeber. Of the $242,645 that she did raise, roughly half the donors were from the State of Maryland. That, ultimately, means that Hoeber does not have the kind of necessary to reach out to local donors and business to fundraise for what is ultimately an ideological, not personal, campaign. And Hoeber harms the ideological argument given her radical pro-abortion stance.

Hoeber’s standing as Finance Chair is even further complicated by the fact that she is not long for the job. The expectation is that Hoeber will launch another campaign for the Republican nomination for Congress in the 6th District. Given the fact that she likely will begin campaigning soon, how can Hoeber be able to adequately do her job and serve the Central Committee while beginning to focus on her campaign?

It’s clear that Jurgena’s appointment of Hoeber as Montgomery GOP finance chair is political payback for a botched attempt to install Hoeber as party treasurer. What this ultimately means for the party is anybody’s guess, but consolation prizes are no way to win a rodeo and no way to get Republicans elected in Montgomery County.