REPORT: National Republicans Call Hawai`i GOP “Weak,” Announce Plans to Prop-Up Linda Lingle’s Senate Bid With Millions in Mainland Cash

Washington Republicans Call Hawai`i GOP “Orphans,” Say They Will Spend Big For Lingle’s Campaign

Once again, national Republican leaders in Washington are looking to prop-up Linda Lingle’s campaign for U.S. Senate, with Republican honchos telling Politico that they plan to send millions to boost the “weak” Hawai`i GOP, calling the state party “orphans” since the state will vote heavily for President Obama.  National Republicans know Linda Lingle’s Republican vote in the Senate will help them advance their extreme and partisan agenda in Washington and are spending big bucks to make sure she gets there.  

“Why are partisan mainland Republicans propping up Linda Lingle’s Senate campaign with gobs of mainland cash?,” asked Chuck Freedman, Communications Director for the Democratic Party of Hawai`i.  “Because national Republicans know that Linda Lingle’s Republican vote in the Senate will help them advance their extreme partisan agenda. Ever since announcing her Senate campaign, Lingle stood with her mainland Republicans who are trying to block access to contraception, make deep cuts in our kids’ education and force Hawai`i seniors to pay thousands more for health care, all while keeping taxes low for millionaires and corporate special interests. Now national Republicans are making it clear that they’ll be the ones backing Linda Lingle’s U.S. Senate campaign and that her claim of ‘bipartisanship’ is nothing more than empty rhetoric.”

Politico reports that “National Republicans have begun to intervene in a handful of key Senate and House battlegrounds where state parties are in disarray, seeking to head off the possibility that local mismanagement could cost the party control of Congress.” 

In the story, national Republicans point to Linda Lingle’s campaign as one that they plan to spend a significant amount of money propping up the “weak” state party since the Republican presidential campaign won’t spend any money to turn out Republican voters in a heavily Democratic state.

“Republicans have an A-list candidate there in former Gov. Linda Lingle, but must overcome a sure-fire landslide forPresident Obama in his native state and do so with a weak state GOP. As of the end of February, the Hawaii GOP had $29,000 in the bank in federal funds and was carrying over $100,000 in debt,” the Politico report reads.

This report is just the latest in a series of reports that prove Lingle is not ‘bipartisan’ like she claims to be.  Lingle was recently caught campaigning with a number of right wing national Republicans like Missouri Senator Roy Blunt and Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate leader who said the “single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.” 

Lingle even acknowledged that these Republicans were helping her campaign because her election would help them stop President Obama’s agenda, saying, “They just want a majority.”