Radio’s Mark Levin told Breitbart News that if a Georgia or Louisiana loss is the reason why the Democrats keep control of the Senate in November, it’s the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s fault.
“I hope everyone understands that if Harry Reid remains Senate Majority leader because of a Georgia or Louisiana loss, the responsibility rests with Tom Donohue and big business,” Levin said in an email. “The Chamber of Commerce is a chamber of horrors.”
Levin was responding to the news out of the Chamber on Friday that the business group will not be supporting David Perdue, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Georgia, in the general election in November.
Parti quotes Chamber of Commerce national political director Rob Engstrom from an interview he conducted with Politico’s Ken Vogel.
“We aggressively and proudly backed Jack Kingston during the [Republican] primary and during the [primary] runoff,” Engstrom said in the interview, on C-SPAN’s Newsmakers program, which Vogel co-hosted. “We surveyed our members in state of Georgia, and their advice and counsel to us is that we stay neutral in this race. What we learned last time after the 2012 election was that sometimes we should be measured by what we don’t do.”
According to a new CNN poll, the race between Perdue and Democratic nominee Michelle Nunn is a statistical tie. The poll shows Nunn up 47 percent to 44 percent over Perdue, within its margin of error of 4 percent.
Because of libertarian candidate Amanda Swafford’s presence in the race, FiveThirtyEight blog’s Harry Enten wrote in late September that there is a chance the race would go to a runoff if neither Nunn nor Perdue gets 50 percent on Nov. 4. That runoff would take place on Jan. 6, after the next Congress is seated, meaning that control of the U.S. Senate–if it comes down to Georgia–may rest on the runoff. But Levin’s argument is if the GOP establishment-backed Chamber of Commerce supported the Republican nominee Perdue now, there would be no runoff–and the only reason it’s this close is because the Chamber doesn’t like the Republican who got the nomination.
During the primary in Georgia, the Chamber backed Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) over Perdue. Perdue attacked Kingston as being backed by what he said was the “pro amnesty” Chamber of Commerce, because the Chamber supported the Senate “Gang of Eight” immigration bill and has worked with President Obama on his plans for an executive amnesty. The Chamber fired back at Perdue, saying he was “crying like a little baby.”
After the Associated Press reported the Chamber’s involvement with Obama on executive amnesty, Senate Budget Committee ranking member Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) excoriated the group in a statement.
“It is chilling to consider now that these groups, frustrated in their aims by our Constitutional system of government, are plotting with the Obama Administration to collect their spoils through executive fiat,” Sessions said.
Perdue was one of the first national signers of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) anti-amnesty pledge. The pledge calls on signers to oppose any legal status for any illegal aliens and to oppose massive increases in legal immigration that would detriment American workers. Perdue’s signing of the pledge actually forced the Chamber-backed Kingston, who lost to Perdue in the primary runoff, to sign it as well.
Levin’s criticism of the Chamber on Louisiana is because the group has actually flirted with backing Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) for re-election against anti-amnesty Republicans Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and retired Air Force Col. Rob Maness.
“At the most recent Committee of 100 meeting, Rob Engstrom, the chamber’s national political director, told the group that the chamber planned to support Mary Landrieu, the Louisiana Democrat who is running for re-election to the Senate,” the New York Times’ Joe Nocera wrote in July.
The Chamber hasn’t officially endorsed Landrieu, but it has not endorsed Cassidy, either. Due to the nature of Louisiana’s jungle electoral system, Maness being in the race benefits Cassidy, as it will–according to most polling data available–keep Landrieu under 50 percent on Nov. 4. When that race heads to a runoff in December, whichever Republican–Maness or Cassidy–is facing off against Landrieu has a great chance to beat her, according to polling data and estimates by political prognosticators like FiveThirtyEight.
But the Chamber’s decision to stay out of the race for now–and leaving the door open for a Landrieu endorsement later–could hurt the Republicans leaving the seat in Landrieu’s hands come December. Levin, on the other hand, has endorsed Maness ahead of November’s election.
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