The Hugh Hewitt Show

Here’s a link to the donations page of Doug Ducey’s campaign for governor in Arizona.  Here’s why you should click on it and send him some money today, whether $5, $25, $50 or more, no matter what state you live in.  Follow Doug on Twitter @DougDucey

If you follow the maps of the electoral college, you know that the GOP has to focus on winning back Florida, Virginia, New Hampshire, Ohio, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and maybe Pennsylvania and Michigan (though Pennsylvania is, as the University of Virginia’s Larry Sabato and I agreed Monday, Lucy’s football for the Republicans.)

The Democrats by contrast will fight to keep that turf and in addition will target one GOP state above all others: Arizona.  If red Arizona becomes blue Arizona it is hard to see how the GOP gets the White House back no matter the progress it makes on the ground in the other battleground states.

Which is why this year’s race for the GOP nomination in Arizona is so crucial and why the absolutely strongest, best qualified candidate must emerge from the August 26 primary.  I think that candidate is Arizona Treasurer Doug Ducey, a successful businessman before he won the State Treasurer’s race four years ago, a product of ASU, and –key point– born in Ohio even though he defected to Arizona 30-plus years ago.

Here’s a partial list of Doug’s supporters.  Note they include former Senator Jon Kyl and former Congressman John Shadegg, as well as current Congressman Trent Franks and Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, Council of Arizona Policy’s Cathi Herrod and Jerry Colangelo

To get the point across about the importance of the Arizona race and the qualifications of Doug, I am hosting him for a two hour town hall in my studio today, from 4 to 6 PM.  I’ll interview him extensively, and will take questions from all over the country but focus on my Arizona listeners.

So tune in, but if I have already convinced you, go hit the donate button right now.

Be sure to read the Wall Street Journal op-ed by Lanhee Chen and James Capretta on the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, which along with the Independent Payment Advisory Board is effectively in charge of your future health care unless the GOP takes over the Senate in 2014 and the presidency in 2016.

Yesterday I had Congressman Cory Gardner on the show.  If you are looking for a race in which to invest, his would be a great one as billionaire Tom Steyer has rented Senator Mark Udall and will be pouring dollars into Colorado to prop up the very liberal Udall against a strong conservative wind at Gardner’s back.

You can donate to Gardner’s campaign and sign up to volunteer for it at CoryGardnerForSenate.com.  Thanks to all of you who emailed to tell me what a syndic guest he was.  You’re right. Now help him win.

CNN’s Jake Tapper opened my show Wednesday.  Among other things we talked about when and if the MSM will start digging into Tom Steyer’s past and how he made his money:

Audio:

04-23hhs-tapper

Transcript:

HH: I begin with Jake Tapper, host of The Lead. Hello, Jake, how are you?

JT: I’m good, Hugh. That’s quite a lineup you’ve got today.

HH: It is. It’s a very busy day. But I have to begin with the most important thing, which is that the Phillies are 10-10, and they’re already three and a half games out of first place. That’s a tough start, Jake, when Atlanta’s 14-7.

JT: You know, you can say that, but I look at the cup as half full. I mean, look at the Sixers. The Phillies aren’t as bad as the Sixers, right? So… Continue Reading

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Since I take the First Amendment seriously, I don’t begrudge any person of vast wealth the right to spend every last penny of it on political causes.

But neither do I believe that just because someone declares himself to be a do-gooder that he is in fact intent on doing good as opposed to, say, making even more money.  Nor do “conversion stories” play well with me.  Once a capitalist, folks ought not to be allowed to attack free markets without media comment on their change of heart.

Billionaire Tom Steyer appears to have secured the fealty of the entire Democratic Party on the Keystone XL pipeline, from the president through the lowest ranking member of Congress, and that is not the sort of “corruption” that allows campaign finance reform laws their last few breaths of life under the gaze of this Supreme Court.  The sort of corruption the proponents of campaign finance have to point to is “quid pro quo” Abscam bribes.

Now Steyer runs a giant “influence operation,” but it is perfectly legal and perfectly in the open.  But is is poorly understood and that is where the MSM is falling down.  “I’m not the Koch brothers” Steyer proclaims, but of course he is: He’s a wealthy American spending his money on various candidates and causes for reasons we can only dimly if ever suspect.  The Kochs appear genuinely interested in a world view anchored in free people and free markets.  Steyer seems genuinely motivated by a fear of global warming.  The latter motivation is as absurd to me as the former makes obvious sense based on history.  But the one thing that is certain is that the Kochs and Steyers are doing exactly the same thing: using money to influence politics.  And, to repeat, that is fine.  That’s the First Amendment at work.  See Putin’s Russia, the mullah’s Iran, the PRC or its client North Korea for states wherein such speech is not permitted.

Where our MSM fails, however, is in shining a light on Steyer and the Kochs equally.  They are fooled by Steyer’s proclamations of “good guy” status and have given him a free ride on the origins of his wealth, or at least they are silent on that point.

John Hinderaker isn’t, however, and everyone should read John’s “The Epic Hypocrisy of Tom Steyer.”  This is the sort of reporting the Wall Street Journal, TheNew York Times, and The Washington Post should be doing, but the Powerline commitment to deep digging is a wonderful thing and yields this sort of gold.

Turns out that Mr. Steyer has made a lot of money –a lot of money– from investing in coal.  Good for him.  Coal is one of those things that greatly improve the circumstances of billions of people around the world by allowing them to live more comfortably and longer lives.  It is a precious natural resource, and the United States is the Saudi Arabia of coal, which is a good thing as well.  Like oil and natural gas, coal is freedom, because energy is freedom.  Thumbs up to coal billionaires.

But shouldn’t the MSM who are covering Mr. Steyer’s endless campaign against GOP candidates and the Keystone XL pipeline at least note for their readers the source of some of his vast fortune?

Since they won’t do their job, I hope you will help get out the word by linking to John’s piece and tweeting it pout again and again.  Tom Mr. Coal” Steyer deserves as much attention as airtime he purchases.