See other (s)Elections Articles
Title: Delaware GOP's Ting pays price for supporting Obama
Source:
Wilmington News Journal
URL Source: http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/ ... AID=/20080802/NEWS02/808020342
Published: Aug 2, 2008
Author: Sean O'Sullivan
Post Date: 2008-08-02 16:17:43 by HOUNDDAWG
Keywords: None
Views: 190
Comments: 11
The Delaware Republican Party's standard-bearer in the 2006 race for U.S. Senate has been expelled from his position in the state GOP. Advertisement His crime? Quietly supporting Democrat Barack Obama for president. "Evidently someone went online and saw that I had been making contributions to Obama," Jan Ting said Friday. Ting also was captured in a photograph at an Obama rally in Wilmington in February that drew record crowds to Rodney Square. At the time, Ting declined to comment about why he was there. But apparently that appearance, and about $250 in donations to the Illinois senator, who is now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, was enough for the state party to brand Ting a traitor, according to the former Republican candidate. State GOP Chairman Tom Ross said Friday he was unaware of details of the situation with Ting, noting it happened before he took over. "I certainly didn't throw Jan out of the party," he said, adding he was aware of Ting's support for Obama. After the Obama photo appeared, Ting said he was invited to an April meeting at a coffee shop in Pennsylvania. State GOP regional chairman Bill Sahm and a district chairman informed Ting his Obama activities had been discussed at the highest levels of the state party.Ting said they told him, "unless you are willing to recant that and swear allegiance to the party nominee John McCain, we are compelled to request your resignation from the Republican Committee." Ting said he had been a member of the committee for 25 years -- and when he was asked to leave, he was a committeeman for the 7th election district of the 11th representative district. Ting also is a former chairman of the party's Brandywine region and had been in the Delaware delegation to three Republican national conventions. Party loyalty demanded Sahm said Friday he hopes Ting still considers him a friend. He said he told Ting he should show discretion in public, through things like political donations, and "as a prominent Republican you should think of our party's interests and put them above personal interests." "One word led to another," Sahm recalled. He said Ting asked if they were looking for him to resign. Sahm said he replied, " 'If you can't be loyal, that might be best for all concerned.' We shook hands and he did." Sahm said they didn't "cast him into the wilderness ... That wasn't the case at all." James Soles, a retired University of Delaware political science professor and longtime political observer, said he was surprised by the party's reaction. "Delawareans seldom cast a straight party ticket," he said, adding he is a loyal Democrat but has supported Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Castle. "I think people do expect committee people in particular to be loyal to the party," Soles said, but added he never heard of someone being forced out like this from either party. "Mr. Ting has been a very loyal Republican and has carried water for the party on a number of occasions," Soles said. "I guess the Republican Party, in Delaware in particular, feels a little on the defensive." Sahm said if this incident happened "on the other side of the fence, and a Democrat was supporting McCain, I would hope in the best interests of their party, they would do the same. That is what party loyalty is all about." Ting said after the April meeting, he wrote an e-mail to then-GOP Chairman Terry Strine, who then told Ting that, essentially, he would be welcomed back when he decided to support McCain. "I'm still a registered Republican and still have affinity for the Republican Party ... but on the other hand, I'm ticked off," Ting said, adding the demand for his resignation was "uncalled for," and inconsistent with past party practice. He noted that the man state Republican Party officials enthusiastically supported and expected to be the party's nominee for governor this year -- Alan Levin -- had donated money to Democrats, including Ting's 2006 opponent for the U.S. Senate, Democrat Tom Carper. Ting said he did not hold the donation against Levin and hosted an event at his home for Levin in anticipation of his candidacy. Levin later decided not to run. A professor at Temple University School of Law, Ting mentioned his "expulsion" from the party Friday during a phone call about an unrelated legal story. During the Republican primary for president this year, Ting supported and was an adviser to former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and said he could have stood behind several of the other candidates including Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney or even Ron Paul. Ting also Harvard law grad However, Ting said he has long had a number of reservations about Arizona Sen. McCain because of the candidate's age, 71. He also has concerns about McCain's temperament and past positions on illegal immigration and the Iraq war. McCain was closely associated with an unsuccessful immigration reform effort that critics, like Ting, called an amnesty program. Ting said that, like other Republicans, he has become convinced that the Iraq war is a mistake that is needlessly costing American lives. Ting said his wife Helen was an enthusiastic Obama supporter, "so I took a closer look." And he said he made his first donation to Obama's campaign around the time of Obama's visit to Delaware. Ting said he disagrees with some of Obama's positions -- like some tax increases -- but he finds plenty to like in the Democrat. "He is a law teacher, like me. We went to the same law school and basically he thinks it is a mistake to be so engaged in Iraq when we should be focused on Afghanistan," Ting said. Soles said he thought Ting's position represented "a form of intellectual honesty that we should have a little more of on both sides of the aisle."
Poster Comment: Jan Ting is a Temple University Law Professor. I guess the chance for him, an Asian to vote for a darkie was more compelling than all of the political principles of old white guys he's paid lip service to all these years. Or, we can believe that he had no problems with the policies of other Pubs he's supported in the past, and then McCain's unremarkable policies caused him to go in a different direction. Suuuuuuure.......
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: HOUNDDAWG (#0)
Party 'loyalty' is such a mental pantload. Wake up, mullets.
McCain was closely associated with an unsuccessful immigration reform effort that critics, like Ting, called an amnesty program. Ting said that, like other Republicans, he has become convinced that the Iraq war is a mistake that is needlessly costing American lives. Ting said his wife Helen was an enthusiastic Obama supporter, "so I took a closer look." Like you, Dawg, I'm skeptical about 90% of the reasons that Ting cites as reasons for his disenchantment with McCain - shamnesty and support of the Iraq War - because Obama is pro-shamnesty and pro-funding and continuing the Iraq war, too. Being concerned about McCain's age is a lame excuse because McCain looks pretty healthy albeit having nutty ideas about Israel's pre-eminent status for America's raison d'être. Revealing that the woman Ting is married to and sleeps with is an ardent fan of Obama's is probably the only truthful reason out of all he has listed. Keeping wifey/Mommy happy is especially important in Asian cultures. Also - as you point out in your commentary, Dawg - solidarity with a fellow visible minority person is likely a very powerful unstated reason that Ting has become an Obama supporter.
Line jumper
"To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man's life." - T. S. Eliot
In DE it's all about the Dupont Company. The party must stand in unified support of whoever the designated hack is in order to maximize the company's influence. And, what Dupont wants Dupont gets. Unlike Howard Hughes who greased both parties, Dupont can't do that. So, they back the PUBS and hope that either a PUB prez will do their bidding or PUB reps and senators will sabotage any proposed legislation not to the company's liking. Before credit card giant MBNA was sold (after CEO Charles Cawley got congress to exempt credit card spending sprees from bankruptcy protection) that company was positively ruthless in their demands to employees. They expected ALL employees to donate the max to the PUBs for both employee and spouse. We are also the incorporation capital of the US and incorporation and annual fees from giants such as TIME WARNER and nearly every other major and minor company in the US and all over the world are why we have no state sales tax. Party loyalty is paycheck loyalty here. Folks who donated to David Duke's campaign were identified in the newspaper and interviewed by ambush journalists, who wanted to know who these racists are, and make sure their employers knew, too. Political freedom? That's not allowed in Delaware....
Also - as you point out in your commentary, Dawg - solidarity with a fellow visible minority person is likely a very powerful unstated reason that Ting has become an Obama supporter. I think we'll see a lot of our former house neegrows running away from the plantation. And, I agree that those from matriarchal cultures will do what they must to keep peace in their huts.
Don't be surprised if he's a Democratic committeeman soon....
It's sad what our country has become.
Osama. McInsane. Same difference.
"Osama. McInsane. Same difference."__winston_smith Right and right. "A nuclear war is a terrible thing. AND I THINK IT'S JUST ABOUT TIME WE HAD ONE!" __President Whoever-Steals-It
*ping* to penultimate post
"Osama. McInsane. Same difference."__winston_smith Right and right. "A nuclear war is a terrible thing. AND I THINK IT'S JUST ABOUT TIME WE HAD ONE!" __President Whoever-Steals It. Agree, if Smirk doesn't do it first. Damn them all to hell.
#2. To: HOUNDDAWG (#0)
However, Ting said he has long had a number of reservations about Arizona Sen. McCain because of the candidate's age, 71. He also has concerns about McCain's temperament and past positions on illegal immigration and the Iraq war.
#3. To: HOUNDDAWG (#0)
Jan Ting
#4. To: lodwick (#1)
#5. To: scrapper2 (#2)
Revealing that the woman Ting is married to and sleeps with is an ardent fan of Obama's is probably the only truthful reason out of all he has listed. Keeping wifey/Mommy happy is especially important in Asian cultures.
#6. To: Tauzero (#3)
#7. To: HOUNDDAWG (#4)
Party loyalty is paycheck loyalty here.
#8. To: HOUNDDAWG (#0)
His crime? Quietly supporting Democrat Barack Obama for president.
#9. To: winston_smith (#8)
"It's sad what our country has become."__lodwick
#10. To: lodwick, christine, Jethro Tull (#9)
#11. To: HOUNDDAWG (#9)
"It's sad what our country has become."__lodwick
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest