January 6 Committee Doubles as November 8 Committee Even after the Capitol riot show’s season finale, partisan programming may continue. James Freeman
If the average American voter cared about the Capitol riot committee, she might wonder whether the committee’s members or its targets are more loathsome. All along, citizens have had to either laugh or cry at the spectacle of federal election deniers leading an investigation of federal election denial. But is the partisan congressional committee now interfering in a state campaign?
As for the deniers conducting these proceedings, committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D., Miss.) was among the 31 Democrats who sought to prevent the certification of the re-election of President George W. Bush in 2005.
Committee stalwart Rep. Jamie Raskin (D., Md.) has a long history of refusing to accept Republican wins. He recommended dismantling the Electoral College after the 2000 election and after the 2016 election he attempted to prevent the certification of Donald Trump’s victory and then boycotted the inauguration.
And who could forget Rep. Adam Schiff (D., Calif.), who helped poison our politics by spending years falsely claiming to have “more than circumstantial evidence” of Trump campaign collusion with Russia?
After this season’s final hearing was rescheduled to avoid competing for television viewers with hurricane coverage, one might have thought the partisan shenanigans were finally drawing to a close for this oddball committee comprised exclusively of Democrats and Democrat-approved Republicans. But now there’s a question involving the surprisingly tight gubernatorial race in New York.
A Journal editorial sets the scene in the Empire State, where GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin is challenging Democratic incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul:
New York is among the nation’s most Democratic states, and President Biden took 60% of the vote in 2020. The fact that Mr. Zeldin appears competitive is a sign of frustration with Democratic policy excesses and their demonstrable damage to the city and state.
A Quinnipiac survey this week showed Ms. Hochul up by only four points. Notably, 28% of voters said crime is the top problem facing the state, and 20% said inflation. These are good issues for Mr. Zeldin, who promises to repeal cashless bail, fire rogue prosecutors, and cut taxes to rev the economy.
But not everybody wants this election to be decided on the issues that most concern voters. This week a New York Sun editorial states:
Congressman Lee Zeldin’s jump in the polls in the New York Governor’s race looks to have spooked the Democrats — including the solons of the January 6 Committee. How else to explain the committee’s apparent attempt to intervene in a gubernatorial election by leaking Mr. Zeldin’s texts with President Trump’s chief of staff? The leak comes as the race has tightened to the degree that RealClear Politics reckons it to be a toss-up.
Far from a bombshell, the leaked exchange draws no blood. Yet what is the January 6 committee doing, issuing any leaks calculated to sway a state election contest for governor?
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