#ncpol: Bishop apparently kisses (up) better than Murphy
There are some signs coming out of DC that Dan Bishop will be more at home with Kevin McCarthy, Patrick McHenry and Virginia Foxx than with Mark Meadows. Bishop and the 3rd district’s Greg Murphy just got sworn in as North Carolina’a newest members of Congress.
House leadership meddled openly in Murphy’s primary. Congressman Mark Meadows and his Freedom Caucus openly came to Murphy’s defense. Murphy is showing plenty of signs of sticking with Meadows and Jim Jordan.
After Bishop and Murphy were sworn in to the US House, it took a little while to hear about committee assignments. But today, Bishop put this out:
U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC) announced today that he will serve on the Committee on Homeland Security and the Committee on Small Business for the 116th Congress.
“North Carolina has one of the fastest growing economies in the United States and I’m eager to get to work on the Small Business Committee pushing policies that cut red tape and help NC-09’s job creators flourish. Top priorities on the Homeland Security Committee will be securing our border and ensuring the prompt and effective distribution of disaster relief and capacities to respond to future natural disasters.”
Representative Bishop’s appointment to the Committee on Small Business follows his work advocating for small businesses in the North Carolina General Assembly. Most recently, he passed bipartisan association health plans for small businesses and the self-employed. He slashed regulations and reduced taxes on small businesses every year he served in the legislature.
Congressman Bishop joins his friend and fellow North Carolina Rep. Mark Walker on the Homeland Security Committee.
(In case you forgot, Bishop’s “friend” is also known in certain indictment documents as Public Official A.)
Check out Murphy’s official congressional website. Apparently, he’s had no word on committee assignments.
It’s interesting that Bishop would get the Homeland Security slot. There are are no military facilities in Bishop’s district. Murphy’s district covers much of the coast, which IS part of the national border. There is also a significant Coast Guard and Marine presence in Murphy’s district.
And so it goes. If you decide to honor your campaign promises — and the party platform — your party leaders cripple your ability to help your constituents.
Committee assignments are the domain of Republican leaders in the House. Bishop is probably going to have to go squishy on us to save himself from that godawful hot mess known as The Mecklenburg County Republican Party. (Robert Pittenger AND Pat McCrory are still sniffing around out there.)
The fact that Bishop sold his soul so quickly — and Murphy did not — speaks volumes about our two newest additions to our congressional delegation.
Couple comments. Agree with you that I thought Murphy was the less conservative of the two. Second, if Union county conservatives don’t like what Bishop is doing, they have the power to organize and take Bishop to the woodshed….if they want. But such are the electoral numbers in NC9 that even Robeson and Cumberland conservatives could take him out if they wanted to, come to think of it. Most of us in deep red congressional districts are powerless to deal with the likes of McHenry and Fox, NC9 conservatives AREN’T….and Bishop will ignore that at himself peril. Finally concerning “Public Official A”…….I for one, have not forgotten his unwillingness to back his own constituent and County Party Chairman for the State Chair race and will certainly remember that if he plans to go for Burr’s seat. The question for any conservative is that if Walker didn’t have Womack’s back in 2019, what makes you think he’ll have your back as a US Senator.
With military bases and lots of military retirees in his district, if I were in Murphy’s shoes, I would much rather have something like the Veterans Affairs or Armed Services committees. Homeland Security only covers the Coast Guard, not the Marines, which are the really big presence in the 3rd District. It also may be that they considered that Bishop made fighting illegal immigration a much bigger issue in his campaign than Murphy did. For Bishop, with Charlette a banking center, I would have thought he would have been looking for the Banking and Financial Services committee. I suspect that the leadership would also consider the factor that the 9th is a more competitive district, and therefore more at risk and in need of shoring up than the more heavily Republican 3rd.