Jackson Jambalaya

Kim Stassel writes in the Wall Street Journal how one GOP reformer is treated by the Republican establishment. There is no doubt that the Republican Party leadership is clueless and increasingly out of touch as it became more focused on staying in power instead of following its conservative principles. One would think that the disaster in the 2006 elections would have been a wake-up call but such is not the case as they searched for reasons absolving them of any responsibility for the debacle. Their strategy is to throw stones at Democrats and use the same cliches that voters have been hearing for over twenty years. Meanwhile, a younger generation of Republicans is beginning to stir and grows increasinly tired of the Thad Cochrans, John Boehners, George W. Bush, and other Republican leaders who claim to be good Republicans but tend to see conservatives as much the enemy as they do liberals. Ms. Stassel writes:

For an insight as to why the GOP is down and out in Washington, take a look at Jefferson City. That's where Sarah Steelman, the state treasurer, is running in an Aug. 5 primary for the Missouri governorship. And it's where her reform campaign against earmarks and self-dealing is threatening the entrenched status quo, causing her own party to rise against her.
So bitter are House Minority Whip Roy Blunt and Sen. Kit Bond at Ms. Steelman's attack on their cherished spending beliefs that last month they rallied the entire Missouri congressional delegation to put out a public statement openly criticizing her campaign against six-term U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof. Joining them in their support of Mr. Hulshof has been the vast majority of the state Republican machine. Ms. Steelman is clearly doing something right.
Her sin is in fact to belong to that new mold of Republican – Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Sens. Tom Coburn and Jim DeMint – who know it's no longer enough to simply hawk lower taxes. In 10 years as a state legislator and treasurer, her target has been the slothful political favor factory that's led Republicans away from small-government principles and outraged conservative voters.
And, oh, the howls of misery. Ms. Steelman's Republican colleagues were livid with her attempt to strip them of comfy pensions, annoyed with her "sunshine law" requiring them to be more open in their dealings, furious at her attacks on their ethanol boondoggles, appalled that she criticized GOP state Speaker Rod Jetton for moonlighting as a paid political consultant. The final straw was her temerity to make her primary race about her opponent's Washington earmarking record (Remember Cochran is the leading earmarker in the Senate-Kingfish)....
http://online.wsj.com/article/potomac_watch.html

Ms. Steelman's website: http://www.sarahsteelman.com/