Jackson Jambalaya

Over at Red State, Mr. Erickson has drawn some heat from a Republican chieftan. Seems that one of these Republican consultants, money man, or whatever you call these types, is in charge of "independent expenditures" and surprise, was directing money to a company he owns (Shades of Jere Nash. Sorry Jere.), which was reported in Red State. Republican Shenanigans

Seems Mr. Voorhis, who has had his hand in the cookie jar for so long crumbs are now permanently embedded into his nails, didn't like this and called up Mr. Erickson's church to dig up some dirt on him:

"In any event, my preacher calls and says some guy named Sam Van Voorhis called demanding to know why I no longer go to church there. Sam Van Voorhis claimed to be in the Presbyterian Church of America (my denomination) and insisted on information. My preacher says Sam was rather unpleasant when they would not cooperate.
What is more interesting is that Sam called a few months ago doing the exact same thing to the church secretary. Sam needed, for some reason, to make sure I hadn’t been forced out of the church." Someone must be doing something right

Of course, Mr. Voorhis has been in trouble before:
'The NRSC has hired a direct-mail guy to run their independent expenditure effort that should be primarily focused on TV ads. That's kind of like bringing a knife to a gunfight, no? I'm sure the NRSC is hoping that their new hire, Sam Van Voorhis, doesn't get caught up in any more legal issues:
"Others have been embroiled in scandal. In 2004, 1998 Rising Star Sam Van Voorhis, president of Majority Strategies Inc., got entangled in a kickback scandal. An anonymous memo triggered an investigation that led to Van Voorhis being subpoenaed for his alleged overcharging the Republican House Caucus for his direct mail work." The List Grows Longer, Ohio Kickbacks Investigation

In fact, this story has a nice little chart that shows how the whole scheme in Ohio worked: Nice work if you can get it. It should be noted the probe was dropped by the Justice Department, one reason Gonzales caught some heat. He did pretty well in a 2008 Florida congressional race, raking in $42,000 in fees.

There is little question Redstate.com has become one of the leading conservative blogs in Republican politics. It is also clear Democratic activists have been much more effective at using blogs and the internet to influence their party for quite some time. Republican activists such as Mr. Erickson are just now using the power of the internet to do the same and some of the old guard do not like it. The old guard is happy to lose elections if it means they keep their titles and cozy little business arrangements. Mr. Erickson apparently stepped on the toes of someone who has grown fat feeding from the Republican trough. If they want to play rough, by all means lets play rough. Its about time the grassroots started cleaning out the party of these country-club fat cats who are happy losing elections as long as they are making money.