Florida, Despite chief-of-staff fiasco, West still a star to GOP of all stripes as he preps for Washington

OFF THE WIRE
BY: George Bennett
Source: palmbeachpost.com

SUNRISE — The leather-vested bikers Allen West visited for breakfast at a Harley-Davidson dealership Thursday had a lot in common with the blue-blazered Republicans he mingled with at a country club the night before.

Both groups expressed particularly high hopes for West, the tea party Republican and YouTube sensation who unseated Democratic U.S. Rep. Ron Klein in a nationally watched House race this month.

And both crowds wanted lots of pictures with the new GOP star.

Wherever West goes, strangers ask him to pause and appear in photos with them. And in those crucial seconds while the camera or cell phone is handed to a friend or passerby to snap the shot, the strangers often offer advice.

"Don't go to Washington and let any of those guys corrupt you," a woman told West as she stood with him for a photo after he spoke at a Veterans Day lunch in Boynton Beach.

Like hundreds of other Republicans this year, West ran against Washington and the Democratic stimulus and health care bills.

West's anti-Washington stance goes beyond that. When House GOP leaders sought to harness tea party energy by issuing a "Pledge To America" in September, a skeptical West noted that Republicans rallied behind a "Contract With America" in 1994 but soon disappointed their supporters.

West also faulted the GOP manifesto for not including term limits (he favors an 8-year cap for House members) or a ban on congressional earmarks.

Additionally, West reached way outside the Beltway this week to name conservative radio talker Joyce Kaufman as his chief of staff. The unconventional move blew up on West. Kaufman withdrew a few days later after facing national criticism for controversial remarks she's made in the past.

West said he accepted Kaufman's resignation with "deep regret," but said he had no regrets or second thoughts about making the unusual selection. He said he'll pick another chief of staff who will also be "district-focused" rather than "oriented toward Washington, D.C."

When West visits Washington next week for freshman orientation, he'll begin pursuing an ambitious agenda. The retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, 49, wants appointments to the Armed Services, Government Reform and Foreign Relations committees.

West also wants a role in House Republican leadership. With more than 80 GOP freshmen heading to Washington, Speaker-in-waiting John Boehner and likely Majority Leader Eric Cantor have said they plan to give freshmen a "larger voice" in House leadership and the party steering committee.

West says the new Republican majority can't bask in its midterm election victories.

"We cannot believe that we can just ride this on in. We have got to be bold. As Alexander the Great said, fortune favors the bold," West told the Republican Club of the Palm Beaches on Wednesday night at Bear Lakes Country Club in West Palm Beach.

"The American people have given a chance to the Republican Party. We've got to win back that trust and confidence. We have to be able to do that very quickly — within the first 90 to 120 days," West said.

It's a big agenda for a figure whose supporters expect big things.

Some might be content to see a House rookie steer a few federal dollars into his district or snag a good committee assignment. But when local GOP activist Arthur DeRuve introduced West at the Wednesday night club meeting, he made it clear he's envisioning much more.

"He will be the moral compass for the Republican Party. He will not allow the Republican Party to fall into some of its old losing ways of putting practical politics over principle. He will also be the moral compass for our country," DeRuve said.

The next morning, West visited a breakfast at a Harley Davidson dealership where about 100 bikers, many of them veterans, were preparing to ride to a Veterans Day event in Broward County.

West, who rides a Honda motorcycle on weekends, was attacked by Democrats during the campaign for some of his associations with certain bikers. He was criticized for attending at least one event also attended by South Florida members of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club. The group's national president and 26 members from other states were accused in a June federal indictment of being part of an organized criminal enterprise. West said he has no ties to the Outlaws.

He also was criticized for allowing his monthly e-mail blast to be published in a South Florida biker magazine that critics say denigrates women.

— West voiced "qualms" about the magazine's content last month, but said his column shouldn't be seen as an endorsement of the other material in the publication. On Thursday, West said he'd spoken with the magazine's publisher and planned to continue contributing while he's in Congress.

"He's going to do some different things with his magazine. We had a good talk about that," said West, who said he wants to reach as many audiences as possible.

The Florida Democratic Party, licking its wounds after an historic drubbing in which it lost all five statewide races, four congressional seats, two state Senate seats and five state House seats, sought to revive the biker issue after Kaufman stepped aside.

"Will Allen West hire a member of the Outlaws gang as his new chief of staff?" said a release from Democratic spokesman Eric Jotkoff.

West said bikers are "people who are highly supportive of me...I'm not going to turn my back on them."

At the biker breakfast, Vietnam vet Bob Heber of Pembroke Pines watched West pose for one picture after another with motorcycle cops and other bikers. Heber said he believes West will stand out among the 435 House members.

"I've been disillusioned many times. But I'm very proud of what he's accomplished," the former Army helicopter pilot said. Because of West's military background, Heber says he expects the incoming congressman to infuse Capitol Hill with "discipline, ethics, maturity — all the buzzwords that you can think of that make a good person. Duty, honor, country."