The Bopp-Yue Resolution & Mike Duncan

Earlier, I touched on the RNC resolution being offered by Oregon national committeeman Solomon Yue and Indiana national committeeman (and RNC Vice-Chairman) James Bopp condemning recent bailout measures by the Bush administration.

News of the resolution was first broken by the Washington Times:

Republican Party officials say they will try next month to pass a resolution accusing President Bush and congressional Republican leaders of embracing "socialism," underscoring deep dissension within the party at the end of Mr. Bush's administration.

Those pushing the resolution, which will come before the Republican National Committee at its January meeting, say elected leaders need to be reminded of core principles. They said the RNC must take the dramatic step of wading into policy debates, which traditionally have been left to lawmakers.

"We can't be a party of small government, free markets and low taxes while supporting bailouts and nationalizing industries, which lead to big government, socialism and high taxes at the expense of individual liberty and freedoms," said Solomon Yue, an Oregon member and co-sponsor of a resolution that criticizes the U.S. government bailouts of the financial and auto industries. Republican National Committee Vice Chairman James Bopp Jr. wrote the resolution and asked the rest of the 168 voting members to sign it.

"The resolution also opposes President-elect Obama's proposed public works program and supports conservative alternatives," while encouraging the RNC "to engage in vigorous public policy debates consistent with our party platform," said Mr. Bopp, a leading attorney for pro-life groups who has also challenged the campaign finance legislation that Mr. Bush signed.

If enacted, the resolution would put the party on record opposing the $700 billion bailout of the financial sector, which passed Congress with Republican support and was signed by Mr. Bush, and opposing the bailout of the auto industry. The auto bailout bill was blocked by Senate Republicans, but Mr. Bush then reversed course and announced that he would use financial bailout money to aid the auto manufacturers.

Coming amidst the jockeying of six candidates to be the next RNC chairman, the proposal created quite a stir among conservative bloggers deep in discussion about the party's future (and hoping to influence the ultimate RNC chairman decision).

This is an unusual manifestation of the ideological inclination of the base of the party (and, I'd daresay, most Americans) in opposition of the use of taxpayer dollars to rescue failing private sector businesses. In this respect, in the sense that the sentiment of the party grassroots is being emphasized among the leadership of the party, it's a good thing.

But, as I said, this comes amidst a campaign for a chairman, folks on the internet started to see wheels within wheels; Bopp, they seem to think, wants to retain Duncan as chairman (and somehow denouncing the current administration, who put Duncan in as chairman, accomplishes this).

Granted, Duncan is a Bopp client, or so I was told when I called around and asked a few people about Jim Bopp and Mike Duncan. Bopp doesn't exactly make his client lists public, but this notion of Bopp and Duncan being together (which I heard from several people) apparently ties back to Duncan and the RNC hiring Bopp's firm as a part of campaign finance law litigation to overturn McCain-Feingold. There is no other attorney-client relationship that I could find (though that doesn't mean there isn't one, I suppose).

That the RNC would hire Bopp's firm is hardly surprising; Jim Bopp is one of the (if not the) foremost conservative and Republican litigators of campaign finance law, having argued before the Supreme Court several times and gotten an 80% success rate. It's hard to imagine who else the RNC might retain for such an effort.

Back in the day, at the Midwest Republican Leadership Conference, I had the chance to interview Jim Bopp (the interview, I think, used to be available on the now-defunct Republicans Radio website) and I served on the rules committee with him at the 2008 Republican state convention (where he was the architect of the rules changes that shut down the Ron Paul faction and prevented them from disrupting the convention from the floor). To say that he's a smart guy is like saying that Peyton Manning is a good quarterback.

But I digress. Does this linkage between Bopp and Duncan make the Bopp-Yue resolution some sort of hidden plot to help Mike Duncan? I don't think so. It also doesn't mean that Bopp isn't for Duncan (though he hasn't publicly endorsed anyone as yet insofar as I am aware).

I just find it far-fetched that these three unrelated things (the Bopp-Yue resolution, Duncan running for chairman, and Bopp litigating a RNC campaign finance case) lead to an unrelated conclusion (Bopp and Yue are plotting for Duncan).