Martinez is no Miers

While I am not surprised at the conservative opposition to Mel Martinez's appointment to RNC Chair, I am surprised at some of the libertarian Republican opposition to Martinez and comparisons to another Bush appointment: Harriet Miers. The claim that Bush is appointing a loyalist to the job is true, but so what. Any RNC or DNC head that is appointed while a member of their party is President has always been a loyalist. McCauliffe, Brown, and Rendell were appointed DNC chair during the Clinton presidency and were all considered close to Bill Clinton and Mehlman and Gillespie were both named RNC chair during the Bush Presidency and enjoy close personal ties with this President. Below is an e-mail I wrote to a prominent libertarian Republican on the subject:

Your principled opposition seems to be geared more to opposing the Bush agenda as opposed to promoting the Libertarian agenda. Additionally, it seems in your promotion of Shadegg and Pence, you finally recognize that Libertarianism is not synonymous with social liberalism as Blunt and Boehner are probably more socially liberal than either of the aforementioned leadership candidates.

My main contentions with Senator Mel Martinez are as follows: he represents a swing state and endangers himself politically by taking certain positions at the RNC which are at odds with his state and the limited amount of time he has to devote to the job as RNC head- as Senator is quite time-consuming. This is in variance to Ken Mehlman who could devote his time exclusively to being RNC head.

Your argument that he is Harriet Miers is off-base as Martinez is an elected Senator and has a compelling life story. He is perfectfully qualified for the job and as a self-described Libertarian you should like his stance on immigration which is drawing the ire of other conservatives.

If you were concerned about promoting libertarian ideals you would be better served by reserving your wrath for the Murtha-Hoyer race and would have been more vocal in your opposition to Trent Lott’s ascension to the number 2 spot in the Senate Caucus. Murtha and Lott are two of the biggest pork-barrel recipients in Congress and Murtha has a history of spotty judgment in his dealings with lobbyists.