By JONATHAN MARTIN
WASHINGTON — In a sign of the left’s new aggressiveness, a coalition of
liberals is trying to marginalize a centrist Democratic policy group
that was responsible for a Wall Street Journal op-ed article this week that said economic populism was “disastrous” for the party.
The coalition, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee,
and three other liberal advocacy organizations have urged their members
to contact a group of congressional Democrats who are honorary leaders
of the centrist group, Third Way. It published the op-ed article on Monday contending that the liberalism of Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio of New York City and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts would lead Democrats “over the populist cliff.”
The article — written by Jon Cowan, president of Third Way, and Jim
Kessler, its senior vice president for policy — criticizes progressives
like Ms. Warren and Mr. de Blasio for opposing measures to cut costs to Social Security and Medicare.
The liberal groups’ campaign has already gotten results, the latest indication that the liberal wing of the Democratic Party is ascendant.
Mark Bergman, a spokesman for Representative Allyson Schwartz, Democrat
of Pennsylvania, said she “read the op-ed, thought it was outrageous,
disagrees strongly and told Third Way that.” Ms. Schwartz, who is locked
in a primary campaign for governor of Pennsylvania, is an honorary
chairwoman of Third Way.
Representative Joseph Crowley of New York, an honorary Third Way
co-chairman, was also disturbed by the article, said his spokeswoman,
Courtney Gidner. “Congressman Crowley has worked with Third Way on a
range of issues, such as immigration reform and the Affordable Care Act,
but on this matter they strongly disagree,” she said.
While the liberal organizations have been concentrating on members of
Congress, Ms. Warren raised questions about the funding sources of
policy groups like Third Way. Without specifically mentioning the group,
she sent a letter on Wednesday to the chief executives of six of the
country’s biggest banks asking them to reveal the groups they help
finance.
Shareholders, she wrote, “have a right to know how corporate resources
are spent, and, even more important, policy makers and the public should
be aware of your contributions and evaluate the work of the think tanks
accordingly.”
And on Thursday, the liberal blog Daily Kos announced that it would endorse and raise money only for candidates who promised not to join Third Way.
Taken together, such hardball tactics suggest that emboldened
progressives intend to tap into the populist energy coursing through the
Democratic Party to ensure that their elected officials hold to the
liberal line.
“Given that we are a vast majority of the party’s voters, and represent
many of the party’s financial contributors, to see that level of
disrespect shown to Elizabeth Warren’s message, you know, we needed to
answer fire with fire,” said Mike Lux, a longtime liberal strategist.
By directly going after Ms. Warren, who has an avid following among
progressives, Third Way all but ensured that it would get the fight it
seemed to want to pick.
While she has repeatedly said she will not run for president, Ms. Warren
is seen by many on the left as the candidate who could stop Hillary
Rodham Clinton from claiming the Democratic nomination in 2016. And
even if Ms. Warren does not run, progressives want to use this period to
send a message to Mrs. Clinton that the Democratic Party is now more
unabashedly liberal than it was when her husband was elected president
in 1992.
Liberals have witnessed the success the right has enjoyed in recent
years by using such tough tactics. Conservative groups have pushed
Republicans to take a harder line, most recently over the federal health care law, and have seen their leverage with officeholders grow.
“They have been much tougher on their moderates than we have
historically,” Mr. Lux said, “and it shows in terms of the policy debate
as the Republicans keep moving to the right and our guys keeping
getting mushier.”
Asked about the criticism, a Third Way official cited similar efforts by the right.
“We hope that the Democratic tent remains big enough for a serious
policy debate and that we don’t begin to drive out those we don’t agree
with, like the Republicans have done,” said Matt Bennett, a founder of
the group and its vice president for public affairs.
As for the group’s financing, Mr. Bennett said that only “three-tenths
of 1 percent” of the annual budget comes from the banks Ms. Warren
addressed in her letter.
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