Cole: Stingy GOP members ‘ought to be ashamed’

Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) chastised his colleagues Tuesday for not contributing to the GOP candidate in an increasingly crucial Mississippi special election, saying those who have not helped “ought to be ashamed of themselves,” Republican sources said.

{mosads}The harsh admonition from the head of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) was the latest rallying cry from GOP campaigners, who have repeatedly cited a lack of enthusiasm and giving from members. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) told his colleagues earlier this year that they needed to get off their “dead asses” and raise money for the NRCC.

Boehner and Cole continued that theme Tuesday at a House GOP meeting, asking members to focus on the Mississippi race just days after the party suffered a second loss of the cycle in former Rep. Richard Baker’s (R) conservative Louisiana district.

Rep.-elect Don Cazayoux (D) defeated former state Rep. Woody Jenkins (R) 49-46 on Saturday, giving Democrats their second takeover of the election cycle.

Very few GOP members gave to Jenkins despite the conservative nature of the Baton Rouge district, while Cazayoux raised more than $160,000 from Democratic members.

In another conservative district in Mississippi, the vast majority of members have not given to Southaven Mayor Greg Davis (R), even after he nearly lost to Democrat Travis Childers late last month.

The two will meet head-to-head in a runoff May 13, three weeks after Childers came within a few hundred votes of winning the race outright.

"Well, we lost, and it’s clear this election is about change," Boehner told reporters after Tuesday’s meeting. “I wish we would have won, but we didn't.”

He added that, rather than dwell on the failure in Louisiana, he preferred to look ahead to the "tough race" in Mississippi.

Rep. Jim McCrery (R-La.) defended the NRCC’s decision to spend money on the Louisiana special election despite the fact that, as many Republicans acknowledged early on, they had a flawed candidate.