WASHINGTON, D.C. – In remarks last Friday to a legislative symposium hosted by The Ripon Society at Mount Vernon, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey called former Congressman and current Ohio Governor John Kasich the linchpin of GOP efforts to balance the budget in the 1990s, and expressed “disappointment” that Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan has not received more support from the GOP Conference for his efforts to rein in spending and reduce the size of government today.
“My biggest disappointment with respect to Paul Ryan is that he hasn’t gotten the support across-the-board in the Republican conference that I think he should have had,” Armey stated in response to a question about the current effort to cut spending on Capitol Hill. “In 1995 when we took the majority, we had a man named John Kasich from Ohio. It was only in recent months … that I realize what happened to the Republican majority in days past. Well, it went to hell in a hand basket. And largely [the GOP majority] was rejected by the American people because it went from budget discipline to budget indulgence. It went from a broad national policy vision for America to short-term, political, parochial visions for themselves.
“I realize now that John Kasich was the linchpin – he held us together. The whole thing started to unravel when Kasich left.”
“And I realize now that John Kasich was the linchpin – he held us together. The whole thing started to unravel when Kasich left. We need to be truthfully supportive of Ryan and let him emerge performing that duty of leadership that we got from Kasich.”
To view Armey’s remarks about John Kasich, please click on the link below:
Armey made his remarks in response to a question posed to him at The Ripon Society’s first annual Legislative Directors Symposium on Leadership at Mount Vernon on February 4th. The top legislative aides for nearly 100 House Republicans attended the day-long event, which also featured presentations by former presidential counselor and RNC Chair Ed Gillespie, NBC News Correspondent Luke Russert, and top members of the House Republican Leadership staff, among other political and legislative leaders.
In his address to the legislative directors, Armey urged those in attendance to avoid political intrigue and focus on issues of substance as they went about their jobs.
“You don’t want to be bothered by petty foolishness,” he advised them. “Anything that has a policy purpose is immediately on that basis alone morally and intellectually superior to anything that has a political purpose. Policy – that’s why we’re here. We’ve been given a trust of responsibility to make the government of this United States better appreciative, more respectful of, more restrained in regard to and a better service in the lives of the citizenry of this Nation.”
Armey, who retired from the House of Representatives in 2002, also spoke about his current role as Chairman of FreedomWorks, why he chose to join the organization, and how the organization can be of assistance in building support for policy projects and initiatives across the country.
“When I left Congress, I actively sought out that organization which is now known as FreedomWorks and asked them if I could join them. Because I knew the power of grassroots activism. And I knew at that time that they were the biggest, largest number of activists in the country who could be mobilized to a project at any time and actually show up and make a difference. And I said, ‘Can I be part of what you’re doing?’ Because I knew the strength of that. I didn’t know that in just a few years, this Tea Party thing would all of a sudden pop up and we would be surrounded by literally millions of allies.
“But we at FreedomWorks are 800,000 strong and we find ourselves to be a pretty effective force in service to good ideas and good policy projects and initiatives. So if you get an initiative, you can call in that support. You’ve got a guy out there – let’s say some slow-learner in Ohio – who can’t quite see the merit of your project, but you need his vote maybe on committee, maybe on some subcommittee. How about he starts hearing from activists in his district on a steady routine basis? It’s very persuasive, and you can get that vote because, in the end, they all want the same thing – they want to get reelected.
“The wind is blowing from America to Washington today. This is the big change that we’ve seen in the last election cycle. This nation today is bound and determined to tell Washington what we require of you and not to accept what they’ve got.”
Referring to the power of the Internet to mobilize grassroots support, Armey added: “Right now, I would rather have the New York Times after me than any of about 10 prominent bloggers – because they’re making a difference.”
To view Armey’s complete remarks to The Ripon Society’s 2011 Symposium at Mount Vernon, please click on the link below:
The Ripon Society is a public policy organization that was founded in 1962 and takes its name from the town where the Republican Party was born in 1854 – Ripon, Wisconsin. One of the main goals of The Ripon Society is to promote the ideas and principles that have made America great and contributed to the GOP’s success. These ideas include keeping our nation secure, keeping taxes low and having a federal government that is smaller, smarter and more accountable to the people.