Moderate GOP group removes ‘Republican’ from name, Boehner ally pres. says aim is to attract democrats, will represent ‘governing wing of the Republican Party.’ Super PAC will help RINOs, seek compromise

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LaTourette is a close ally of Boehner’s, called Tea Partiers “chuckleheads,” and said he’ll raise money to protect RINOs.
 
1/8/13, “Moderate Republican group to remove ‘Republican’ from name, welcome Democrats,” Yahoo News, Chris Moody

“The Republican Main Street Partnership, a Washington-based group that has promoted moderate GOP lawmakers and policies, will remove the word “Republican” from its title and welcome center-right Democrats in 2013, Yahoo News has learned.

The organization’s board of directors voted Tuesday morning to scrap party identification from its title and be known simply as “The Main Street Partnership.” The group’s new president, former Ohio Republican Rep. Steven LaTourette, told Yahoo News that he plans to begin conversations with Blue Dog Democrats and centrist groups in the coming months.

“The goal is to try and fill the void that is the middle,” LaTourette, who resigned from Congress this year, said. “The American political system is like a doughnut: You’ve got sides, but you don’t have anything in the middle, and it would be my goal to work with Republicans and Democrats who want to find the path forward to 

getting things done and compromise.”

In a statement released Tuesday afternoon, LaTourette added: “While we have changed our name, we have not changed our values or our mission. We will continue to be a right of center organization and continue to represent 

the governing wing of the Republican Party.”

The Main Street Partnership will also expand its super PAC, Defending Main Street, to aid center-right members of both parties, LaTourette said, adding, “It’s not going to be focused so much on party as it is on protecting people from the right and left extremes if they choose to do the right things.”

In Congress, LaTourette was known to vote against party leadership: He opposed a measure that would strip federal funding of National Public Radio in 2011, and he was one of just two Republicans who did not support censuring Attorney General Eric Holder.

 
Current members of the Main Street organization include Republican Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, Republican Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee;  and  Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers of Washington, who was named chairman of the House Republican Conference in November.” via Hot Air

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12/21/12, “Rep. LaTourette: Tea Party “Chuckleheads” Are to Blame for ‘Plan B’ Tax Vote Being Canceled,” Fox News Insider

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1/4/13, “GOP scrambles to fix its primary problem,” Politico, Jonathan Martin

“A retiring House Republican is starting a super PAC to help House members challenged from the right.…Former Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-Ohio),

a Boehner ally…
 
wants to make it easier for those GOP congressmen who are 

willing to work toward a grand bargain 
 
and is leaving Congress to do just that.
 
He’s taking over the Republican Main Street Partnership —

the slimmed-down group of congressional GOP centrists — and is going to create a super PAC to serve as a counterbalance to the Club for Growth in House Republican primaries. 

“When a center-right Republican is in a primary and is being targeted by some group as a RINO, we’re going to make sure we have their back,” said LaTourette. “Not just with speeches and press releases 

but with money.”
 
LaTourette said his initial goal for the group’s super PAC would be to raise $10 million and he had already gotten favorable responses when he brought up his plan with senior House Republicans on committees that make it easy to raise money.
 
“We’re going to hit the road [to raise money] as soon as I’m off this payroll,” he said of his congressional tenure.”…



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