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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe WH has nominated Gayle Conelly Manchin, wife of Joe, to co-chair economic development board
Link to tweet
Josh Wingrove
@josh_wingrove
The White House has nominated Gayle Conelly Manchin, a former state cabinet secretary who is the spouse of the West Virginia Democratic senator, to co-chair an economic development board:
Biden Names Wife of Pivotal Democratic Senator for Federal Post
President Joe Biden plans to nominate Gayle Conelly Manchin -- an educator and the wife of Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, a key swing vote -- to a regional economic development position after the...
bloomberg.com
8:05 AM · Mar 26, 2021
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-26/biden-names-wife-of-pivotal-democratic-senator-for-federal-post
President Joe Biden plans to nominate Gayle Conelly Manchin -- an educator and the wife of Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, a key swing vote -- to a regional economic development position after the lawmaker has emerged as a key swing vote in the chamber.
The White House said Friday that Gayle Manchin is Bidens pick for federal co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission, an economic development partnership between the federal government and 13 states, including West Virginia, where the senator and his wife reside.
Gayle Manchin has served previously on the State Board of Education, and chairs Reconnecting McDowell, an initiative in West Virginia run by the American Federation of Teachers. She also served as secretary for the West Virginia Office of Education and the Arts and holds two graduate degrees. She and the senator have been married for 53 years.
Senator Manchin is the foremost Democratic swing vote in the chamber, which is evenly split between the parties but is controlled by Democrats because Vice President Kamala Harris breaks ties. As a result, Manchin holds significant sway in Bidens ability to pass legislation.
*snip*
PA_jen
(1,114 posts)Demsrule86
(68,600 posts)PA_jen
(1,114 posts)Thrill
(19,178 posts)PA_jen
(1,114 posts)Thrill
(19,178 posts)So he supports your agenda. Thats just reality. No way around it
markpkessinger
(8,401 posts)Look, I am as exasperated with Joe Manchin as anyone. But the co-chair of a regional (not even national) economic development board does NOT have leverage over the President of the United States. In fact, this move gives Biden leverage over Manchin!
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)msfiddlestix
(7,282 posts)Manchin will be at this administrations beck and call. A Brilliant move albeit out of necessity.
Good job Biden!
markpkessinger
(8,401 posts). . . This isn't even a cabinet-level position, for God's sake.
TheBlackAdder
(28,209 posts).
Be careful of what you ask for. Joe Manchin might have some insulation from illegal acts, his wife won't.
Not saying they could be intentional or not, but the exposure and risk exist.
.
Miguelito Loveless
(4,465 posts)Naked quid pro quo?
Demsrule86
(68,600 posts)Miguelito Loveless
(4,465 posts)which benefit the senator's state, are a different animal than a job which benefits the senator's wife. It crosses a moral line. Once we cross it, then the line is erased, and that is how we are where we are.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Scruples are not helpful when trying to save the country from the likes of him.
triron
(22,007 posts)If this helps get major legislation passed, hallelujah.
Miguelito Loveless
(4,465 posts)the ends justify the means.
We just keep doing favors for people, proving their power, so they can continue to withhold what we need, and make more demands.
markpkessinger
(8,401 posts). . . This is a position as co-chair of a regional, not national, economic development board. Yes, it's political patronage -- welcome to the real, grown-up world of poliktics!
And no, this isn't "what it's come to": -- it's what politics has always been!
PA_jen
(1,114 posts)and you are completely fine with Manchin not voting for it because Republicans won't vote for S1?
Crunchy Frog
(26,587 posts)JI7
(89,252 posts)pick for this position.
Miguelito Loveless
(4,465 posts)for the wife of, say, the senate majority leader.
PA_jen
(1,114 posts)he was fired.
msfiddlestix
(7,282 posts)You bet your sweet bumpkins.
It is absolutely paramount that we keep Manchin not just on our team, but in our nest in order to get anything vital passed and overcome the issues with the filibuster and other obstruction whether on Voting Rights, and on a myriad of other legislation vital to our democracy.
So yeah, it's hard ball politics, and this is how it's done. Whatever the effin hell it takes.
Go Biden! Brilliant move!
Now Fire Saul & Black, Dejoy today please.
Miguelito Loveless
(4,465 posts)and will never give us what we need, he will just keep making demands to flex his power.
msfiddlestix
(7,282 posts)Wouldn't it be a welcomed development for voters in West Virginia to help turn WV away from Rethugs Party and bolster electoral votes to the state and Congress, and the next Presidential Election in favor of Democratic Electoral Victories?
I'm thinking that's a win no matter how it is we get there.
Miguelito Loveless
(4,465 posts)and they are some of the RARE liberals in the very RED state. Manchin is only elected because he is in essence a de facto Republican. I don't know that he will survive the next election, even catering to the Trump agenda.
msfiddlestix
(7,282 posts)Could be he's straddling the fence for political pay off, either by re-election support or getting his grubby hands on some pork for himself. I think that's obvious.
I'm just thinking, once his wife is appointed, that should help grease the path to supporting S1 sans filibuster, and then goodies in the Infrastructure bill for West Virginia should be everything he needs for background checks, bans on assault etc etc.
Miguelito Loveless
(4,465 posts)a Q challenger who has a good shot at taking him down.
msfiddlestix
(7,282 posts)Miguelito Loveless
(4,465 posts)know. Since Manchin is making a point to be utterly useless to us by serving the Right's agenda rather than ours, it seems to me it might be better to simply cut him lose, and take money we would use to prop him up in the election, and spend it somewhere we have a better chance, say NC.
At some point, there has to be a penalty for constant betrayal.
msfiddlestix
(7,282 posts)and we keep the grifter from West Virginia, until we most assuredly do not need him anymore.
Crunchy Frog
(26,587 posts)Miguelito Loveless
(4,465 posts)So, i assumed he was re-elected in 2016, but he may have filled an incomplete term. In any case, he is pretty much useless to us.
Crunchy Frog
(26,587 posts)Miguelito Loveless
(4,465 posts)Thanks!
Ferrets are Cool
(21,108 posts)agingdem
(7,850 posts)Biden is an experienced pol...this isn't his first rodeo....we as a country need what Biden is "selling"... economic recovery, the infrastructure bill...and if he has to "buy" Manchin to repair the poison the orange maggot and his equally rancid "all the best people" inflicted us then so be it
PA_jen
(1,114 posts)agingdem
(7,850 posts)every day Manchin is looking more and more like McConnell 2.0..in a few short months he has shrunk in gravitas as a senator and as a man...there will come a time when Manchin wants something big for West Virginia and he'll need all those Dems he pissed off to get it for him.. he'll need to beg...should be fun...
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)See how that works?
agingdem
(7,850 posts)make his life, both professional and domestic, extremely uncomfortable and publicly so...
BeyondGeography
(39,375 posts)This makes it much harder at the end of the day for Manchin to saunter across the aisle. Good move.
2 Meow Momma
(6,682 posts)save the democracy. Im sure shell do a good job.
PA_jen
(1,114 posts)He is refusing to support it.
EYESORE 9001
(25,949 posts)Whats it gonna take for you to stop posturing and get with the program? Name your price already!
machoneman
(4,007 posts)Crunchy Frog
(26,587 posts)Aristus
(66,401 posts)If she is, it's harder to make a case for quid pro quo.
librechik
(30,674 posts)markpkessinger
(8,401 posts)JI7
(89,252 posts)than he is.
Kaleva
(36,314 posts)Lucinda
(31,170 posts)...rather than allude to manipulation...?
Kaleva
(36,314 posts)Lucinda
(31,170 posts)Editing to say that it looks like I responded to the wrong post. Wasn't disagreeing with you!
Sorry for the mix-up.
Kaleva
(36,314 posts)riversedge
(70,246 posts)the optics suck suck suck.
librechik
(30,674 posts)to strangle Joe Manchin on the floor of the Senate. But this is not that.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Like the enemy gives a SHIT about optics.
librechik
(30,674 posts)but it's a small thing and like the rest of the thread, I/m willing to forgive, if it works,I guess. Fuckin Manchin Pig. Eww/
Takket
(21,581 posts)radicalleft
(478 posts)If this is what it takes to protect voting rights and a host of other good social programs, then so be it. At least some good can come of it unlike past admins who blatantly engaged in cronyism.
BSdetect
(8,998 posts)PRETZEL
(3,245 posts)the optics of this will give Biden critics fodder and that may not be what he really needs right now,
But it will come out that she is more than likely very qualified for this position hence the nomination.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)whistler162
(11,155 posts)the one making the biggest objections!
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)herding cats
(19,565 posts)18th United States Secretary of Transportation
In office
January 31, 2017 January 11, 2021
President
Donald Trump
24th United States Secretary of Labor
In office
January 29, 2001 January 20, 2009
President
George W. Bush
TDale313
(7,820 posts)Me may not have much choice, but it sucks. If this gets me a hide (my first one ever, I believe) Ill take it. Good news is it sounds like shes qualified.
kysrsoze
(6,022 posts)He's such a slimy character, and an embarrassment to our party. Honest graft? Sheesh.
msfiddlestix
(7,282 posts)Sur Zobra
(3,428 posts)to get with the program. In fact, hell further entrench himself against abolishing the filibuster, against the voter rights bill, against gun legislation reforms, etc. Why? Because any kowtowing to him makes him more powerful, and it bolsters his belief that only he holds the right positions in the Democratic Party
nevergiveup
(4,762 posts)Reminds me a little of LBJ with all the arm twisting and pork doled out to get major critical legislation. If it gets the voting rights bill passed and the filibuster weakened I say "screw the optics". Go Biden!!!!!!!!!
Crunchy Frog
(26,587 posts)We're in a game of power politics to the death, and we'd better start acting like it.
MoonRiver
(36,926 posts)Win-Win
Hekate
(90,719 posts)mcar
(42,334 posts)Deminpenn
(15,286 posts)is a big deal, especially to WVa. It's not just WVa, though. It's all the areas traversed by the Appalachian Mtns. Does appointing Mrs Manchin help invest Sen Manchin in the Biden agenda? Yes. But it also gives the commission someone who is intimately familiar with the problems and issues facing WVa. Remember, when Sen Manchin was Gov Manchin, his wife was the first lady of the state. She is quite qualified for the job to which she's being appointed.