The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Unlike some Cabinet picks, Price not big Senate donor
WASHINGTON — As a committee chairman with close ties to party leadership, U.S. Rep. Tom Price has used the fruits of his fundraising prowess to back the campaigns of fellow House Republicans and Georgia state legislators.
The Republican from Roswell, however, has given little to the campaigns of U.S. senators, a decision that may have an impact as he faces members of the chamber next month during his confirmation hearings for health and human services secretary.
An analysis of six years of federal campaign finance data shows that while Price gave to dozens of House colleagues; local, state and national branches of the Republican Party; and, more recently, state legislators as he appeared to eye a run for governor, the number of sitting senators he’s given money to can be counted on one hand.
Price has given $2,000 each to the campaigns of Georgia U.S. Sens. David Perdue and Johnny Isakson, according to the federal data. The six-term lawmaker also donated the same amounts to the campaign committees of U.S. Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Steve Daines, R-Mont., back in 2012, when they were both running for seats in the U.S. House.
Political donations to senators don’t necessarily have a direct impact on a nominee’s confirmation chances, but they certainly don’t hurt when it comes to building relationships in Washington.
Price’s giving habits come in contrast to some of President-elect Donald Trump’s other Cabinet picks.
Betsy DeVos, Trump’s pick for education secretary, has given more than $167,000 since 1990 to 20 GOP senators who will now have a role in confirming her, according to the money-in-politics website Open Secrets.
The same site reported that Linda McMahon, tapped to head the Small Business Administration, has given nearly $651,000 to 25 senators over the past 16 years, while secretary of labor pick Andy Pudzer has made almost $152,000 in contributions to 16 senators since 1992.
Meanwhile, some of Trump’s other Cabinet nominees, such as Housing and Urban Development pick Ben Carson and Treasury nominee Steve Mnuchin have donated little to senators over the years.
Price’s campaign committee ended November with These are some of the many items readers could find this past week in the Political Insider blog on AJC.com. Look there for breaking news and to gain insight about Georgia’s political scene. nearly $2.3 million in the bank, a sizable war chest for a House member.
Don’t believe virgin birth? No problem
December has apparently proved to be an interesting month for the Rev. Andy Stanley, son of a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention and lead pastor of North Point Community Church in Alpharetta — one of the largest congregations in the country.
Though it is only now breaking into the open, the Baptist world has been rocked by a Dec. 4 sermon in which the son of famed TV evangelist Charles Stanley discounted the importance of believing in the virgin birth of Jesus. His entry point:
“A lot of people just don’t believe it. And I understand that. Maybe the thought is, ‘Hey, maybe they had to come up with some myth about Jesus to give him street cred, you know, later on.’ Maybe that’s where that came from.
“It’s interesting, because Matthew gives us a version of the birth of Christ, Luke does, but Mark and John – they don’t even mention it. A lot has been made of that . ...
“You’ve heard me say some version of this a million times, so this will be old if you’ve been around for a while. But see, if somebody can predict their own death and then their own resurrection, I’m not all that concerned about how they got into the world.”
Many Baptists were aghast at what they saw as an unexpected new front opening up in the war on Christmas. From Baptist Global News:
Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., took exception to Stanley’s view in a Dec. 16 podcast describing the Bible stories about Christ’s incarnation as “the central truth claim of Christmas.”
“Just in recent days, one Christian leader was quoted as saying that if Jesus predicted his death and then was raised from the dead, it doesn’t matter how he came into the world,” Mohler said. “But the Bible insists it really does matter and the answer given from Scripture very clear in the gospel of Matthew and in the gospel of Luke is that Jesus was born to a virgin.”
We’ll let the religion desk of The Washington Post weigh in as well:
This is not the first time Stanley ... has had to defend remarks from his sermons. “The real story is the handful of Southern Baptist professors and writers (not so much preachers) who seem to have nothing else to do but listen to bits and pieces of my messages,” he said in his statement to The Post. “Anyone who listens to all three (sermons in the series) will know that I stand firmly within the orthodox Christian tradition regarding the incarnation of Jesus — including the birth narratives as presented (in) Matthew and Luke.”
Stanley also said he believes people can become Christians without knowing the narratives around Jesus’ birth.