The way Rep. Bob Dold (R-IL) tells the story, he is breaking ranks with his Republican colleagues, and championing gun control in the wake of the Orlando shooting massacre. The way his office tells it, Dold is one of the only members of the Republican party who is actually trying to work for a compromise and get things done.
Keeping guns out of hands of those who wish to do our country harm is a solution we should all be able to get behind pic.twitter.com/CnRs8ksKy8
— Rep. Robert J. Dold (@RepDold) June 15, 2016
But to the House Democratic committee trying to boot Dold out of office, the story is much different.
In its version, Dold is touting support for gun control while voting against procedural votes that could bring gun control legislation to the House floor. And, most importantly, Dold didn’t participate in the historic sit-in on the House floor to demand action on gun control.
“If he really cared, he would help us out,” said Sacha Haworth, the regional press secretary of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). “He didn’t join in the sit-in, he has not signed on the petition to force the vote — so far, his only contribution has been a press release.”
The rift between the two camps — Dold’s and the DCCC — isn’t a surprise. The DCCC’s sole purpose is to get Democrats elected to Congress, and Dold is currently locked in a competitive re-election fight against former Democratic U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider.
If he really cared, he would help us out.
But the difference of interpretation also illustrates the inherently messy nature of effective bipartisanship, particularly when it comes to gun control.
The DCCC says that if Dold really supports HR1076 — a bill to keep guns out of the hands of people on the FBI’s terrorist watch list, which Dold co-sponsors — he should have done literally everything possible to get a vote. He should have joined the sit-in, signed the petition to force the bill to the floor, voted yes on every procedural motion to defeat the previous question.
But Dold’s office disagrees, noting that Dold just wouldn’t be as effective if he were sitting on the House floor. Instead, his office says, Dold’s presence as a Republican gun control supporter would be more useful in meetings with Republican colleagues, trying to convince them to support the legislation.
Brad Stewart, Dold’s communication director, said that’s what the congressman who represents Chicago’s northern suburbs was doing instead of participating in the protest on Wednesday — though he didn’t say which Republican members Dold was courting.
“Congressman Dold is involved in ongoing conversations to bring together Republicans and Democrats, and he’s made clear to House leadership that his goal is to reach a bipartisan compromise and actually pass legislation that will keep families safe from gun violence,” Stewart said. “He believes that is the most effective role for him to play in the efforts to pass a bill.”
[T]hey’re busy frantically grasping at straws to slander one of the Republicans who’s fully committed to passing common sense gun control legislation.
Indeed, Dold has walked a fine line between publicly supporting HR1076 and not participating in every Democratic-led effort to bring it to the floor. In an email to ThinkProgress, the DCCC pointed out 13 times since December that Democrats tried to force the House to stop what they were doing and consider HR1076. Dold never joined in those attempts, and they failed each time.
For the DCCC, the fact that Dold never joined Democrats to force a vote on closing the terror loophole illustrates that he’s not actually committed to the bill.
“House Democrats have used everything in their power to force House Republicans to address this issue of gun safety,” the DCCC’s Haworth said. “Bob Dold has consistently joined Republicans in blocking these efforts.”
But if Dold joined the Democrats, he would have effectively been telling Republican leadership that he didn’t want to move forward with whatever they were debating instead. For example, if Dold joined Democrats to force a vote on HR1076 in December, he would have been stopping a vote on a big Republican energy bill. If he joined Democrats in other attempts, he would have been stopping votes on class action lawsuit reform, the STREAM Act, and highway aid funding, among other things.
Danielle Hagen, Dold’s campaign spokesperson, said the DCCC was “grasping at straws” by using those votes against him.
“[W]hile they’re busy frantically grasping at straws to slander one of the Republicans who’s fully committed to passing common sense gun control legislation, Bob Dold will continue to deliver the serious, effective and bipartisan leadership 10th District votes elected him to restore,” Hagen said.
Most recently, Dold has been plastering his Twitter feed with statements in support of closing the loophole that allows people on the terrorist watch list to buy guns. His press team has sent out reminders about gun control legislation he’s cosponsored in the past, like the Gun Trafficking Prevention Act of 2015. On Thursday, he again broke with Republican leadership and said the House should not adjourn until a compromise is reached on some kind of gun control measure.
But for the Democrats trying to get Dold out of office, words of support are just not enough.