To this day, if you want to send shivers down the spines of conservative Republicans, just mention the name David Souter.
Souter was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1990 by President George H. W. Bush because of his soft manner and confidence that he could avoid the bitter confirmation fight that embroiled Robert Bork.
“He seemed to stick to his conservative philosophy for about six months and then just fell off a cliff into the dark side of liberalism.” – pfacilitate John Sununu, another New Hampshire resident, former governor and senator from the Granite State, who pushed for Souter’s nomination.
Since then, the Conservatives have tried to prevent this from happening again, by discovering the Souters before they entered office or won their lifetime appointments, and then betraying the conservative principles of those who elected them to do so.
Today, some people are worried that Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett may not meet conservative expectations outside and others doubts whether Elise Stefanik is as conservative as the woman she replaced as Republican House conference chairwoman, Liz Cheney.
But in such cases, what has been done has been done. The task now is to identify future Souters—Republicans who would gain our trust and apply our names to get elected, and then turn their backs on policy decisions. One of them could emerge in a south-central Ohio congressional district.
When Republican Steve Stivers, who currently represents the district, announced his retirement last month, Brian Stewart, who currently represents the 78th District in the Ohio House of Representatives, stepped forward to claim his seat.
In 2015, Stewart, then a Pickaway County commissioner, helped find the Ohio Conservative Energy ForumWhich he defined himself as “a coalition intended to be a voice of conservative support for a common-sense, comprehensive state energy policy.” All mention of Stewart was removed from the site in 2019, and a look at Ohio Conservative Energy Forum documents suggests why.
Founding edition of the group quoted consent of then-Gov. John Kasich, himself a Republican who tried to govern like a Democrat in the state house and during his eight terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, for wanting President Obama unconstitutional AND counterproductive Clean Power Plan implemented in Ohio to encourage investment in green energy.
Group Statement of Principles praised human responsibility to take care of the Earth, announced significant job growth related to green energy, linked green energy to national security and economic growth, and cited polls that showed voters wanted greater government subsidies for green energy.
“OHCEF is a movement of conservatives who believe in clean energy as the solution to maintaining energy dominance, keeping our economy thriving, and providing the energy to build and sustain the American way of life,” reads the slogan on the front of his organization. website is reading.
If that’s not enough to show that these groups intend to unify energy policy, the Ohio-based organization is a member Conservative Power Gridwhich is a network and has some connection to energy, but is not conservative in any way.
He takes money from Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Turner Foundation, McKnight Foundation and Argosy Foundation, all leftist sources. $200,000 more taken from TomKat Foundation, controlled by left-wing environmental extremist Tom Steyer. Favors “real energy and climate solutions” such as a carbon tax and green energy subsidies.
The Energy Foundation, which funnels liberal dollars to these uniformed “conservative” groups, has a track record its board Gina McCarthycurrent White House climate czar and EPA administrator under President Barack Obama — appointing her around the time Brian Stewart was getting involved with the Ohio Conservative Energy Forum.
All the Republican candidates in the Ohio-15 will claim to be conservatives. When was the last time you heard a Republican claim to be a moderate? They will say they are for ample and affordable energy because without it the economy grinds to a halt.
Some, like Stewart, will talk about opportunities for governments – opportunities to subsidize or waive taxes – to “invest” in “future technologies,” “create jobs” in “sustainable industries,” pursue “all of the above policies,” and “increase efficiency.”
But what they mean is that they want to take money from taxpayers and give it to favored industries to get points for being green and keep the donations flowing.
We need conservatives who unabashedly advocate for a truly market-based energy policy that rewards producers who can bring their products to market most efficiently, rather than those who would otherwise not be economically or ecologically viable.
Brian Stewart wants you to think he’s the guy. But this is not the case, and unlike the case of David Souter, we know enough about him to not make the same mistake again.
