I have received a copy of a letter which the NRCC sent to Mr. Hemmert in regards to his appearance with the President and being awarded the Congressional Medal of Distinction.Mr. Hemmert,This response is seriously weak.
Thank you again for your recent contribution to the National Republican Congressional Committee. As you know, your contribution includes two tickets to the Presidential dinner and, as a token of our appreciation for your support, a Congressional Medal of Distinction.
Recent news reports have implied that the Congressional Medal of Distinction is a merit-based award based on your background, which is not the case. The Medal of Distinction is being given to you because of your continued support of the Republican Party and the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Thank you for your time, and of course, thank you for your support of the Republican Party.
Sincerely,
[Signature]
Pete Kirkham
Executive Director
National Republican Congressional Committee
I submit to Mr. Kirkham and the National Republican Congressional Committee that the reason for all of the confusion is that you called the thing the Congressional Medal of Distinction instead of the Congressional Medal of Moneybags. I think maybe the NRCC ought to requisition a name change for this presentation.
I also do not think it is appropriate, regardless of the qualifications (or lack thereof), to be awarding Mr. Hemmert anything called the Congressional Medal of Distinction.
I realize that the NRCC is a bit strapped for cash, but I think returning this guy's money and stripping him of his "honors" would have gone a LONG way towards repairing the NRCC's image. And let's face it, the NRCC is not going to recover financially until the organization fixes problems such as this one.
UPDATE: Portions of this post were crossposted in to a larger piece for TheNextRight...
UPDATE 2: ...and now crossposted to RedState as well...
UPDATE 3 (4/19/11): PDF of the letter added.
Letter
