Kissel not much of a joiner

U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell says he never asked to join the Blue Dog Coalition.

As part of an ongoing drive to fill reporters’ inboxes with criticism of the freshman Democrat, the National Republican Congressional Committee e-mailed Dome this morning to breathlessly report that the fiscally conservative coalition had “rejected” Kissell.

But a spokeswoman for Kissell said that’s backwards.

“Congressman Kissell pledged during the campaign that he would not join the Blue Dogs and therefore has not,” responded Brianna Atkins by e-mail. 

She said he was asked to join by Rep. Heath Shuler, a whip for the coalition, but declined. Kissell has not joined any other coalitions in the House either, she added.

“As he says, he isn’t much of a joiner,” she wrote.