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If It Walks Like a DeLay and Quacks Like a DeLay…
February 3, 2006
Yesterday in a closed session, the House majority selected Rep. John Boehner as its leader to replace indicted Rep. Tom DeLay. If you were hoping that the conservative leadership would gravitate toward a leader that was serious about ethics reform, was free of Jack Abramoff donations, and only read about the “K Street Project,” you will be sorely disappointed in the ascendancy of Rep. Boehner. Closing one eye, it appears that the “reform-minded” house leadership may have in fact re-elected Leader DeLay.
- Rep. Boehner’s record shows he has no interest in reforming the scandal-plagued House leadership. Boehner played an integral role in nurturing the “K Street Project” and was even known as the K Street “policy traffic cop.” Much like Rep. DeLay, Boehner regulates the very industries he receives ample funding from. If you wondered why Boehner’s tenth highest contributor was the tobacco giant RJR Nabisco/ R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, it’s because he serves on the Committee on Agriculture.
- Rep. Boehner always looked out for his special interest friends. Sallie Mae and other loan companies have generously donated to Boehner. In exchange, the former chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce “shepherded through Congress student-loan legislation that will affect Sallie Mae’s bottom line and offered assurances that he will protect such lenders’ interests.” Recently, Boehner supported a bill that "could deal a serious blow to the competing direct-loan program" by making student-aid budgets discretionary (varying year to year), rather than mandatory.
- By choosing Rep. Boehner as majority leader, the conservative leadership has disregarded Americans’ desire for ethics reform. Polls show that the American people are tired of the culture of corruption in Congress. Instead of electing for real reform, the conservative leadership elected for the status quo. Progressives have put forth ethics reforms (PDF) with real teeth that would get at the root of the corruption problems in Washington.
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