According to Politico, “Two Republican House candidates in the last day have announced that House Minority Leader John Boehner has promised them valuable committee assignments.” If that indicates a trend, it could complicate GOP efforts to appease conservative voters’ demands for an end to earmarks.
At least one of the two, Rep. Charles Djou (R-HI), will be serving in a competitive district. He was promised a seat on the powerful Appropriations Committee.
“Charles would fight to curb government spending while working to ensure the Pacific Fleet, defense installations, and military personnel in Hawaii have the resources they need to help keep America secure,” said House Minority Leader John Boehner, according to a press release issued by the Djou campaign. “I look forward to working with him, the Republican leadership, and the Members of the Steering Committee to place him on the House Appropriations Committee at the earliest possible opportunity.”
Boehner spokesman Michael Steel reminds me that the Republicans are currently operating a self-imposed earmark moratorium. But giving vulnerable young members seats on the appropriations committee, where earmarks are born, along with other influential committee assignments is a tried and true way to inure them to election challenges down the line.
House Republicans are currently facing stiff pressure from their base to end earmarks, though that’s easier in theory than in practice. They left earmarks out of their pledge to America, and, currently, their leadership is considering earmark reform, and claiming, a la Bill Clinton, to ‘end earmarks as we know them.’
