Okay, so it’s Rep. John Boehner of Ohio for the new Majority Leader in the House of Representatives.
Let’s not forget that Boehner is the guy who got a black eye back in the mid-90s for handing out checks from Tobacco lobbyists on the floor of the House. And of the three guys running for the job he had the most former staffers working on K Street.
But Boehner ran as a candidate of reform who would clean up the House GOP Caucus. So why not take him at his word? Because, think about it, there’s so much cleaning up to do.
Isn’t it time to get the Ethics Committee up and running again? How about Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) whose close campaign supporter Brent Wilkes repeatedly bribed fellow Rep. Duke Cunningham? (Who says? Cunningham says.) What about all the stuff coming out now about Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA)? How about Roy Blunt’s ties to Wilkes? What about some concrete steps to dismantle the K Street Project? What about Doolittle and Pombo or the other members of his caucus who were free-mealers at Signatures.
I could, believe me, go on and on. But I trust the point is made. Put the man to his test. The truth is that the rot simply runs too deep in the Republican House to be easily or painlessly excised. Actually cleaning House would be brutal, bloody and debilitating since it would shake the bases of Republican power to their foundations. No absolution, shall we say, without blood on the floor.
