Sunday January 4, 2015 Texas GOP Representative Louis Gohmert announced on Fox's Sunday Fox & Friends that he would challenge current Speaker of the House John Boehner for the House of Representatives top spot Tuesday January 6th. This comes on the heels of the Saturday January 3rd announcement by Florida GOP Representative Ted Yoho that he wanted the job. “We have heard from a lot of Republicans that said, ‘I would vote for somebody besides speaker Boehner.’ But nobody will put their name out there,” Gohmert said. “That changed yesterday with Ted Yoho.” I commend these gentlemen for stepping up, BUT where have you been the past 51/52 days?
On November 13, 2014 the Republican members for the 114th Congress met to select their leaders for the upcoming session. With the exception of Speaker of the House, members selected that day will automatically assume their respective position at the drop of the opening gavel. The Speaker must be elected by the entire House of Representatives. The speaker must receive an absolute majority of votes cast. On November 13th a voice vote was taken and the current House leaders were selected to continue in their position at the start of the new Congress. According to The Hill, Boehner was overwhelming selected to be the GOP nominee for the position of speaker with only one or two voice votes cast against him. To date the only member to publicly admit to voting against Boehner is Georgia Representative-elect Jody Hice.
It was widely speculated the day after the election that President Obama would announce that he was signing an executive order granting amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants. I must ask Where was the most conservative members of Congress, (Gohmert, Yoho, Trey Gowdy (SC), Jeff Duncan (SC), Trent Franks (AZ), Matt Salmon (AZ), Jim Jordon (OH) Tim Huelskamp (KS), and others) to let Boehner know that his retention of Speaker would be subject to how he handled this executive order? Also on that November day it was known that a lame duck session was going to be held to approve the Omnibus spending bill and a Continuing Resolution to fund the government. This lame duck session could have been avoided had the September 17, 2014 Continuing Resolution (CR) been passed for funding another full year, as it ultimately was approved in December of 2014, rather than 3 months as it was approved in September. Where were members of the House of Representative's Liberty Caucus, Tea Party Caucus, and Republican Study Committee in September of 2014 to tell those negotiating the CR that the polls look good and come January we will control the Congress? Where was their faith?
Had another candidate stepped up and declared intention to challenge Boehner earlier, the outcome of the Cromnibus vote may have been different. An earlier candidacy would have given American voters the time to mount a grassroots campaign of calling their respective representatives to voice their support for someone other than Boehner. It would have also given the contenders an opportunity to see who had the best chance of unseating The Speaker and allowed for them to unify behind one candidate. I think inadvertently Gowdy may have spilled the beans as to why no other conservative stepped up. Gowdy likes the position and the assignments that he has. While I believe the country is best served with Gowdy leading the Special Committee on the Benghazi Attack of September 11, 2012, as well as his other committee assignments, I believe that the fear of losing committee assignments for challenging Boehner deterred others from stepping up to the plate. It is that thought that disgusts me as I think many of the "principled conservatives" have put their own personal gain above the betterment of this country. Am I being critical of the Republican party? YES! Why? I hold the Republican Party to a higher standard. This is the Party that is supposed to represent the values that are GOOD about America! I hold the Democratic Party to no standards as today's Democrat Party has no standards.
The two specific issues addressed had conclusions and consequences that occurred after the November 4th election. That election has been referred to as a rejection of President Obama's agenda. While the Tea Party's brightest victory was the defeat of Eric Cantor, I look at the movement towards more conservative principles by most of the incumbents in the 2014 elections as a direct result of the Tea Party's influence. How quickly those principles were forgotten by November 13, 2014. When Indiana GOP Representative Marlin Stutzman claimed he was lied to by House Leadership during the Cromnibus debate, I couldn't help but think When you've work in a "den of thieves" since 2011, how can you not know that they all are thieves? In this case they have stolen the confidence of the American people that gave them one more chance to get it right.
I have focused on the House of Representatives, but the Senate is not any better. The concerns and criticisms that have plagued Boehner for the past 4 years can also be said of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The only difference is that McConnell has had 6 years to hide behind the fact of leading the minority party. When the GOP Senators gathered on November 13, 2014 they unanimously elected McConnell as the Majority Leader. I find it troubling that no "principled conservative" Senator stepped up to at least let him know he was on notice.
No election for Speaker of the House has gone past the first ballot since 1923. There is no reason to believe that this one will be any different. At the end of the day on Tuesday, The news will report that John Boehner was re-elected as the Speaker of the House. Gohmert and Yoho will be able to go home and tell their constituents that they stood tall against "the establishment". As many as 30 representatives will also report to their constituency that they didn't support the current direction of House Leadership.
It's the same old song and dance unless we take the opportunity in 2015 to stay involved and hold our elected Representatives and Senator's collective feet to the fire.
