I got sent this via email, and it is so, so true:
Basically, it’s one iteration of Milton Friedman’s famous observation: “The way you solve things is by making it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing.” I miss Milton Friedman: he was also so genuinely happy and serene when he talked about how to ruthlessly game the system to the legitimate benefit of all humankind…
Ooh, I can answer this one!
Since taking office in 2013, Rep. Annie Kuster has yet to hold a legitimate townhall meeting for constituents in New Hampshire’s 2nd congressional district, and onlookers are taking notice.
Today Citizens for a Strong New Hampshire, a Republican-leaning group, released video footage of trackers merely asking why she’d yet to appear before the people who elected her in such a setting.
The answer is, of course, that Rep. Kuster doesn’t want to explain why she’s so far to the left of her constituents. Not to mention, she apparently has staffing problems: Continue reading Rep. Ann Kuster (D, New Hampshire-2): hates town halls, likes being rude.
I have no idea whether this particular case has anything to it:
The House Ethics Committee is looking into whether Rep. Luis Gutiérrez’s (D-Ill.) violated House rules.
The Ethics Committee did not specify the matter on Thursday, but USA Today has reported Gutiérrez continued to employ his former chief of staff Doug Scofield — now an Illinois lobbyist — as a paid contractor since 2003. Scofield had been paid more than $500,000, the newspaper reported, to train staff and write press releases, among other things.
…but I’ve noticed that while there are a goodly number of investigations, nothing ever seems to happen to the Members of Congress who get investigated. They’re all as pure as new-fallen snow, apparently. I say this in a rare mood of bipartisanship: it beggars the imagination to think that there is nobody currently in Congress who deserves to be thrown out of it. They’re overdue for making an example of somebody.
Via Instapundit.
Freshman Gloria McLeod of CA-35 and long-time Representative Rush Holt of NJ-12. No great loss, in either case. McLeod’s a California apparatchik who apparently misses the little pond of county government and Holt was someone who aspired to scientific gadfly*, but only achieved “mild aggravation.” Double-digit Democratic districts – say that five times, real fast – that were lovingly redistricted to keep ’em that way**; still, every time we see one of these seats get filled with a hothouse flower of a freshman legislator it’s a mild gain for us.
I wonder if this is the end of the retirement wave? Continue reading Two more Democrats take their balls and go home.
That would be my guess, at least.
Democratic attorney and activist Sandra Fluke has decided against running for retiring Rep. Henry A. Waxman’s congressional seat, instead planning a bid for the state Senate.
[snip]
Fluke said she plans to run for the state Senate seat currently held by Ted Lieu, who is running for Waxman’s congressional seat.
But it was almost certainly foolish of her to think that the (mostly male) people who have been waiting to move into Waxman’s seat were going to let any parvenu useful idiot just cut ahead in line. Not that Fluke is likely to win that Senate seat, either – but it’s a much more realistic seat for her to reach for, and fail to grasp.
Via Jonah Goldberg.
Michael Barone notes that we’re down to two:
Henry Waxman and George Miller are retiring from the House and not running for re-election after 40 years as a congressmen from southern and northern California.
Also retiring and not running for re-election is Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa. Senator Max Baucus of Montana will resign if, as expected, he is confirmed as ambassador to China. Both were first elected to the House in 1974 and were later elected to the Senate.
These four are just about the last members serving in Congress of the 75 Democrats first elected to the House in the Watergate year of 1974.
Continue reading The Congressional class of 1974 is almost gone, thank God.
He just can’t take it anymore:
It has been a tremendous privilege to serve the people of Utah during my time in the United States House of Representatives, but my time in the House should not be the sum total of my service. Today, I am announcing that I will not seek reelection to the House of Representatives.
Better to go out on his own terms, eh? Continue reading Jim Matheson (D, Utah-04) cuts and runs.
(H/t: Hot Air Headlines) This is actually lining up with my expectations:
Prognostications about the upcoming midterm election are coming fast and furious. The bullishness about the Democrats’ prospects, so frequently expressed (and exaggerated) during the government shutdown, is gone. Current forecasts typically range from “a midterm headache for Democrats” to possibly even another Republican wave. But at this moment, what’s most likely is something less dramatic, at least as far as the House of Representatives is concerned. An early version of this blog’s forecasting model suggests that there will be only a small shift in House seats in 2014 — one more likely to advantage Republicans than Democrats, but one that will fall far short of a wave.
…and if you think about it you’ll see why. In 2006 and 2008 the Democrats more or less eliminated every at-risk Republican in the House of Representatives. In 2010 we returned the favor, and then some. In 2012 the redistricting wars shook loose some seats on both sides. Continue reading Washington Post: expect Republican gains in the House, but no wave.
I said it a week ago:
There will be no peace in the Senate as long as Harry Reid is Senate Majority Leader.
— Moe Lane (@moelane) October 2, 2013
Continue reading Reports: Harry Reid being cut out of #shutdown negotiations.
5 Democrats, 8 Republicans, according to Wikipedia (and virtually all of them are running for something else). In contrast, 40 Congressmen retired during 2012’s election cycle, 37 during 2010’s, 33 during 2008’s, and 28 during 2006’s*. So either we’ve got a bunch of retirements coming up – always a possibility, although primary deadlines aren’t that far away – or maybe we’re finally running out of low-hanging Congressional fruit.
I don’t have an answer on this, actually; it just seemed of interest.
Moe Lane.
*Mostly more Republicans than Democrats in the last four cycles (more Democrats than Republicans in 2012).
