(Cross-posted from My Left Nutmeg.)
In January 2003, after the sickening "9/11-exploitation, Iraq War Resolution, Homeland Security department, Max Cleland-smearing, Wellstone plane crash, D.C. sniper paranoia" midterm successes for the GOP, Chris Shays was in line to chair the Government Reform committee in the House. But he was passed over by DeLay and Hastert in an act of payback for his role in passing campaign finance legislation. As David Lightman explained the situation in a Hartford Courant article from December 2002:
After 15 years in Congress, it should be Chris Shays' turn to become a power broker. But because the reputation he's carefully crafted is that of a maverick with a history of embarrassing his own Republican Party, he may never get that chance.
With Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., stepping down, Shays, R-4th District, is next in line to preside over the House Government Reform Committee, an important 44-member panel that oversees and investigates government agencies.
It's where the outrages are aired and solutions to government problems are sought, where the homeland security agency legislation was crafted this year.
"I'm next in line to be chairman. I've been the most hard working member, the most faithful to the committee principles. Case closed," said Shays. "But no, not case closed."
Of course this "reputation" of being at all concerned with Republican malfeasance is an entirely fictitious one. This is the same man who sat by quietly while his GOP-led committee refused to investigate any number of horrible abuses of power by their own party, and now calls such investigations by Rep. Waxman "partisan witch hunts." (The GOP actually literally took the "Oversight" out of the "House Government Reform and Oversight Committee" in 1999.)
But Shays is now older, tired of campaigning, tired of defending his positions to his constituents, and doesn't want to hang around the halls of Congress - or campaign in the towns of the fourth district - a single day longer unless he is assured the prize for which he was passed over four years ago might await him at the end of the road. Looking back at his entire career, the threat he made yesterday was probably an honest one based on this change in power dynamics - the GOP now needs him in Congress much more than he wants to be in Congress. And this increasingly distracted Congressman is not looking forward to suffering any unneeded "distractions" or other "unpleasantness" this time around:
He said he would not run because he's just endured two tough races, both against former Westport First Selectwoman Diane G. Farrell, and faces another tough challenge in 2008 -- and "when you're a targeted person," Shays said, "you want as few distractions as possible."
He said that he wants his re-election to focus on two things: "Doing a good job and getting re-elected. If I have to add a third element whether or not I can be chairman, it just makes the outcome more uncertain and could make the next year and a half very unpleasant."
It's a message to the GOP congressional leadership that just might resonate.
Of course, it's also a clear message to his constituents that - stay or go - he really doesn't have his heart in this whole "Congressman" thing anymore. And that's the message that might resonate even more, if he decides to run again.
Jim Himes for Congress:
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