Posted on 11/18/2014 4:42:00 PM PST by maggief
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) on Tuesday won a competitive four-way race to become the House Oversight Committee chairman in the new Congress starting in January.
Chaffetz and Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Mike Turner (R-Ohio) and John Mica (R-Fla.) vied to succeed current Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who is term-limited, for the high-profile gavel.
All four candidates emphasized throughout their candidacies that they'd try to run the committee differently from Issa's controversial tenure. Over the course of the last two days, the House GOP Steering Committee, a panel consisting of elected leadership, top committee chairmen and regional representatives that determines gavel assignments, interviewed candidates and voted on who should win the chairmanships.
Oversight was the most contested race this year.
Two of the candidates, Jordan and Turner, hailed from Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) home state, inserting another wrench into the mix.
Ranking committee member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) congratulated Chaffetz and said he's looking forward to collaborating with him.
"I am encouraged that Rep. Chaffetz has shown a sincere interest in working together and focusing on reform, and I hope this bipartisanship continues," Cummings said.
Issa became well known for conducting aggressive hearings and clashing with Democrats, particularly during the contempt of Congress proceedings against Attorney General Eric Holder and the investigation of the Sept. 11, 2012 attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
The California Republican went as far as cutting off Cummings's (D-Md.) microphone during a March hearing on the IRS.
Meanwhile, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), the current Budget Committee chairman and 2012 vice presidential candidate, has taken the Ways and Means Committee chairmanship, besting Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas).
Brady, always a long shot, withdrew his candidacy late Tuesday in a concession to Ryan, who has described the post as his dream job.
Boehner also made select appointments for two House committees. Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) will lead the Ethics Committee, while Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) will take over the Intelligence Committee.
Nunes's selection came over two high-profile competitors: House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) and former House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King (R-N.Y.).
Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) confirmed to The Hill Tuesday evening that he had been selected as the new House Armed Services Committee chairman.
Thornberry was widely considered to become the next chairman of the House Armed Services Committee despite a late challenge from Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.). The retiring chairman, Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), implicitly endorsed Thornberry, who has served as the panel’s second-ranking Republican for the last four years.
Yawn. Wake me when we go door to door.
I am very happy with this selection. He has backbone. I dont know his law experience
Chaffetz is a show-boater who is often at odds with reality.
Jim Jordan should have gotten this.
a policy introduced in 1994 by Speaker Newt Gingrich that limited Republicans to no more than six years as committee chairmen.
Are you directing that at me??
Very, very very likely not.
I am ok with him.
Thanks, didn’t know that. Another shot square in the foot.
Chaffetz bested Jordan.
Interesting.
I like both.
Darrell “Much Ado About Nothing “ Issa is gone. Like Hitlery, I challenge anyone to give me one thing he accomplished.
t accurate I believe...
“During his college years, Chaffetz was a Democrat. His father had previously been married to Democratic Governor Michael Dukakis’s wife, Katherine, and his half-brother is former actor John Dukakis.[4] Despite their different political affiliations, Chaffetz remains close with his brother and the Dukakis family.[”
Edit...Wiki but ...
He is widely known for getting really, really mad and writing letters, without accomplishing a single thing.
He assured that no one in the IRS would be punished.
Absolutely not. I always reply in reference to the article.
Sometimes a thread grabs a small subset of FR and based on the comments you can see how Obama got elected.
Thank you for the clarification.
People in this country CAN change their name.
I had one woman student whose last name was "Bich." I tried to pronounce it "Bish," "Beish" and several other way besides "Bitch," but the latter WAS her pronunciation.
I let it go at that moment but after class, when some students were gathering around for questions, business etc., I made the comment out loud to no one in particular: "I do get the name bit, about respecting one's ancestry, but SOME names, at least in THIS country, MUST change.
Everyone nodded and agreed with that.
I also once had a MALE student whose last name was the big "F" word, with many "P"s and "H"s. I DID tell him that he HAD to change his name in this country because it meant something NOT good at all. I HOPE he did make the change.
I know that if I lived in a country where my surname mean "f" you or "bitch" or "ahole" or something equally egregious, I WOULD change it in a New York minute.
Yes, I know you can legally change your last name. But what does that have to do with Darrell Issa? Why would or should he change it?
By the same token, should we expect every Hispanic person with the first name of Jesus to change it? Should we forbid anyone from naming their son Joshua, which after all is the Hebrew name of Jesus?
Sorry, I just don’t get your point.
hearings, hearings, hearings, and the beat goes on. The scandals keep coming, the evidence unfolds, and no one is held accountable.
Issa was a huge disappointment. Let’s hope Chafetz will get the job done.
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