New House Appropriates Committee Member Defends Being Selection Over Rep. Jeff Flake

Lagniappe ^ | May 21, 2008 | Jeff Poor

[Rufus2007]

WASHINGTON – To his credit, Rep. Jo Bonner has done his best to embrace some on the hard right that are still a little bitter Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) didn’t get the spot on the House Appropriations Committee.

Bonner spoke at the Heritage Foundation’s Conservative Bloggers Briefing (yeah, I know – sounds like a wild party, huh?) a couple of weeks ago and explained that although he isn’t the absolutist Flake is, who wants to eradicate all earmarks – taxpayer money designated specifically for certain areas by Congress, he is the “quiet reformer.”

“I had a reporter question me, ‘Why did you get it and Jeff [Flake] didn’t?’” Bonner said to Lagniappe. “I said, well I didn’t have the luxury of appointing myself to the committee. “I made a case to the steering committee, to our leadership of why I could be a ‘quiet reformer.’ My reputation is not flamboyant. I don’t seek the microphone and the camera every chance I get to grandstand about this, that or the other. But I don’t think you’ve got to do that to be genuine in your desire to change the way things have been done.”

[Rufus2007]

LOL - “I can’t answer the question, ‘Why did I get it.” Bonner said. “But, it certainly wasn’t by looks.”

[Huck]

Bonner said to Lagniappe. “I said, well I didn’t have the luxury of appointing myself to the committee. “I made a case to the steering committee, to our leadership of why I could be a ‘quiet reformer.’ My reputation is not flamboyant. I don’t seek the microphone and the camera every chance I get to grandstand about this, that or the other. But I don’t think you’ve got to do that to be genuine in your desire to change the way things have been done.”

Did he just call Flake a grandstanding primadonna? Seems like.

[Rufus2007]

Yeah, I caught that also.

[geezerwheezer]

Flake is his own worse enemy as he continues to make his fellow repubs angry with his tirades - whether deserved or not. Don't wash your dirty laundry in public and you won't be embarrassed by others as Flake has been.

[Nervous Tick]

>> he is the “quiet reformer.

Yes, he is.

If you “quietly” slip the turd some dough, and he’ll “re-form” legislation to include your earmarks.