January 15, 2015
Dear Mr. XXXXXXX:
Thank you for contacting me about House Speaker John Boehner. I appreciate hearing from you.
I’d like to share with you the views of one of the leaders of the conservative movement who led the opposition against Speaker Boehner in 2013, but voted for him in 2015. Offering an explanation of why he changed his vote, my colleague Representative Mick Mulvaney from South Carolina said,
This coup today was bound to fail. And in fact, it failed worse than I expected, falling 11 votes shorts of deposing the Speaker. At least two years ago we only failed by six.... The hard truth is that we had an election for Speaker in November – just among Republicans. That was the time to fight. But not a single person ran against [Speaker] Boehner. Not one. If they had, we could’ve had a secret ballot to find out what the true level of opposition to John Boehner was.
(Representative Mulvaney’s full comments are attached for your review)
Despite last minute notice in the hours leading up to a vote, the truth is no potential candidate spent the time to make their case as a meaningful alternative. The choice touted by most conservatives outside of Congress was Representative Trey Gowdy, but he chose not to run. In fact, Representative Gowdy gave the nomination speech for Speaker Boehner in the Republican Conference meeting in November.
In addition to Mr. Gowdy, some of the “most tried and tested conservative voices in Washington” joined me in re-electing Speaker Boehner, including Representatives Jim Jordan, Raul Labrador, Mark Sanford, Trent Franks, Tom McClintock, Matt Salmon, Tom Price, Sam Johnson, and Jeb Hensarling. I remain committed to advancing a conservative agenda that controls government spending, preserves Constitutional liberties, jump-starts our economy, and holds President Obama accountable for his actions.
People are rightfully frustrated with Congress, but this New Year brings a new opportunity to produce results for the American people. My hope is we can unite as a party, get to work, and deliver results. Please don’t hesitate to contact me in the coming year.
Sincerely,
Luke Messer
Member of Congress
I found out later this letter was boilerplate provided by Boehner’s office elves to critters fending off angry constituents, or at least to those Boehner awarded committee chairmanships.
Time finally for a conservative representative to grow a pair, step up and take the reigns. If they push a Boehner `Mini-me’ on us, the GOP-e is DOA/RIP. Enough with the Republican steers!
As a postscript, “Rep. Mulvaney’s full comments” were *not* attached, and I also requested the results of surveys of District 6 that my rep had sent out, which I replied to, and his office agreed to send but never sent to me or anyone else as far as I know.
And Messer is one of the good guys! That’s pretty much the mess (heh) we have now, after “winning Congress”.
This coup today was bound to fail. And in fact, it failed worse than I expected, falling 11 votes shorts of deposing the Speaker. At least two years ago we only failed by six.... The hard truth is that we had an election for Speaker in November – just among Republicans.
That was the time to fight. But not a single person ran against [Speaker] Boehner. Not one. If they had, we could’ve had a *****secret ballot***** to find out what the true level of opposition to John Boehner was.
WTF are our Reps doing RIGHT NOW? Just smoking cigars and twittering over all the articles on JB eventually leaving?