Vets lose again to GOP

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Fri, 7 Jan 2005 11:04:57 -0500

Cleaning House - Vets lose again to GOP

Friday, January 07, 2005 9:41 AM

 

Cleaning House - Vets lose again to GOP

 

Salon.com

Cleaning House

 

In a secret ballot Wednesday afternoon, the House Republican

leadership ousted Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Christopher

Smith, R-N.J., and replaced him with Rep. Steve Buyer of Indiana. At

first glance, dumping Smith in favor of one of his colleagues might

seem out of keeping for the Republicans, who normally avoid

infighting. But Wednesday's vote wasn't so much a fight as a takedown.

 

Rumors that Smith's head were on the chopping block started

gaining steam shortly after Republicans picked up House seats in

November. " Removing an incumbent is highly unusual, " the AP's Jim

Abrams noted yesterday, " but Smith has been criticized for not being a

team player. "

 

In other words, he'd been far too good at his job. Beloved by

veterans' groups, Smith routinely cajoled, bludgeoned and shamed

fellow Republicans into dramatically increasing funding for veterans'

initiatives. Within months of assuming the chairmanship in 2001, Smith

raised eyebrows by convincing his fellow congressmen to support a V.A.

budget windfall of more than a billion dollars, and he has won regular

victories since then. One of the reasons for his effectiveness was

that he wasn't afraid to accuse his own party of stinginess in front

of the DC press corps. " You can get awfully sick and awfully diseased

waiting that long to get health care, " he chided in July of 2003 when

the GOP-controlled Congress' decision not to increase funding for the

V.A looked like it would create a six-month wait for hospital beds.

 

It's no surprise that Smith's tactics earned him the enmity of

Republican leaders in the House, and with the election safely behind

them, they no longer had to fear that ousting Smith would trigger the

campaign-season wrath of veterans' groups. Yesterday's secret ballot

vote will likely be ratified today at a full meeting of House

Republicans, and for good measure, Smith will probably be stripped of

even the seat on the Veterans' Affairs Committee that he has held for

twenty-four years.

 

Other stray Republicans, take note.

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/index.html/index.html