House Speaker-in-waiting John Boehner of Ohio is making critically important decisions this week that will go far toward determining whether his tenure as Nancy Pelosi’s successor is marked by reform and progress or rebellion and lost opportunities. None of those decisions is more critical than who he backs as the new Republican committee chairmen in the House of Representatives. If he opts for a conventional approach that allows seniority to determine chairmanships, Boehner will seriously damage his credibility with voters who made crystal clear their demand for a new approach in Congress. Following tradition will also severely limit Boehner’s ability to lead the freshman class, the group likely to have the greatest influence on the direction of the House in 2011.No chairmanship is more important than that of the House Appropriations Committee, which controls federal outlays. More than anything else, voters want Washington to stop irresponsible federal spending and rein in spiraling national debt, but returning sanity to the federal budget cannot be achieved without a new Appropriations panel head. As former Reader’s Digest Editor-in-Chief Kenneth Y. Tomlinson writes elsewhere in Monday’s Examiner, Boehner’s choice is stark and simple. It would be a horrible mistake to give the nod to either Rep. Jerry Lewis of California or Rep. Hal Rogers of Kentucky. Lewis and Rogers are both Old Bull Republicans who love earmarks and pork barrel politics. Appointing either would split the House GOP caucus and spark a revolt among conservatives who have been fighting earmarks for years. Most if not all of the freshmen would join the revolt, with dire consequences for the GOP. The next two Republicans in line are C.W. Young of Florida, another earmark-loving Old Bull who would be a disaster as chairman, and Frank Wolf of Virginia, whose undoubted experience and skills would be better utilized elsewhere, especially on homeland security issues.