The midterm elections are over, but congressional races to head important committees are heating up fast.
Rep. Darrell Issa of California is stepping down as chairman of the powerful House Oversight and Government Reform Committee because of Republicans’ term limits, and an intense intra-party race has begun to replace him. Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah and two Ohioans, Reps. Jim Jordan and Michael Turner are fighting for the chairman’s gavel.
Few committees in recent years have generated more headlines — from high-profile investigations into the Benghazi attacks to the IRS scandal and the Ebola virus — so the panel’s chairmanship is viewed as one of the most plum gavels in Congress.
The House Republican Steering Committee, a group that includes leadership and about 30 rank-and-file members, is scheduled to meet Monday and Tuesday to pick committee chairmen.
But Speaker John Boehner heads the steering committee and wields huge influence on who wins. And with each candidate offering him particular advantages and liabilities, the race appears wide open.
Boehner has been tight-lipped about who he prefers. But some Republicans privately have expressed concern that Issa focused too much on high-profile investigations targeting the Obama administration and would like the committee to broaden its approach.
House GOP leadership likely also is keen to avoid a repeat of Issa’s confrontational leadership style, highlighted when he abruptly ended a hearing this year and shut off the microphone of the panel’s top Democrat, Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland.
So with Chaffetz and Turner both pledging to run the committee in a somewhat fresh approach, many Capitol Hill insiders believe they have the inside track over Jordan.
Chaffetz, who was elected to the House in 2009 and is a frequent guest on TV news channels, is considered a low-risk choice who would be a good public ambassador.
Chaffetz told the Washington Examiner that if elected he would continue some of the committee’s work that began under Issa’s watch, such as investigations into the IRS, Secret Service and the Justice Department’s handling of the “Fast and Furious” gun operation.
“There are some [other] investigations that are still early in the process that will ultimately lead to big and very newsworthy hearings, and there are some duties within Oversight that have to be addressed that are maybe not as sexy, such as postal reform,” Chaffetz said.
Chaffetz said Oversight “potentially” could investigate remarks made by Jonathan Gruber, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who was an architect of Obama’s healthcare law. A maelstrom erupted this week when tapes surfaced of him telling an audience last year that a lack of transparency, aided by “the stupidity of the American voter,” was largely to explain for Obamacare’s 2010 passage.
Chaffetz said he hopes his focus on Oversight in recent years, including taking much of the lead on the panel’s Benghazi probe, will help him win over the more senior Turner.
“I’ve always had the Oversight committee as my number one choice and I’ve been the ranking member of a subcommittee and chairman of a subcommittee. I hope that focus and tenacity wins the day,” he said.
Chaffetz added he has made his pitch for the post to “everyone on the steering committee and every chairman.” He added he has spoken to Boehner about his desire to lead Oversight “several times.”
But Turner is considered an equal contender. He is the most senior member of trio, having served in Congress since 2003. And he is the most centrist, serving on the Main Street Partnership, a group of moderate Republicans.
He also is viewed as the least controversial candidate, a quality Boehner is likely looking for in a chairman.
Turner recently has declined to discuss how he would run the committee. But in a June news release announcing his candidacy, he said the panel should focus on “responsible” oversight and adopt “meaningful reform to eliminate and prevent waste, fraud and mismanagement.”
And in a July interview with Roll Call, Turner said he felt investigations had come to dominate the committee’s efforts “to the exclusion of everything else,” saying that “we have to look beyond those to how do we look at real solutions.”
He added that while a vital role for the committee is to keep the White House accountable, he wants to put an end to the divisiveness that has come to define the committee.
“The conflict can be substantive,” he told Roll Call. “But I think sometimes the way issues have been handled have caused more of the conflict than actually the conflict itself.”
Jordan also is a formidable candidate, with the Wall Street Journal’s Editorial section endorsing his candidacy, calling him “the candidate best equipped to conduct thorough and credible investigations of federal waste, fraud and abuse.”
Jordan also played a leading role in the committee’s high-profile probe of the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups.
But he also is believed to be Issa’s closest ally among the three leading candidates, a possible detriment given the House GOP leadership’s suspected desire for a new direction.
The lawmaker has also butted heads with Boehner in the past. While leading the conservative Republican Study Committee in 2012, Jordan circulated a letter among House Republicans calling on the speaker and his leadership team to block funding of the president’s healthcare law. The move was widely seen as an effort to go around leadership and back-stab Boehner.
A senior House GOP aide characterized the contest primarily as a race between Turner and Chaffetz, with Turner a slight favorite. But the aide quickly added that Jordan, while still a dark horse, has “made some strides recently to put himself into contention.”
The chairmanship also has internal political ramifications for Boehner. Backing Turner risks angering his conference’s Tea Party wing. A nod for Chaffetz, who ranks below Turner and Jordan in seniority on the panel, would upset some Republicans who aren’t convinced he’s ready to take over a prime-time committee like Oversight.
Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., also is vying for the Oversight committee chairmanship. The Florida lawmaker currently is the second-highest ranked Republican on the panel and is the former chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. But while Mica is generally liked among colleagues, his candidacy is considered a long-shot.
• Susan Ferrechio contributed to this report.
