CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
– CONGRESSIONAL AFFAIRS
Oct. 29, 2008 – 4:45 p.m.
No Matter How Many Senate Seats Democrats Gain, Lieberman Likely to be Demoted, Aides Say
By Catharine Richert, CQ Staff
There’s a good chance Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman will lose his only committee chairmanship next year, according to Democratic aides.
Members of the majority party’s leadership have discussed taking away Lieberman’s gavel on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, perhaps replacing it with a subcommittee gavel, aides said Wednesday.
Such a move would require the assent of the caucus, which won’t get together until after the election.
“No decisions have been made,” said Jim Manley, spokesman for Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev.
The Connecticut senator switched his official party designation from Democratic to Independent two years ago but cast the internal votes to give Democrats control of the chamber. But Lieberman’s colleagues in the Democratic caucus have been irked at his campaign attacks against Sen. Barack Obama , their party’s presidential nominee.
Aides privy to the leadership discussions say that their bosses view ending Lieberman’s chairmanship of a large committee with broad oversight authority as more appropriate retribution than kicking him out of the caucus.
After all, no matter how many seats the Democrats win in the Senate next week, Lieberman’s vote will still be valuable on domestic issues like health care even though he disagrees with Democrats on the war.
Whether he caucuses with the Democrats or the Republicans, “It will probably be left to [Lieberman] to make that decision,” said a Democratic aide.
The aides all said that party leaders have not spoken recently with Lieberman about his future.
Lieberman’s spokesman, Marshall Wittmann, said his boss “is focused on doing all he can to elect John McCain as president rather than post-election Washington punditry and politics.”
Lieberman’s current chairmanship allows him to examine how well every arm of the executive branch functions. In the event of a presidential victory by Obama, D-Ill., that raises the possibility of a former Democratic vice presidential candidate handling the oversight of a Democratic presidential administration that he traveled the country to campaign against.
Aides said a likely scenario would allow Lieberman to retain his seniority on all current committees, including Homeland, and give him a subcommittee chairmanship of his choice.
Lieberman has spots on Armed Services, Environment and Public Works, and the Small Business and Entrepreneurship committees.
No Matter How Many Senate Seats Democrats Gain, Lieberman Likely to be Demoted, Aides Say
One Change Begets Another
It is not clear who would get the Homeland gavel if the Democrats take it away from Lieberman.
Next in line on the panel is Sen. Carl Levin , D-Mich., but he’s unlikely to want to give up his chairmanship of the Armed Services Committee.
More likely, Democratic aides said, would be the elevation of Sen. Daniel K. Akaka , D-Hawaii, who in turn would give up the top slot on the Veteran’s Affairs Committee.
The second ranking Democrat on Veterans Affairs is Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV , D-W.Va., but since he also is Intelligence Committee chairman he would be expected to turned down the job and let it go instead to Sen. Patty Murray , D-Wash., aides said.
Comments
What if Senator Lieberman had actually been on the ticket with McCain as his Vice-Presidential running mate? Could he have done do as an Independent and still be on the ballots in all 50 states and D.C as the Republican Party choice for V.P.? Now, coming back to the Senate after losing the Presdential Race (again) would really have made life interesting for Senator Joseph Lieberman.
This is a mistake. If we want fifty we are going to have to close our eyes and think of England. There is no reason to force Lieberman to be a republican. Take the shots from him and call it a day. Leave him alone and keep the 60. J
Dare I postulate that a Lieberman choice would have resulted in less headaches for McCain and perhaps, a possible win? No, I go too far. I give Palin far too much credit in stating that she has single-handedly undermined the McCain camp. There's more blame to go around. Lieberman - I would hope the Dems keep 'em. It just really irks me that such good friendships can be soured and such strong political alliances broken.
True, expelling him from the Caucus altogether would be going too far, but merely taking a full committee chair away and permitting him the gavel of a subcommittee of his choice would seem, well, inadequate! The, ahem, Goldilocks Solution, if you will, is to take away his seniority dating from 01 of '89 through 12 of '06 (or early 01 of '07) and categorise him as a Class of 2006 first-termer. After all, he DID lose the nomination of his former(?) party and clawed his way back only by defeating the nominee of said party.
It would behoove the Senator from Connecticut to start working on his memoirs.
On neither foreign policy nor church-state issues can Senate Democrats count on holy Joe Lieberman to be among the 60 votes it would take to overcome a filibuster. Depending on the issue, Republicans Snowe and Specter are more likely to be allies. So who needs the jerk. He doesn't deserve anything at all from the party caucus as a pretend Democrat. He chose his playmates. Let him go play with them fulltime. If the Republicans want him, they can reward him with ranking positions in committees. Lessons need to be learned by him and those who would emulate him. I repeat: No rewards for Lieberman. Kick him out the door at the first opportunity.
I'm thinking maybe chair of the Sunshine Committee, you know the committee in charge of getting birthday gifts for members....flowers for those in the hospital, etc. Maybe he could mend some fences that way.
He is a brilliant man and well respected around the world. Both parties should be clamoring for him to caucus with them. If McCain wins he is likely to be in the cabinet and this issue becomes moot. Palin has ignited a fire under conservatives. 2012 we will see another President regardless of who wins.
Lieberman is scum. All he cares about is Israel. He doesn't even care about this country. I remember how excited I was when he defeated Lowell Weicker to become a U.S. Senator, but Weicker was and is 10 times a better man than Loserman.
I gotta disagree with most of you. If he stays in the caucus he will be a GOP spy within the caucus telling them Dem strategy on a regular basis. Kick him out!!
I think Nicholas JB has an excellent solution for the Democratic conference chair to consider. Much as I would relish seeing Mr. Lieberman marginalized, that might not be prudent. However, the people of Connecticut need to understand that THEY are responsible for the actions of their Senator.
Another sad case of partisan politics leading our political landscape instead of policies and issues. With this kind of talk, the congress will continue to enjoy 10% approval ratings and another upset will probably happen in 2010. When we get moderate people who are working for the country instead of their party, they are attacked by the party and by money.
Lieberman has done his best to harm the Democratic party at every possible opportunity. Why is it that we are always called upon to "be reasonable" whenever we have a chance to do something to strengthen our position and thereby leaving untrustworthy people like Lieberman in positions of power?
Lieberman made his choice to actively support the Republican candidate for President. He should not have any benefit of belonging to the Democratic caucus because he is not a Democrat. He like some other Republicans may vote with the Democrats from time to time but these other Republicans are not rewarded with committee chairmanships. No committee or subcommittee chairmanships for him!.
If the Dems have any integrity at all they will kick his Quisling rear to the curb.
It would be lovely to see him handed his political head on a plate, for sure. I can live with his support of the war (mistake, but he seems sincere) but how can you possibly accept his openly campaingning for the other party's presidential candidate? I have a better scenario: offer him so mid-level cabinet job (UN Ambassador? He does love to pontificate.) and let him jump at that as a graceful way out of the senate. He knows he'll never get elected again in that state and he's likely not to even try in four years, so giving him something now would ease that transition. I don't know the rules for replacing senators in his state (some states require a replacement from the same party--pretty tough in this case--some not) but at least this seems a win/win. Avoid an embarrassing demotion party, give him a somewhat graceful exit strategy (complete with a timetable--a word he hates, but he can learn to live with it) and move on.
First, I should acknowledge that I am a resident of Connecticut and that I have voted for Lieberman at every opportunity. I should also say that I am a strong supporter of Sen. Obama and just came back from working for him in Pennsylvania and that I was incredibly offended by Lieberman's comments at the Republican Convention. It was unfortunate that he felt compelled to speak at the convention and beyond foregiveness that he not only spoke positively about Sen. McCain but that he actually attacked Sen. Obama as not ready or able while lauding Gov. Palin is so ridiculous as to be the work of fiction and yes an example of a self proclaimed "man of principle" losing all right to such a title. I do agree there has to be some price paid for such behaviour. However, what we do about it will probably be determined by President Obama, not by right but by his Presidential mandate and how he believes it will play into the larger picture of bipartisan cooperation. After all he will probably have a rapproachment with Sen. McCain and we all know how far he strayed from "straight talk". Hopefully, we will all just have to wait to see what President Obama wants.
Lieberman may be fine on some things -- but he has done EVERYTHING WRONG on "Homeland Security", backing the Bush insanity 100%. Likewise, he's been awful on Governmental Affairs, again letting Bush get away with murder. He does not get a committee chairmanship. That's just merit, folks. Nothing partisan about it.
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