I remember from playing Scrabble that instead of playing a tile on your turn, you can instead throw ‘back’ all of your tiles, and pick new ones from the bag of unused tiles – a fresh start so to speak. 
That seems to be what is being advocated by first-term (this go-around) Congressman Dan Lungren (R-Sacramento – pictured to the right). He is advocating that all of the House leadership positions come up for a new vote — right now there is a pitched battle taking place as to who will replace Tom DeLay as the Majority Leader (#2 ranked position, behind the Speaker). This race, though, is touching off two off other races as one of the candidates for leader is currently the GOP Whip (#3), and another is currently the Policy Committee Chairman (#5).
There is certainly some merit to Lungren’s idea as the entire House Leadership should be answering the question of why it is so hard for a Republican majority in Congress to put across to the Senate some significant reductions in the size of the federal government (say, for example, one broad 10% cut in current spending). Instead, we talk about how we may have for the first time a reduction in the amount of the increase in discretionary spending (exempting the Defense Department budget). Yeah, we have a spending problem in the GOP. We now trumpet reducing the size of increases as cuts. Sounds like double-talk.
That said, it may actually be possible to go from a mediocre situation to a horrible one. It is rumored that the real protagonist behind the ‘throwing in of the tiles’ is none-other than the "King of Pork" himself — Congressman Bill Thomas (R-Bakersfield – pictured to the left). Thomas is said to be coveting an opportunity to jump into the House leadership (he is currently Chairman of the Ways & Means Committee). Needless to say, this would be horrific. As I have said before, America needs Bill Thomas in House leadership like we need an outbreak of the measles. Father of great calamities like the latest prescription-drug entitlement/catastrophe, and braggadocios about his bringing home the ‘pork’ for his district,Thomas has a reputation for promoting the candidacies and careers of elected officials who are dedicated to him, and not to a conservative ideology.
Add to the mix a ‘bonus’ in Thomas’ alleged plans — long has there been a rivalry between Thomas 
and fellow California Congressman John Doolittle (pictured to the right), who currently is in the House Leadership (he is Conference Secretary). Doolittle is a strong conservative and an ideologue. I’m sure Thomas would love to ‘turn in that particular tile’ — for sure. That said, curiously, just because Thomas might want this change in all of the house leadership, I wonder why Lungren would want to force his neighboring representative into a defensive posture? Although put this into the equation: Lungren won a hard-fought primary for his seat, and Bill Thomas heavily back him. John Doolittle endorsed conservative State Senator Rico Oller for the seat. Well, things are certainly in ‘flux’ in the House Delegation right now. We’ll keep an eye on all of this!