As you will see on the main page, there is another story out there that talks about California Congressman Jerry Lewis being at the center of a criminal probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, questioning whether he will soon be indicted.
I will be the first one to say that I do not know whether Lewis broke any laws as a Member of Congress — I guess that remains to be seen. But he has certainly broken his commitment to his Party — to support a policy agenda that limits the size and scope of federal authority and spending.
But I will tell you this — Jerry Lewis SHOULD NOT be in Congress anymore. This is something that I have said to FR readers before — and I will say it again. The Republican Party need only look in the mirror if we are unable to ‘police ourselves’ when it comes to understanding how we could have a majority in both Houses of Congress, and hold the Presidency, and still preside over unprecedented growth in federal government spending.
Of course the blame can be shared by many, but still it seems appropriate, as part of an acknowledgement that things were done wrong, that there be a "house cleaning" of sorts (pardon the pun). Of course, right after the November losses, many of us were shocked and dismayed to see the Republicans in the House simply vote to re-elect the current leadership. This really creates a challenge because while GOP donors and activists are motivated to see the Democrats OUT of power because of how heinous they truly are, of course we want to be excited about what the GOP WILL DO with a renewed majority.
Frankly, the mere fact that Jerry Lewis, who was the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee when the S.S. Titanic hit the iceberg last November, is still the RANKING REPUBLICAN on this important committee is testament to the fact that the GOP still doesn’t get it.
Lewis used his position to glorify spending. He used his Chairmanship to assert some sort of ‘superiority’ for those in Congress who are on the ugly side of redistributing taxpayer funds to spending interest projects, without any regard for the Constitutionality of such spending. He also used his post to oppose across-the-board spending cuts (saying that it took power away from the ‘appropriators’ who should have the sole authority to determine what is and isn’t spent). He famously rallied against last year’s Republican Study Committee alternative budget that would have imposed a modest spending-cut framework from which the GOP could then really start to get a handle on the spending problems of our government.
The mission of the GOP is not to achieve majorities — but rather achieving majority status is a means to and end — which is enacting GOP policies. Clearly the track record on the expansion of federal spending by the GOP was terrible, and we as a Party (and I say this as an elected Regional Vice Chairman of the California Republican Party) must police ourselves.
This is why, in good conscience, I say that Congressman Jerry Lewis, who symbolizes for many of us the "big spending mentality" of the House GOP Majority of 2006, should gracefully retire from Congress next year, and immediately step off of the Appropriations Committee (which I realize might make it harder for him to get millions of more in federal funding for swimming pools in his district, but so be it).
I will close by reminding readers that many are to blame for the spending problems of the GOP last year (a special mention should go to those liberal Republican Senators that wouldn’t close ranks behind tax and spending cuts that were passed by the House GOP). But clearly Lewis is among those who cost us our majority, to the extent that any demoralized GOPers stayed home last November.
It’s time for the GOP to be FOR fiscal responsibility and limited government once again. Dumping Jerry Lewis from his senior seat on the Appropriations Committee would certainly send a strong message that things will be different with a GOP Majority in the next Congress.
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