Boehner comes up with a a li'l sumpfin for the ladies.

[No Elephants]

As we all recall, women and minoritie became a big issue in the election of November 2012, leaving Republicans saying that they had to court those constituencies or watch their Party perish.

So, when it came time to name Congressional Committee chairs, we saw a lot of diversity, namely, some white, middle aged men with gray hair and some white, middle aged men who dye their hair, even some white, middle aged men who hadn't grayed yet. The diversity lifted hearts everywhere.

So, this became a bit of a news story in places like MSNBC.

And lo, and behold, a couple of days later, Boehner named a white woman to head a committee on which she had never sat, the House Administrative Committee. It is one of only four committees whose chair the Speaker can appoint.


"Administrative" sounds like a really powerful position, doesn't it? And the fact that she never sat on the Committee doesn't make her seem like a token appointed in response to the publicity AT ALL, does it?

And, to top it off, she seems to have a corruption issue, all of which makes women all over the U.S. feel really good about this on so many levels.

Boehner Appoints a Woman to Lead the Administration Committee
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER

With House Republican leadership under fire for installing 19 white men as committee chairmen, Speaker John A. Boehner said on Friday that he had named Representative Candice S. Miller of Michigan to head the Committee on House Administration in the 113th Congress.

The current chairman of the committee, Representative Daniel E. Lungren of California, was defeated in his campaign for re-election this month.

Ms. Miller said in a statement that she was “both humbled and honored by the confidence Speaker Boehner has shown in me” to take on the chairmanship of the committee, which oversees federal elections as well as the day-to-day operations of the House, including its cafeterias, personnel services and technology. Ms. Miller currently does not even sit on the committee.

“Most importantly,” she said, “this committee has jurisdiction over the federal election process, and I am absolutely committed to making certain that we enact rules to ensure this nation continues to have open, free and fair elections.”

While most committee chairmen are chosen by the House Republican Steering Committee, Mr. Boehner has personal discretion over four committees: House Administration, Intelligence, Rules and ethics. Only the last of these is still unfilled, and it is possible the speaker will seek a woman for that slot, as well.

“In her new post,” Mr. Boehner said in a statement, “Candice will provide the leadership needed to keep operating costs down, save taxpayer dollars and help lawmakers use new technology to better engage with their constituents. And her experience as Michigan secretary of state will be invaluable given the committee’s oversight of campaign finance and election laws.”

In 2004, Ms. Miller received a rare admonishment from the House ethics committee, along with former Representative Tom DeLay, Republican of Texas, then the majority leader, relating to political favors in exchange for a member’s vote on a difficult Medicare prescription drug bill.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/30/boehner-appoints-a-woman-to-lead-the-administration-committee/

[Enthusiast]

1. I'm so glad the GOP has solved their woman problem.

I kid.