December 31, 2005
Inside Report
By Robert
Novak
OPPOSING HOFFA?
WASHINGTON
-- James P. Hoffa faces a possible challenge for re-election as
president of the Teamsters in 2006 from the union's Southern leader,
Tyson Johnson of Dallas.
The threat
is considered serious enough by Hoffa for him to meet secretly
with Johnson, a Teamsters vice president for the Southern Region,
Dec. 21 at the Phoenix airport. The meeting's results were described
by union sources as inconclusive, and Johnson has not definitely
committed himself to running.
Hoffa has
led the Teamsters out of the AFL-CIO for the second time and has
been a national leader among union chiefs seeking a new direction
to energize the labor movement. However, Hoffa has come under
fire inside his union from erstwhile allies such as Johnson.
STEVENS FAILS
Before the
Senate refused to close debate on the defense appropriations bill
containing a provision to permit oil drilling in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska several times
assured the White House that he had the votes to invoke cloture.
The White
House relied entirely on Stevens, president pro tempore of the
Senate as the chamber's senior Republican, to get the votes. But
he did not collect the two-thirds of senators needed to force
the bill to a vote, and ANWR was removed from the military bill.
Stevens
admitted defeat with an unusually bitter speech Dec. 21, the last
night the full Senate was in session. "I don't deserve some
of the comments that have been made by some senators," he
said, referring to criticism for inserting ANWR in the defense
bill. He indicated he especially resented criticism by Democratic
Sen. Robert Byrd, the Senate's senior member.
TEXAS SHOWDOWN
The biggest
Republican concern about future control of the House rests with
the Supreme Court's decision in the Texas congressional redistricting
case.
Republican
leaders were stunned when the court agreed to a review. They had
thought the issue was settled when the justices, by five to four,
refused to consider a similar case in Pennsylvania. But Justice
Anthony Kennedy, who cast the decisive vote on the Pennsylvania
case, is a swing vote who could go the other way on Texas.
Even if
the Supreme Court rules against the redistricting orchestrated
by Rep. Tom DeLay, it might come too late to affect the 2006 election.
Republicans gained six House seats from Texas after the redistricting.
DRIVING OUT
SHERRY
Rep. Sherwood
Boehlert, one of the most liberal Republicans in Congress who
is now serving his 12th term from upstate New York, might not
seek re-election in 2006 if he is shut out from committee chairmanships.
Boehlert
is serving his last year as Science Committee chairman thanks
to term limits. Although he is next in line to head the Transportation
Committee (a principal dispenser of pork), current Chairman Don
Young of Alaska is expected to block Boehlert's ascension. Boehlert's
lifetime support record by the American Conservative Union is
only 40 percent.
A footnote:
Rep. Tom Petri of Wisconsin is next in line at Transportation
after Boehlert, but he may be stopped because of his support for
a gas tax increase. That choice chairmanship could fall to Rep.
John J. Duncan Jr. of Tennessee.
HOLIDAY
POLITICS
In sessions
preceding their holiday recess, Democratic members of Congress
peppered their floor speeches and press releases with references
to Republicans as "Scrooge" and the "Grinch."
Rep. Bennie
Thompson of Mississippi said the Republican budget bill was "a
gift from an extremist Grinch." Rep. Dave Obey of Wisconsin
said "Scrooge-onomics" best described Republican budget
policy. "Bah humbug!" bellowed Sen. Edward M. Kennedy
in two floor speeches. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said
comparing Republicans with Scrooge "gives Scrooge a bad name."
At least 19 members engaged in such rhetoric.
A footnote:
Responding to this Democratic holiday-bashing, Republican Sen.
Judd Gregg of New Hampshire declared: "Let me point out that
'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' is a wonderful story. A fellow
who went to school in New Hampshire wrote it. It is a fantasy."
Copyright
2005 Creators Syndicate
