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December 01, 2006
The Right Choice
We were pleased to read the AP story just out that Texas Congressman Silvestre Reyes (D-El Paso)has been chosen to chair the critically important House Intelligence Committee. Reyes, a Vietnam Vet and former U.S. Border Patrol Agent, is a solid, non-controversial choice for the post after the bruising, nasty jockeying that has taken place in the last few weeks.
This recent Washington Post piece offers a good summary of the controversy surrounding the ranking Democrat on the committee, Jane Harman of California, and Alcee Hastings from Florida, both of whom were vying for the job, and the challenging political minefield it created for Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi.
Pelosi made a wise choice steering clear of either member. In the wake of the Hoyer-Murtha battle for Majority Leader, which right off the bat sent precisely the wrong message to the American public of Democratic infighting, (and where the Speaker-to-be took it on the chin politically), the last thing Pelosi needed was another divisive decision.
Reyes is a good choice partly because he is free of the baggage the others carried, but also because he's an experienced, level-headed member who understands the importance of the job and of reducing the poisonous partisan acrimony that has pervaded the committee in recent years.
It's also good for Texas. One disastrous consequence of Tom DeLay's Congressional redistricting plan was the defeat of many of the state's most senior Democratic members from Congress. And now that the senior Republican members have been relegated to minority party status, Texas has lost considerable clout in the House. Reyes' appointment restores a bit of what has been lost.
Finally, with the explosive growth in the Hispanic population in Texas and across the country, both major parties know that winning the Latino vote is critical to their long-term fortunes. Promoting a qualified Hispanic member to a major committee chairmanship sends the right message that the Democratic Party is willing to do more than just pay lip service to the Latino community.
Pelosi got this one right.
Posted by houtopia at December 1, 2006 10:39 AM