John Boehner highlights
Born: Nov. 17, 1949
Wife: Debbie
Children: Lindsay and Tricia
Political Experience: Minority Leader, United States House of Representatives, 2006-present; Representative, U.S. House, 1990-present; Representative, Ohio House of Representatives, 1984-90
WEST CHESTER TWP., Butler County — House Republican Leader John Boehner got the news when he arrived one morning in his Capitol Hill office: Just hours earlier, Democrats had filed a 300-page amendment to the massive global warming bill which the House was to vote on that day.
Boehner was “hopping mad,” because once again the House would take up a measure nobody knew much about. After threatening to “read the whole bill” on the floor, he instructed his staff to browse through the amendment and mark the “most egregious stuff.”
That afternoon in the summer of 2009, despite sharp protests from Democrats, Boehner stood on the House floor for one hour and read page after page of the bulky amendment, much of which he described as “incomprehensible.’’ As he recited one convoluted passage, he paused to say, “I read it because I cannot tell you what that means.’’
House Democrats narrowly passed the bill, but Boehner made his point. Not only did he sweep away doubts many Republicans had about whether he was a true conservative and tough enough to stand up to President Barack Obama, he also made clear that if he became speaker, he would run the House in a different way than Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her Republican predecessors.
Last speaker from Ohio was in 1931
Now, less than one month before the congressional elections, Boehner, whose district includes parts of east Dayton, Riverside, Huber Heights and all or parts of five area counties, has a chance to ascend to the speaker’s post he has long coveted. He would be the first speaker from Ohio since Republican Nicholas Longworth in 1931.
He vows to usher through sweeping changes by enhancing the power of the committees to write bills instead of having the speaker’s office dictate the contents of each bill and then forcing members to vote for bills they had no part in crafting.
Describing the past four years as “an abomination” and complaining that there are “about five people who control the whole process from beginning to end,’’ Boehner wants lawmakers to have a greater say.
“If we’re able to do this, it will bring the temperature down in the institution,’’ Boehner said in an interview in his West Chester Twp. office. “It’ll begin the process of healing an institution that is broken. It will go a long way in breaking down the scar tissue that’s been built up between the parties and ... created by both parties.’’
To Boehner, process matters. While he talks the conservative line of keeping taxes low and avoiding federal regulations, he is positively animated about reforming the daily process of the House.
To many Democrats and analysts, Boehner is the unlikeliest of reformers. Too slick, they say; too close to lobbyists; too addicted to golf; too lucky, and too interested in having a good time. And what about that year-round tan?
They point out for two decades in Washington he has been the quintessential insider, having served as the fourth-ranking House Republican from 1995 through 1998, and elected GOP leader in 2006. He raises huge sums of money from business groups and once appalled critics by passing out tobacco lobbyist contributions to GOP colleagues on the floor just before a vote.
Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., acknowledging that he and Boehner worked well together a decade ago on education, assailed him for adopting a policy to “obstruct, delay, oppose’’ Obama’s key initiatives.
Former Republican congressman Joe Scarborough said last June on his MSNBC show that “so many Republicans tell me this is a guy that is not the hardest worker in the world.’’
In a brutally frank private memo to Boehner after he was toppled from that fourth-ranking leadership post in 1998, one top aide wrote that “it had become ‘common knowledge’ that you were incapable of being elected speaker and were indeed the weakest member of leadership.’’
An astonishing comeback
Yet a more than a decade after House Republicans ousted him from his leadership post — a move which should have ended his career — Boehner is on the verge of an astonishing comeback. Through a combination of a tenacious personality, meticulous planning, and a salesman’s gift for persuasion, Boehner has clawed his way back from the abyss.
“Anybody who gets to be the top leader in their party doesn’t get there by luck,’’ said Steve Elmendorf, a onetime aide to former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo.
In 2001, Boehner took the consolation job of chairing the education committee and quickly got a break: President George W. Bush pressed for passage of a landmark education bill — known as “No Child Left Behind’’ — and Boehner’s committee had to write the measure.
Forming a business-like relationship with Miller, Boehner helped win passage of the bill, prompting former Boehner aide Terry Holt to say that “his comeback was established when the president signed ‘No Child Left Behind.’ ”
In 2006, he scraped together the votes to become majority leader, replacing Tom DeLay of Texas, who had engineered Boehner’s 1998 defeat. While the Republicans lost the House in 2006, they kept Boehner as minority leader.
“He’s always underestimated,’’ said Rep. Pat Tiberi, R-Genoa Twp. “Part of it is his style. He doesn’t have a hair out of place, his tie is perfectly tied. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have the work ethic of a rugged linebacker, because he does.”
Boehner vastly different from Pelosi
If he becomes speaker, Boehner would be a dramatic change in style and substance to Pelosi.
Pelosi is the daughter of a powerful Maryland political family who later won a House seat in San Francisco, while Boehner is one of 12 children whose father owned a tavern in Carthage.
A fervent environmentalist, Pelosi banned smoking in the speaker’s gallery, where lawmakers chat with reporters. Boehner, a chain smoker who has never met an environmental regulation he seemed to like, found the ban annoying.
When Pelosi expanded the menu in the House cafeteria to include organic foods such as jicama, Boehner, a lover of steaks and red wine, quipped, “I like real food — food that I can pronounce the name of.”
Yet he claims to have a cordial relationship with Pelosi as long as they avoid policy — then “it’s just oil and water,’’ he said. A noted wise guy, Boehner also can joke with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md.
Once as the three met in Pelosi’s office, and as they smiled for the reporters and cameras, Boehner turned to Hoyer and joked, “As soon as they put those cameras away, I’m going to flip you the bird.’’
“People generally like Boehner, even if they’re not from the same political ilk,’’ said David Hobson, a former Republican congressman from Springfield.
Boehner’s ambitious plan to remake the House is registering skepticism among people who have watched Pelosi, DeLay and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich centralize power in the leadership offices.
“You can start off as a nice guy, but if you are in charge you have to run the place and by definition you run roughshod over the minority,’’ said Elmendorf. “Because of the nature of politics, we’re past the point where committee chairs get to do what they want.’’
Boehner has a very simple reply: “We’ll see. I’m not Barack Obama, I’m not Nancy Pelosi. I say what I mean and mean what I say.’’
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