Speaker – Behind The Black – Robert Zimmerman

More rumors swirl about replacing Boehner as House Speaker

September 15, 2015 4:09 pm Robert Zimmerman

Link here. The story discusses in detail some of the negotiations that appear to be going in the background within the Republican caucus, all focused on the possibility that Speaker John Boehner could be driven out sometime this fall. It also indicates that the more conservative wing of the Republican Party is pushing the issue, and no matter what happens, is likely to have greater influence in the coming months.

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On the road, in California

May 3, 2013 8:23 pm Robert Zimmerman

I spent the day driving to Orange County, California to attend the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Southern California Aerospace Systems and Technology Conference tomorrow, where I will be the keynote speaker at their evening banquet. Though I will be at the conference, I expect to be able to post tomorrow periodically.

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Republican John Boehner, Speaker of the House, agrees to consider any gun control bill passed by the Senate.

March 4, 2013 8:48 am Robert Zimmerman

With friends like this, who needs enemies? Republican John Boehner, Speaker of the House, agrees to consider any gun control bill passed by the Senate.

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What really happened in the Gingrich ethics case?

January 25, 2012 12:06 am Robert Zimmerman

What really happened in the Gingrich ethics case?

Given all the attention to the ethics matter, it’s worth asking what actually happened back in 1995, 1996, and 1997. The Gingrich case was extraordinarily complex, intensely partisan, and driven in no small way by a personal vendetta on the part of one of Gingrich’s former political opponents. It received saturation coverage in the press; a database search of major media outlets revealed more than 10,000 references to Gingrich’s ethics problems during the six months leading to his reprimand. It ended with a special counsel hired by the House Ethics Committee holding Gingrich to an astonishingly strict standard of behavior, after which Gingrich in essence pled guilty to two minor offenses. Afterwards, the case was referred to the Internal Revenue Service, which conducted an exhaustive investigation into the matter. And then, after it was all over and Gingrich was out of office, the IRS concluded that Gingrich did nothing wrong. After all the struggle, Gingrich was exonerated.

I vaguely remembered the details of the Gingrich ethics case, and the article above confirms what my memory was telling me: Not only was Gingrich innocent of all charges, the charges themselves were political in nature and downright absurd.