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| Rangel's replacement: Pete Stark |
| 2010-03-04 |
| California Rep. Pete Stark -- a controversial lawmaker who has a history of volatile comments about Republicans -- is now chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, automatically moving up from the second slot after New York Democrat Charles Rangel relinquished his gavel Wednesday morning. It would take an affirmative action of the House to remove Stark and replace him with another member of the Ways and Means Committee, according to aides familiar with House operations. Stark -- one of the chamber's most liberal, partisan and pugnacious members -- has had his own recent run-in with the ethics committee, exhibiting bizarre behavior during an investigation that ultimately cleared him of wrongdoing. POLITICO reported earlier this week that officials found Stark "extremely belligerent" toward investigators from the Office of Congressional Ethics and used a semi-hidden video camera to tape his interview during a probe of whether he improperly applied for a homestead tax exemption in Maryland even though his official residence is in California. The incident is just one in a series of stranger-than-fiction episodes featuring the tart-tongued Stark. He once accused a former Republican Ways and Means colleague, Nancy Johnson of Connecticut, of getting her information from "pillow talk," and called another, Scott McInnis of Colorado, a "fruitcake." In 2007, he accused Republicans of sending soldiers to Iraq "to get their heads blown off for the president's amusement." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #7 Stark is yielding the gavel to next-in-line tomorrow (the other Donks in the committee demanded it). |
| Posted by: lord garth 2010-03-04 13:18 |
| #6 When you're a boy, and your parents name you Fortney, chances are there will be "issues" in your future... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2010-03-04 13:05 |
| #5 the illness was mental and hardly undisclosed |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-03-04 12:20 |
| #4 The Washington Post has this news at 1024 Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.), a pro-union, anti-free-trade liberal who is a close ally of the auto industry, has been selected as interim chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. Levin's ascension is a rebuke to the seniority system, as Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) was in line to chair the powerful panel with authority over tax and trade issues, but rank-and-file Democrats on the committee rebelled because Stark, 78, has a history of intemperate remarks and has an undisclosed illness that has made it difficult for him to be on hand in recent weeks. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-03-04 11:48 |
| #3 Our country's in the very best of hands. |
| Posted by: Glomock Tojo6610 2010-03-04 09:48 |
| #2 Stark Raving Stark Via InstaPundit This is the best leadership this country can produce? |
| Posted by: ed 2010-03-04 09:42 |
| #1 Lovely, just phuecking lovely. Replacing an unethical sleazeball with a complete gibbering lunatic. Keep it up, Quislingcrats, you're doing just great so far! |
| Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) 2010-03-04 01:03 |