Rep. John Boehner: GOP Needs to Clean House

Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, one of the three announced candidates to replace former Majority Leader Tom DeLay, warns that if Republicans don't show they are "serious about cleaning up our own house," they could face a "difficult time" in the congressional election this November.

In a candid interview with NewsMax.com, the reform-minded Ohio Republican offered a frank assessment of the problem facing the GOP – and a game plan for success.

"No question that there are some members who violated the law and violated the rules of the House – both Republicans and Democrats," Boehner said.

The House GOP Caucus is set to pick a new majority leader in early February. Also in the running for the powerful post are Rep. Roy Blunt from Missouri, and Rep. John Shadegg from Arizona.

Boehner said that in the wake of the Jack Abramoff scandal and Tom DeLay's dogged ethics clouds, the Republicans must go back to their roots as the party of good government and reform.

Boehner recalled that when he came to Congress in 1990, he was appalled by what he saw as a corrupted Democrat-controlled House.

He and six others – headed by Newt Gingrich – formed the Gang of 7 to lead a revolution that swept Republicans into power for the first time in 40 years.

"I think that we need to move aggressively forward to clear up any problem that may exist, and put rules in place that would attempt to prevent it from happening," he says, but adds a warning: "Crooks are going to be crooks" regardless of who's in power and regardless of how many rules are put in place to stop wrongdoing.

"As I felt back in the early 90s, we need to move aggressively and punish those members who violate the law or rules of the House," he said bluntly. "I don't care who's involved."

That's why he's running for the majority leader's spot. "The position of the majority leader is to help lead the House," said Boehner, whose district includes suburbs of Cincinnati and Dayton.

"It's to manage the floor, work with committees, and work with major pieces of legislation. And I believe my experience as a former member of the leadership and my experiences as a current committee chairman give me unique qualities to help me do that job."

To prove his position isn't just rhetoric, Boehner pointed to a 37-page document he's circulating among his colleagues outlining exactly what he believes in and what he thinks Republicans should stand for.

"I believe that we need to have a common vision for Republicans – who we are and what we hope to accomplish on behalf of the American people, similar to what we were able to help develop in 1994 to provide a common vision for House Republicans, and were able to outline in the ‘Contract with America.'"

Boehner, who's known as an easy-going golfer with fierce legislative skills, noted that politics is much different today than it was in 1994.

"Then, we were going to pick up seats as a result of redistricting and a lack of support for some of the Clinton policies. But we were willing to take the risk of telling people what we were for," he said, claiming that current GOP leaders can't say the same.

"I think we're still the party of ideas and the party with the courage to take on and implement those big ideas. You know what, the most successful issue in the ‘Contract with America' was welfare reform. And we all know the dramatic results of what happened – rolls are down two-thirds from what they were eight years ago ... and we continue to work with people who can't help themselves and to work with those who can to become productive members of the American society."

In the past few years, according to Boehner, Republicans have shied away from taking bold and defensible positions. "To some extent over the last several years we've lost our confidence," he claimed. "And without confidence it's hard to have the courage to take on big and bold initiatives."

When asked why that's so, he said "it's hard to describe ... but it's in the lack of a collective confidence in our conference. To some extent you could argue it is that we've been playing not to lose as opposed to playing to win. And that's a very different dynamic."

Sounding frustrated – and pointing out many of the same things that Democratic strategist James Carville told NewsMax are wrong with his own party – Boehner suggested that Republican leaders have lost their way.

"Listen," he said, "I came here in 1990 because I wanted to do something. And I think most of my colleagues came here for the same reasons. But without that broader vision of where we're going, what it is we want to do, we've gotten fragmented and this impedes taking on the big issues."

One big issue, he said, is reducing the size of the federal government, bloated in part by the explosive growth of appropriation earmarks. "No question about it, the number of earmarks has increased dramatically" and this is bad for business.

"I've taken no pork since the day I got here," Boehner declared, and for several years he's favored changing the rules about hiding pork for special interests.

"I have no illusions we're going to eliminate that or we're going to eliminate all these projects" – or should we, he said. "But there ought to be a process where we can distinguish worthy projects from worthless pork."

He suggests making public the names of members tied to specific spending earmarks because "sunlight is the best disinfectant."

This is how Republicans have become embroiled in the latest lobbying scandal involving Abramoff, Boehner said.

He notes that lobbying scandals crop up from time to time, but the real problem is the overall size of the federal government.

"We're going to spend $2.6 trillion of people's money. And when you have a pot of money that large it's going to attract unsavory characters who will want to be selfish.

"The mere size of government is a problem ... And the burgeoning use of earmarks [is] the dynamic that's going to produce an Abramoff or a Duke Cunningham." The latter refers to former California Republican Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who pleaded guilty last November to a variety of crimes including bribery.

To Boehner's thinking, while proposals from his party and Democrats to clean up real or perceived corruption are worthy goals, "I think that more transparency in the relationship between lobbyists and members would be more helpful."

He pointed out what he considers to have been bad law – the McCain/Feingold campaign reform law, which he voted against because of its fundamental flaw in attempting to put more rules into place without being honest with the American people.

"We've further restricted what members and parties can raise but we've opened up this whole chapter called 527s – where there's no disclosure and no limits! We've pushed money out of the open process into a closed process ... despite the goal to reduce the amount of money in politics," he said.

Boehner added, "I've argued long and hard that you can accept any dime spent but it has to be disclosed regardless if you are a member or an organization. Let the sunshine in! Let it all out and let the American public make up its own mind."

When asked whether he thinks Republicans will hold their small majority in the House after this year's mid-term elections – a margin of 29 seats – he said: "I think we have to show the American people that we're serious about cleaning up our own house and showing that we're serious about dealing with the problems they are dealing with. And unless we can show that we'll have a difficult time in November."

Federal spending is expected to reach about $2.7 trillion in fiscal 2007, up from nearly $1.8 trillion when President Bush took office, and from 2001 through 2005 spending rose at nearly triple the average inflation rate.

Boehner admitted that's partly due to a failure of the Republican leadership in Congress to work with the White House to make sure that good legislation is sent to the president.

"Why would Republicans want to send bills to the president that he would veto? He looks good and we look bad. The fact is that we're all on the same team ... and need to work closely with the White House so we all can be proud of what gets passed.

"I would rather do bills such as [the highway transportation bill] in a different way and work with members to get bills into better shape before sending them to the president. The farm bill is a good example that I led the opposition on ... and the president wasn't pleased," Boehner noted with a wry smile. "But until you have changes, I'm suggesting you'll have such legislation because there's no guiding principle on what we're doing!"

As to how he'd go about changing the business of the House, he pointed out a practice he's used while running a successful private company and employed in his office and committee, where currently he's chairman of the Education panel. It's a model based on setting out a set of goals and then assembling people to work on ways to achieve those goals without a heavy-handed top-down approach.

If elected, Boehner says the first order of business will be to use a Republican retreat to lay out what he believes are necessary and fundamental reforms. He would start by bringing in a facilitator to help members understand that "to succeed we've got to talk with each other and listen to each other ... and to sensitize members to understand we're not all the same ... but also to understand that there aren't that many issues that divide us.

"We have to have a clear vision that we understand and people understand if we're going to be successful. An agenda can flow from that vision and guide us. But you have to have that vision!

For example, he points to the Social Security push by the White House over nine months in 2005. That failed, he says, because there's been an attitude among Republicans that they can fix something quickly just by telling people to trust them.

"I don't do anything without having a clear vision of what it is we're trying to accomplish."

If elected by his party conference in early February, Boehner said he would bring in a totally new method of leadership. "As majority leader your job is to do just that, which is to be a leader of the majority. And you've got to put into place a process by which the majority knows who they are and where they are going."

Given the splintered nature of the current House Republicans on virtually any issue – a matter pointedly noted by Roy Blunt, currently the acting majority leader after DeLay's departure – Boehner agreed that his conference is like a bunch of feral cats.

"Again, its because we don't have a common vision and we don't have the opportunity to talk to each other and understand each other. And a gulf developed between members and the leadership and people got into their comfortable corners. And once that process starts it just gets magnified.

"Taking the scar tissue away and getting these members to talk to each other in open and honest dialogue is not going to be an easy task. But I tell you right now, it has to happen or we're going to continue to have serious problems."