It had to have been difficult for Sen. John McGee to meet with his colleagues Wednesday. But it could have been even worse.
The Senate Republican caucus met to hear McGee, R-Caldwell, speak to them about what he calls “the worst night of my life”: the night of drinking that landed him in the Ada County Jail last Father’s Day and resulted in a guilty plea on a DUI charge. Then, Republicans had to decide whether they wanted McGee to remain in leadership, and allow the politically ambitious McGee to serve as the public face of the GOP caucus.
I can’t imagine this was easy on McGee — just as, I’m sure, it was difficult for him to break his seven-month silence and talk to reporters about his arrest. There are still holes in the story, particularly the still unsubstantiated claim that McGee suffered a concussion that contributed to his erratic Father’s Day behavior. That said, McGee also comes across as genuine and contrite in his media interviews, and I suspect he sounded likewise in Wednesday’s closed caucus meeting.
Ultimately, Senate Republicans opted to keep McGee in leadership, after a meeting that ran beyond the 75 minutes alloted to discuss his fate. Afterwards, at a City Club of Boise forum, Associated Press reporter John Miller quipped that the meeting took a long time because it took time for 27 senators to dispense hugs to their colleague.
But here’s what made McGee’s Wednesday easier, relatively speaking. No other senator actively ran against him for caucus chair. That, in turn, made it an easy default for Senate Republicans to vote to keep McGee in leadership.
I doubt McGee’s next election would be an unopposed election.
On May 15, Republicans will hold a historic closed primary that could tend to favor (or at least embolden) conservative challengers. McGee — a relative moderate, by Canyon County GOP standards — has faced opposition from the right before. Now, in addition to having to answer on the issues, such as borrowing for highway projects and banning texting while driving, McGee would have to answer for his DUI.
In front of voters. And against an opponent.
AFTER ALL, IT IS POLITICS
Legislative Democrats are threatening to vote with conservatives to block health exchange legislation, and some will consider that cynical blackmail.
I say, go for it. This is how a minority party defends its agenda and gets results. It’s called horse-trading. It just isn’t usually practiced so openly or so unabashedly.
But here was House Minority Leader John Rusche, a retired physician and open supporter of the health exchange, putting some heat on Gov. Butch Otter: “Especially in the House, that 36th vote could be hard to come by. ... My belief is, we have the numbers to affect passage of that bill. Unless something has changed, there is no way they can pass it without our support.”
I think Rusche’s right. And in a column last week, I said Otter was going to need the Democrats if he wants to create an exchange, a marketplace to allow small businesses and individuals to shop for insurance.
Do the vote-counting (as, I suspect, Otter already has). The governor needs 36 votes to get a health exchange bill out of the House. He has 57 fellow Republicans in the House, but that includes probably at least a couple dozen hardline conservatives who will refuse to accept $20.3 million of “Obamacare” grant money to create the exchange.
This gives House Democrats some leverage. They have every right to use it. It is no different than Republicans in the U.S. Senate using their filibuster power to get concessions from the White House. Bipartisanship isn’t always pretty. Sometimes it’s a forced marriage.
The only question is what Idaho Democrats might try to extract from Otter.
They’ve been hammering away on Otter over ethics legislation. Is that their endgame, or, to be really cynical, is ethics a better election-year issue anyway?
Or do Democrats push for their jobs bills, which also have gone nowhere in past sessions?
Regardless, the health exchange debate has gotten even more interesting.
RON PAUL’S IDAHO WIN
Mitt Romney has the backing of Otter, Sen. Jim Risch, 2nd Congressional District Rep. Mike Simpson, Lt. Gov. Brad Little, Secretary of State Ben Ysursa, state schools Superintendent Tom Luna, Controller Donna Jones and Attorney General Lawrence Wasden. And so, Friday night’s Idaho GOP presidential straw poll wasn’t really close. Texas Rep. Ron Paul handily defeated Romney.
What does this say about Idaho’s GOP? Only this, but no less than this. Friday further proves that there are two significant subsets of the party: the GOP insiders (who generally, but don’t unanimously, back Romney), and a conservative/libertarian core that backs Paul.
Which group is more motivated to vote in the closed primary? It’ll be fun to watch.
On Friday, the Paul Republicans were more motivated to shell out $30 a pop to support their candidate in a fundraiser disguised as a straw poll. The Idaho Republican Party might not know exactly what to make of its Paul people, but the GOP isn’t above taking their money.
COMMENT IN 140 (OR LESS)
Politics is the art of compromise. Otter worked from the office Monday, but he kept his State of the State speech to 34 minutes.
Kevin Richert: 377-6437
