Posted on 01/26/2011 12:22:30 PM PST by SeekAndFind
According to the Daily Caller’s Chris Moody, California Democrat Loretta Sanchez proposed yanking fellow Rep. Gabrielle Giffords off of the House Armed Services Committee after being at least temporarily disabled by a gunshot wound to the head less than three weeks ago. Sanchez argued that Democrats needed every vote they have on the panel and that they could not leave the seat open indefinitely. The reaction from her colleagues was, not surprisingly, strongly negative:
Behind closed doors, California Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez has proposed removing Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords from the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) until she recovers from injuries sustained after being shot in the head on Jan. 8 in Tucson, The Daily Caller has learned.
The proposal sparked an outrage, according to those in the room — including from those in Sanchez’s own party.
“It’s not appropriate,” Texas Democratic Rep. Silvestre Reyes told The Daily Caller, adding that there was outrage among some members in the room when Sanchez made the suggestion. “It’s bad for morale during her recovery period.”
Republicans have an eight-vote advantage on the committee. It’s possible that there will be some close votes, but it’s more likely that a single Democratic absence on the panel won’t have any impact at all this year. The absence of Giffords might make a difference in some subcommittees, but that could be addressed by asking a few of the HASC Democrats to add another subcommittee assignment temporarily, rather than replacing Giffords on the main committee.
Sanchez defended her proposal afterward through her spokesperson:
“Gabby has always been one of the most active members on the Armed Services Committee, and Rep. Sanchez wants to make sure HASC Democrats preserve her voice until the congresswoman has returned,” Sanchez’s Press Secretary Caroline Hogan told TheDC. “Rep. Sanchez simply inquired whether a proxy could represent the Congresswoman on the Committee at Rep. Giffords’ request. That way, Gabby’s legislative priorities and seniority would be preserved until her return. Any other interpretation of her question is ludicrous.”
Er, suuuure. The remaining Democrats on the panel could just as easily “preserve” Giffords’ legislative priorities by, well, doing it themselves, including Sanchez. There are 26 other Democrats on the committee; is Sanchez really arguing that among them, they couldn’t carry Giffords’ water for at least a few weeks? Replacing Giffords on the panel is an odd way to “preserve her voice.”
There may come a time when Democrats have to consider how to address Giffords’ committee assignments in the House, if her rehab looks like it will keep her away for a long period of time. Those decisions don’t have to be made two weeks into her recovery, though. In fact, given the role of the minority party in the House, it may not need to be an issue at all until the next election.
One unnamed Republican got in a dig at Sanchez’ sensitivity:
“From a woman who memorialized her cat, you’d think she’d show a little more compassion for a woman shot in the face,” said one GOP aide, referring to Sanchez’s 2010 Christmas card that paid tribute to her late cat, Gretzky.
Reyes and Adam Smith (D-CA) squelched Sanchez’ proposal.
Sanchez is a realist.
Giffords will not return for many months, if ever.
I think Congresswoman Sanchez has a good shot at getting a seat on Obama’s Death Panels if she wants it.
Sanchez is election-stealing scum. I’m not surprised.
Agreed. If the parties were reversed, I'm sure most here would want the seat filled by somebody in a position to vote.
We have a committee that was formed, and chaired by a Congresswoman who is physically incapable of fulfilling the role for which she was appointed.
So - shouldn't a conscientious person say “I cannot fulfill the duties for the job for which I was elected, I nominate my Husband to fulfill the term of office for which I was elected”? Historically, more than a few women have completed the term of office when their husbands were unable to complete their term.
Or, do we all wring out hands and let the committee sit in limbo indefinitely?
“Sanchez is election-stealing scum” she was “assisted” in her theft by....NEWTIE! RINO SCUM!
No one knows how long it will take. It could be mere ly a few weeks or never.Generally normal people wait for a prognosis to find out.She isn’t a realist she’s a cuthroat.All you have to do is look at some of her previous stunts campaigning to see that.This one is going to backfire on her bigtime - bet on it.
I guess she and the Democrats feel they have gotten all the mileage they can get out of this tragedy. Shows you how Democrat Politicians think. They lied about the person shooting her and now this. How can a honest person vote for a Democrat?
Just what I was thinking.
Sooner or later the Gov of AZ is going to have to bring up the subject of a special election. The people of AZ deserve that vote in Congress.
The area of her brain affected may involve problems with vision, physical coordination, creative thought and speech.
I wish her the best but she has a long uphill battle in her return to normalcy.
That being said, I am sure glad it was that idiot sanchez that brought it up.
Remember “Gabrielle(sp?)” has a 100% score from NARAL on Abortion(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabrielle_Giffords). So I don’t feel very sorry for her.
Well so much for leaving an empty seat for their Colleague. Hypocrits. Politics over eveything.
They’re afraid that a Dem wouldn’t be elected if they had a special election. The whole point of keeping somebody who is no longer competent in a position is to hold the position for the party, not for the individual in question.
I’m no Sanchez fan but I don’t see the issue here. When the starting quarterback goes down you put in the back up. You don’t say, “we’re going to go without a quarterback until we know how long before the starter can come back because to do otherwise would be insensitive”. That committe seat will be waiting for her if and when she gets back. So what’s the big deal about suggesting that someone else fill in until she gets back? That’s what any other entity would do in that situation - what makes congress different?
By my count, there are 62 members of this committee, so I don’t think they’ll miss her....
But, the people of her district are going to be without a representative in all things congress does. Her term is two years long. How long will the recovery take? Probably a good chunk of that term.
This probably needed to be brought up...probably by the people of Arizona, though.
We give the seat and the assinfment to Robert Kenneth Patrick Dornan
(AKA B1Bob)
the guy you stole your house seat from
Do we have a deal?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.