Pointless Concern of the Week

After Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was sworn in on Thursday as the newest Speaker of the House, numerous conservative individuals (both callers and hosts) on talk radio expressed anxiety about Ms. Pelosi now being second in line for succession to the presidency, behind the Vice President.

Following a day which was historical for Congress and the women of the United States, Republicans apparently had nothing better to do but spend time on this topic. First and foremost, there has obviously not been any time in the history of this country where both the President and Vice President were no longer in office. However, I am not too sure why Republicans are so concerned about the possibility of Ms. Pelosi inheriting the presidency. What do I mean by that? Let's take a closer (albeit abridged) look at the previous two Speakers of the House.

Dennis Hastert (Jan 1999 - Jan 2007)

• Hastert (R-IL) accepted more than $100,000 in contributions from the firm of convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his various tribal clients.
• In September 2005, Hastert declared that spending federal money to rebuild New Orleans from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina "doesn't make sense to me". He also stated that "It looks like a lot of that place could be bulldozed".
• Was critical of the FBI for its May 20, 2006 search of the Congressional office of Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) in connection with a bribery investigation. Hastert contended that the FBI did not have the constitutional authority to search Congressional offices even though the FBI had obtained a search warrant. (By the way, investigators found approximately $90,000 in cash in Jefferson's freezer.)
• In the summer of 2005, Hastert personally intervened during House and Senate negotiations over a transportation and infrastructure bill in order to secure $152 million to build a highway project and $55 million for an interchange 5.5 miles from property he personally owned. Hastert and two partners then sold a 138-acre parcel of that property to a developer in December 2005 for $4.99 million (the land was originally purchased at a cost of $1.9 million).
• In September 2006, several news sources revealed Hastert had been aware for more than 1 year that former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) had sent sexually explicit e-mails to a 16-year old former congressional page in 2005. However, a former House aide stated in October 2006 that he had informed Hastert more than 3 years ago about the e-mails.

Newt Gingrich (Jan 1995 - Jan 1999)

• In late 1995 and early 1996, without enough votes to override a President Clinton veto, Gingrich (R-GA) directed the Republicans in not submitting a revised federal budget, which allowed previously approved appropriations to expire and caused portions of the federal government to be shut down due to a lack of funds.
• During Gingrich's tenure as Speaker of the House, Democrats filed 84 ethics charges, including accepting a $4.5 million advance for a book deal, claiming tax exempt status for a college course conducted for political purposes and utilizing the GOPAC political action committee as a slush fund. Since the House Ethics Committee was led by Republicans, all charges were, of course, eventually dropped. At the same time, Gingrich did admit to "unintentionally" providing inaccurate information to the Committee during the course of the investigation. As a result, he agreed to reimburse $300,000 to the Committee for the cost of prolonging the investigation. He also agreed to not spin the story in the media but admit publicly to his transgressions. However, on January 10, 1997, the New York Times reported that Gingrich and other House Republicans planned to vacate his agreement by misrepresenting the ethics violations he committed, which was supported by a taped telephone conversation.