Republican members of the U.S. House got thousands of calls and emails, and hundreds of thousands of letters from constituents, encouraging them to find someone other than Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, to be their speaker for the new Congress, and a couple dozen opposed him when the election was held at the beginning of this year.
He won the position, but there’s been only a modest amount of punishment handed out by the speaker’s office to those who opposed him so far.
It may be because he fears conservatives.
“He’s aware some of his opponents were under enormous pressure to abandon him, as hundreds, if not thousands, of phone calls and emails poured into congressional offices from tea party activists seeking the speaker’s head,” the report said. “And he knows full well that the grassroots activists applying the pressure were further enraged when he took quick revenge by booting two defectors – Florida GOP Reps. Daniel Webster and Richard Nugent – from the powerful Rules Committee.”
The report continued, “There’s concern among party leaders that any further retribution could provoke conservatives, and cause more headaches for Boehner and his allies at the very moment they are trying to show they can govern in Washington.”
A good portion of that pressure has come from the Don’t be Yellow, Dump Boehner Now! campaign, which enables citizens to let all 246 GOP members of the House majority know of their opposition to allowing him to remain House speaker.
It has generated more than 570,000 letters, and that’s a pile roughly 20 stories tall, so it’s not like they could be slipped into House offices unnoticed.
The Hill reported that there are punishments Boehner still could hand out, such as depriving his critics of campaign cash or cutting off their ability to travel abroad on congressional trips.
But Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, who challenged Boehner, was named head of the Natural Resources Committee’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, and Oklahoma Rep. Jim Bridenstine, another opponent, will lead the House Science, Space and Technology Committee’s Subcommittee on the Environment.
The Hill said “another defector,” Rep. Randy Weber, R-Teas, heads the Subcommittee on Energy.
And others.
The yellow letter campaign targets Boehner because of two issues, Obamacare and amnesty. Those were two issues on which voters spoke strongly – and harshly – during the 2014 midterms. Their message? They didn’t like either.
But within weeks, Boehner was cutting a deal with President Obama to continue funding into 2015 for both programs.
In addition to the hundreds of thousands of letters, the Washington Examiner reported: “There were hundreds of them, jamming the phone lines of the district and Capitol offices of dozens of House GOP lawmakers. The callers were not angry about legislation. Nor were they asking for help with a local matter. They were demanding their representative vote against Boehner … in his bid to win election to a third term as speaker.”
And there’s a move by a couple of dozen House members, led by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to create a new caucus that would urge bold, conservative actions on immigration, Obamacare and other issues.
Jordan told Gannett: “If you set small goals, you’re not likely to accomplish big things. Our party had better understand what is at stake. We had better get it.”
The report said the idea “is to leverage the Republican sweep in November’s elections into conservative victories in Congress – and to serve as a check on the GOP leadership if they move too far toward the middle” to “compromise with the White House and congressional Democrats.”
There also have been a few outspoken blasts at Boehner from his own party, a rarity for a House speaker.
Politico reported Rep. Richard Nugent, R-Fla., who was one of the dozens of House members who voted against Boehner’s campaign for the speaker’s post, said: “I don’t believe that John Boehner is the best man for the job. This may surprise some people (including the speaker) but it has far more to do with his leadership abilities than it does with his conservatism.
“What I mean by that is that if you can’t lead and you can’t deliver, then your own personal political philosophy is pretty much irrelevant. I’ve gone into far more detail about this criticism with him privately than I will here, but suffice it to say that there have been far too many occasions over the last four years where the House has been ineffective, and America just can’t wait any longer. America needs vision, a sense of purpose and an ability to follow through. We aren’t getting those things.”
Joseph Farah, WND founder and campaign organizer, said the opposition to Boehner is based on the Obamacare and amnesty issues.
It has earned the support of the founder of Tea Party Nation, one of the organizations that helped rouse the American electorate in 2010 and give the GOP control of the U.S. House.
“Absolutely, I want people storming the halls of Congress,” Judson Phillips told WND. “Melting the phone lines and anything else.”
“So, I love [WND CEO Joseph Farah’s] letter writing idea.”
Phillips went to the commentary pages of the Washington Times to say why he thinks Boehner should be replaced.
“A month after its incredible victory, the GOP squandered its mandate, surrendering to the Democrats,” he wrote. “The GOP-led House of Representatives did not proclaim its mandate and hold off on major decisions until the Republican majority in the Senate was sworn in. No, they went to the GOP position of preemptive surrender and gave President Obama and the Democrats almost everything they wanted.
“Despite the pleas and demands from the base, the GOP did nothing to stop Mr. Obama’s executive amnesty. They even rewarded left-wing billionaires who had spent millions to keep the Democrats in power by extending so-called ‘Green Energy’ subsidies,” he wrote. “The architect of the Republican surrender was House Speaker John Boehner.”
JOIN THE DON’T BE YELLOW, DUMP BOEHNER NOW CAMPAIGN.
The letter explains to members of the U.S. House that two issues have “prompted Americans to turn in droves to the Republican Party in November 2014 – Barack Obama’s blatantly unconstitutional executive action to provide amnesty to millions of illegal aliens, and the deliberately deceptive restructuring of America’s health-care system through Obamacare, which threatens to unravel the greatest health delivery system in the world.”
Pointing out that Republicans before the election “solemnly vowed to STOP this lame-duck president,” the letter states: “Now you have the power, right and duty to stop him.
“But it won’t happen with John Boehner leading you. You know this to be true. The trillion-dollar budget deal is just the latest proof that Boehner is not capable of leading the House to victory during this critical period.”
The campaign allows people to send letters, with their own names and addresses via FedEx, all for the one price of $29.95, to each of the House GOP members.
