{"id":801,"date":"2018-11-01T15:24:13","date_gmt":"2018-11-01T19:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/?p=801"},"modified":"2018-11-01T16:40:56","modified_gmt":"2018-11-01T20:40:56","slug":"some-unsolicited-advice-to-nancy-pelosi-and-those-who-would-replace-her","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/2018\/11\/01\/some-unsolicited-advice-to-nancy-pelosi-and-those-who-would-replace-her\/","title":{"rendered":"Some Unsolicited Advice To Nancy Pelosi (and Those Who Would Replace Her)"},"content":{"rendered":"

If the \u201cBlue Wave\u201d materializes next week, as so many predict, you Madame Leader, will become Speaker of the House once again.\u00a0 Time marches on, and as many have already pointed out, you and the rest of the top Democratic House leaders are all closing in on 80 years old.\u00a0 This situation was made even worse by the loss of Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Joseph Crowle<\/span><\/a>y (D-NY); a relatively young 55 years old, to a primary challenge<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 There is already a movement by younger members of the Democratic Caucus<\/span><\/a> for a change in leadership, but you and the other leaders do not seem to be going anywhere.\u00a0 It is time, however, for you\u2014and the rest of Congress\u2014 to take a hard look at how the House is run.\u00a0 I would argue that when Congress worked\u2014during the second half of the 20th Century\u2014 younger potential leaders were groomed for the difficult office of Speaker.\u00a0 It is time to return to that practice.<\/p>\n

The House of Representatives was most effective during the so-called \u201cAustin-Boston Connection\u201d that dominated the House for 55 years; from 1940 until 1995.\u00a0 During nearly all of this time\u2014from the Depression until Bill Clinton\u2019s \u201cbridge to the 21st Century,\u201d the Democrats held a majority in the House.\u00a0 The House consistently passed needed legislation, effectively used its oversight powers and worked with presidents of both parties; not because of sheer numbers or ideological purity\u2014far from it.\u00a0 Rather, the House worked, in large part, because leadership routinely identified and trained future majority leaders and speakers.\u00a0 After years of apprenticeship, new speakers understood both how to use the levers of power and how to deal with the opposing party.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Speaker Sam Rayburn
By Samuel Taliaferro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When the great Sam Rayburn<\/span><\/a> first became speaker in 1940, he had not only been the majority leader for nearly four years, he had been the speaker of the Texas House for two years\u2014starting at the age of 29.\u00a0 When he re-took the speakership for the last time in 1955, he had over 10 years previous experience as speaker and 4 more years as minority leader.\u00a0 When John McCormack<\/span><\/a> became speaker (1962-1971), he had been the Majority Leader for 18 years.<\/p>\n

Carl Albert<\/span><\/a> (1971-1977) was majority whip for seven years and majority leader for nine years before taking the gavel.\u00a0 Tip O\u2019Neill<\/span><\/a> came to Congress after serving four years as the Massachusetts House Speaker, then served two years as majority whip and four more years as majority leader.\u00a0 O\u2019Neill\u2019s 10 year speakership (1977-1987) became the example for a House that ideologically opposed\u2014 but worked with\u2014a president of the same, and then another, party. Jim Wright<\/span><\/a> was majority leader for 10 years before his two year speakership (1987-1989)\u00a0 When Tom Foley<\/span><\/a> (1989-1995) became speaker, he had been majority whip for six years and majority leader for two and a half years.\u00a0 Every one of these speakers came to office trained not just how to lead their own caucus, but how to reach across the aisle and create the majorities needed to pass complicated and controversial legislation.<\/p>\n

Compare that to the level of preparation for leadership since then. Newt Gingrich<\/span><\/a> (1995-1999) had only five years of experience as minority whip.\u00a0 Dennis Hastert<\/span><\/a> (1999-2007) was relatively well-trained with four years as majority whip.\u00a0 You, Madame Leader,<\/span><\/a> (2007-2011) were minority whip for only one year.\u00a0 John Boehner<\/span><\/a> (2011-2015) was majority leader for one year, minority leader for four years and a committee chairman for five years.\u00a0\u00a0 Paul Ryan<\/span><\/a> (2015-2019) was just a committee chairman for five years before being drafted to be speaker.<\/p>\n

From 1995 until now\u2014half of the time the Austin-Boston era, we have had five speakers who had a combined five years of prior experience running the House as either the majority whip or leader.\u00a0 How did we get here?\u00a0 Frankly, the Democratic leadership has stagnated and grown old.\u00a0 The Republicans seem to prefer whoever will apply the Hastert Rule<\/span><\/a>, to the exclusion of working with Democrats, giving outsized influence to a fringe caucus<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

And what have we had since 1995?\u00a0 Gridlock, government shutdowns, speakers held hostage by small minorities within their own caucus.\u00a0 The difference in productivity is stunning.\u00a0 From 1973-2015, nine of the ten most productive Congresses<\/span><\/a> were led by Albert, O\u2019Neill, Wright, and Foley.\u00a0 The lone post Austin-Boston speaker is Hastert at #10 from 1999-2001.\u00a0 The least productive Congresses during that time were the two led by Boehner\u20142011-2015.<\/p>\n

Some would blame this dysfunction on the rise of the Tea Party<\/span><\/a> and the Freedom Caucus<\/span><\/a>. Still, talented speakers have overcome even greater challenges: Speaker McCormack passed maybe the most significant law of the 20th Century, the Civil Rights Act of 1964<\/span><\/a> with 91 members of his caucus dead set against the bill.\u00a0 Now, when a few dozen members of the Freedom Caucus opposes a bill, it becomes impossible to pass<\/span><\/a>. Others may say the problem is gerrymandering<\/span><\/a>\u2014but that has been a problem since the founding generation; and since the Supreme Court keeps avoiding the issue, it is not going away soon.<\/p>\n

What does this history lesson have to say about the next Congress?\u00a0 This year it has become fashionable to run for Congress as a Democrat while running against you Rep. Pelosi by name.\u00a0 Gil Cisneros, who has received $2 million from the Democratic Party to run for the House, said he won\u2019t be voting for you<\/span><\/a> because, \u201cnew leadership is needed.\u201d\u00a0 Tim Ryan<\/span><\/a> (D-OH) got 63 votes in the last leadership vote<\/span><\/a> and Rep. Seth Moulton<\/span><\/a> (D-MA) has been openly critical<\/span><\/a> of the current leadership. Rep. Linda Sanchez<\/span><\/a> (D-CA) has also announced her candidacy<\/span><\/a> for leadership.\u00a0 Perhaps this is good politics, but a new set of leaders with no experience is not in the best interest of either the Democratic Party or the House as an institution.\u00a0\u00a0 None of these insurgents know what they are in for.\u00a0 If the House is to work\u2014especially while dealing with the mess that is the Trump Administration\u2014 it needs a steady and experienced leader in charge.<\/p>\n

To your credit, you have remained supportive of breakaway Democrats<\/span><\/a>, \u201cI\u2019m OK. Just win baby.\u00a0 I think many of them are saying we need\u2026new leadership, yeah I don\u2019t take offense at that.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 That is the right point of view for a House leader\u2014 and the Democrats are lucky to have a leader with four years of experience as speaker.<\/p>\n

Still, you must<\/em> look to the future now.\u00a0 Who will lead the House Democrats next?\u00a0 Are you training the next generation of leaders?\u00a0 Will they be practical, unifying politicians in the mold of the Austin-Boston era?\u00a0\u00a0 I hear you plan to put a younger member in charge of the Caucus–and that is not enough.\u00a0 In the next session, you must entrust a new generation with the majority leader and whip positions and there are some terrific options:\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Rep. Jim McGovern<\/span><\/a> (D-MA) has mastered one of the most important levers of House power as ranking member of the Rules Committee.\u00a0 Rep. Diana DeGette<\/span><\/a> (D-CO) immerses herself in complicated issues like stem cell research and gun control, and is already a deputy whip.\u00a0 Rep. Terri Sewell<\/span><\/a> (D-AL) is another deputy whip with experience on the Intelligence Committee.\u00a0 Rep. Jim Himes<\/span><\/a> (D-CT) is chair of the moderate New Democrats Coalition<\/span><\/a>, a position Joe Crowley held before joining leadership.\u00a0 Any two of the four would bring new blood to leadership and be a bridge to the younger members.<\/p>\n

If the House is to work again, we need you to train a new generation of leaders.\u00a0 It is time to bring back the leadership apprenticeships that worked so well during the productive Austin-Boston Connection.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Sean J. Kealy<\/strong> is a Clinical Associate Professor of Law and the Director of Legislative Clinical Programs at Boston University School of Law.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If the \u201cBlue Wave\u201d materializes next week, as so many predict, you Madame Leader, will become Speaker of the House once again.\u00a0 Time marches on, and as many have already pointed out, you and the rest of the top Democratic House leaders are all closing in on 80 years old.\u00a0 This situation was made even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10087,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,7,2],"tags":[215,208,212,210,207,214,213,206,216,211,209],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10087"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=801"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":809,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801\/revisions\/809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/dome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}