Hastert Can Be Booed but Not Ousted

[Woodmonkey]

Hastert Can Be Booed but Not Ousted


The controversy over whether embattled House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) should remain in office has divided hard-line anti-pedophiles such as conservatives Richard Viguerie , David Bossie and the Washington Times, who demanded Hastert's head, from moderate anti-pedophiles such as President Bush and Vice President Cheney and some talk-show types, who can better appreciate the larger implications of this matter.

One problem for the hard-liners is that there is no mechanism to force Hastert to quit, to give him the standard option of resigning or being fired. The House is not in session, so there's no way to have a vote until lawmakers return Nov. 9, after the election. (Bush could call them back in a true emergency, as he did in the Terri Schiavo case, but that doesn't appear likely.) What's more, House experts say there's no historical guide -- there has not been a vote to kick out a speaker in at least a century, maybe ever. (There is a provision that if the speaker doesn't show up for three days, the chair can be deemed vacant and a motion would be in order for the election of a new speaker.) Were the House around, presumably someone who voted for Hastert last time could call for a new vote.

One reason this situation may be unprecedented, a House official said, could be that a speaker, who technically doesn't have to be a member of the House, is only chosen for one Congress, or two years. Usually it would take someone a year or so to really mess up, and then their term would be almost up anyway. In the past, the House could "usually wait them out," he said.

Foleygate complicates things for Republican efforts on Nov. 7. Will this enable the Dems to take over the House? A National Journal poll of insiders released yesterday found that 71 GOP insiders estimated the fallout would cost an average of 2.6 seats while 73 Democrats predicted they'd capture an additional 3.4 seats.

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