How many Members of Congress does it take to convince a colleague not to retire? In the case of Arizona Congressman John Shadegg, the current count is 143. He announced his plans to retire earlier this week but after receiving a letter from his colleagues urging him to stay, he is now reconsidering.
I don't know why the congressman wants to retire or why his colleagues are going to such lengths to change his mind, but the whole episode is extraordinary. I've never heard of someone being talked out of resigning with such a public display but apparently his colleagues believe it will work or they wouldn't be doing it.
The real question is: how many Members of Congress should it take to convince Shadegg to stay? That answer is ZERO!
The man should make his decision based on what he believes is right for his family and his country, not the favor of a bunch of politicians. Phil Gramm once said, "I didn't come here expecting to find a lot of friends, and I have not been disappointed." Perhaps Shadegg's motivation for being in Congress has changed since he was elected in the revolutionary Class of 1994.
If the congressman decides to stay because of his colleagues' unnecessary pleas, it will, in my opinion, demonstrate that he cares far too much about the approval of his peers and therefore does not deserve to be in a position of leadership.
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5 comments:
Is there any indication what his constituents think of all this? After all, he's not elected to represent his fellow Congressmen.
I'm sure they're nonplussed.
That is pretty rough...I agree that the whole exercise is bizarre, but if he changes his mind based on his colleagues pleas could it not just as easily mean that he respects their opinions?
The RSC members are begging him to stay because he is one of the most effective voices for limited government in the entire House. I hope he changes his mind, regardless if his reasons for doing so.
Titus, I have no complaints about the congressman's policies. He is, like you said, an effective voice for limited government.
But he knew he had support from his colleagues before he announced his retirement -- he got strong backing in both of his bids for leadership -- but he made the announcement anyway.
The only thing that changed is now his colleagues are lavishing him with public praise that is over-the-top. It seams that he loves the praise so much that he's willing to change his mind. He strikes me as someone who is less purpose driven than praise driven.
Fair enough...so maybe he likes being popular a little too much. Still, I hope he stays (as I am sure you do too), having to replace a guy with a voting record like that would be a real problem.
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