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Politico...
Republicans school
their freshman class
By Richard E. Cohen & Marin Cogan
3/23/11
Republican freshmen have been at the center of every battle in this
Congress, pushing their leadership to cut more spending and appearing
at marquee committee hearings to grill key administration officials.
It’s not an accident.
Behind the scenes, a high-level plan has emerged, led by Texas GOP Rep.
Pete Sessions with the help of Speaker John Boehner, to empower the
rookies with the implicit goal of turning a stunning victory last fall
into a sustainable, unified majority.
In an interview with POLITICO, Sessions detailed his dual-track program
to groom these House freshmen to be the party’s next stars, while
working to ensure a more unified conference.
According to Sessions and other GOP leaders, the program includes
weekly meetings, usually on Thursday, of all Republican freshmen to
ensure they are on the same page on House business; smaller groups of
freshmen that meet with leaders to discuss “best practices” as well as
problems the new members have encountered; occasional policy forums;
and individual meetings with each of the 87 first-term Republican
members to review their personal development and potential career track
in the House. Those personal meetings will be scheduled with Sessions
or Oregon Rep. Greg Walden and at least one Boehner aide.
“This isn’t Stockholm syndrome. They are free to speak their mind,”
Walden said. “Good leaders listen to their customers. One major
difference from the Gingrich years is that there is a clarity of vision
that is consistent but broad enough to be flexible.”
In 1994, the GOP tried top-down leadership with its revolutionaries.
That created what some House veterans felt to be unnecessary
freshman-establishment divides — conflicts the current leaders are
looking to avoid. In 1997, many of them joined the failed coup to
overthrow then-Speaker Newt Gingrich. That history clearly weighs on
Boehner — who chaired the House Republican Conference under Gingrich —
and on Sessions, who was elected in 1996, as they have sought to mentor
the new class.
“You are darn right that they pushed us. I encouraged them. This was
for the benefit of the team,” Sessions said of the successful freshman
effort to force deeper cuts in the continuing resolution passed last
month.
Sessions has worked as a close ally with Boehner and top aides to
create what they call an unprecedented career-development program for
their huge freshman class. “We want to take members in their day-to-day
job and help them look over the horizon and at their performance on the
team.”
Read the rest of the story at Politico
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