So, Tom DeLay is out and Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.) will be, at least for now, the House Majority Leader. OK, so who’s David Dreier?
Dreier has been in Congress for 25 years and isn’t known for much of anything. He worships free trade and tax cuts, and because his district includes a lot of high-tech industry, Dreier tends to be pretty good on issues like internet regulation. He’s a close ally of the president and was one of the first House Republicans to endorse him in 2000. (Dreier sat next to Bush at a training school for Republican congressional candidates in 1978 — a year in which both of them lost.)
His district tends to be relatively safe for Republicans, though Dreier won re-election last year by only 10 points — his closest race in over 20 years — and California Dems have hinted at making a serious run at his seat next year.
If you’re looking for real scandals with this guy, there isn’t much. He was tangentially connected the Nick Smith bribery scandal from 2003 — there were some reports that Dreier offered to help Smith’s daughter find work as an actress in Hollywood if he voted for Bush’s Medicare bill — but nothing ever came of it.
Ultimately, we’re talking about the kind of guy Republican leaders like — Dreier is a loyal partisan who follows instructions and has little interest in being a maverick. He’s not a close ally of the far-right base — he doesn’t appear with James Dobson or Pat Robertson very often — but he’s huge with the country club/Chamber of Commerce crowd.
With Dreier replacing DeLay, the main difference is that Dennis Hastert will be charged in earnest with the responsibility for keeping the party together. Speculation — which I’ve always believed — was the DeLay was always the real power with the GOP caucus and Hastert more or less worked for him, not the other way around.
With DeLay pushed aside, Hastert will have the power largely to himself.
Post Script: I don’t care about Dreier’s personal life either.