JOHN BOEHNER - TEARS OF A JOYFUL MAN
Was born in Reading,
Ohio, the second of 12 children born to a Tavern Owner. He is Catholic and in 1977, his family’s first
college graduate.
WORK HISTORY
Boehner, took over a small business whose owner had died and he took a stand against government regulation and taxes, whom on occasion has termed them the “Gestapo”. He got involved in Politics, Republican politics. He rose through the ranks. In
1990, Boehner beat a GOP incumbent in a congressional
primary, and won the general election.
He teamed up with the Goebbels of the GOP, Newton (The Rewriter) Gingrich. Gingrich resigned in 1998, amid ethics turmoils, and
political failure, Boehner was swept out of leadership with him.
THE RESURRECTION
“I decided I was going to earn my
way back,” Boehner said. As chairman of the House education committee,
he worked on President Bush’s No Child Left Behind law, digging into the
complex legislation and proving he could work with liberals like
Democratic Rep. George Miller. He also demonstrated real fundraising
prowess. He won the majority leader post in 2006, his PAC
had contributed nearly $300,000 to Republican incumbents running that
year. But Boehner’s prodigious fundraising has also raised eyebrows,
particularly because of his ties to lobbyists. A lobbyist for an Ohio
steel company helped launch Boehner’s career, and in Washington Boehner
is surrounded by business lobbyist friends, advisors, and campaign
contributors.
“BOEHNERLAND”
A tobacco lobbyist is the
single largest contributor to Boehner’s campaigns, which over the years
have reaped at least $340,000 from tobacco interests. In 1995, Boehner
shocked ethics watchdogs by handing out campaign-contribution checks
from the tobacco industry on the House floor before a vote on tobacco
legislation. Unabashedly pro-business, Boehner rents his Washington
apartment from a lobbyist friend, routinely flies on private jets owned
by business interests, and meets regularly with business lobbyists and
conservative activists. He uses the system about as well as any of the politicians.
THE NEW SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE
A
conservative one; Boehner has kept pace with his party’s move rightward, achieving
YouTube fame in March for his “Hell, No” incantation during the
health-care-reform vote. When he has strayed from the conservative hard
line—supporting President Bush’s TARP bailout or suggesting he’s open to
letting tax cuts for high earners expire—he has been quickly rebuffed
by his caucus.
Boehner insists that “this is not a time for compromise,” suggesting he’ll continue the strategy that Democratic Rep. Miller calls “obstruct, delay, oppose, then repeat same.”
Former GOP Rep. Mickey Edwards says Boehner wants more than that. “He will want to go down in history as a serious-minded speaker who helped govern the country,” Edwards said.
But balancing the demands of Tea Partiers, presidential
aspirants, and other GOP constituencies won’t make it easy. After being
elected minority leader in 2006, Boehner said, “I feel like the dog who
caught the car.” He’s got even more to chew on now.
THE TAN LOOK IN A CAN - DENIED
Boehner’s natural tan has
been described as “tangerine,” which suits his 1950s country-club
demeanor to a tee. He has played as many as 100 rounds of golf in a
single year while gaining a reputation as a man with a taste for Camel
cigarettes, steak, fine wine, and cocktail parties.
“He is what he looks like: a casual, chatty country-club Republican,” says Jim VandeHei in Politico.com. (Boehner has seemed less orange since his year-round glow became a topic for comedians.) But as with his tanning secrets, Boehner usually keeps his thoughts and emotions hidden.
In times of turmoil, he said, “I wasn’t gonna let anybody see it on my face.” When the mask does fall, it reveals a face washed in tears. He has wept publicly while speaking about topics as diverse as the Iraq war, Ronald Reagan, and his own conservative principles. “I hold these values dear because I’ve lived them,” he said amid sobs on Election Night 2010.
Friends say it’s just Boehner being Boehner. As a Democratic colleague from the Ohio legislature said, “He’s been conservative, he’s been consistent, and he’s been tan.” We will know soon enough if he is a consolidator or just another cog in the ongoing partisanship war.