Boehner's new approach to troublemakers

U.S. Rep. Vito Fossella: Getty Images PhotoWhen New York Rep. Vito Fossella, the last Republican to hold a seat that touches any part of New York City, was arrested for driving while intoxicated three weeks ago and admitted an extramarital affair that had continued for a number of years, House Republicans expressed dismay at their party's fortunes. It meant another marginal seat -- a district that voted once for President Bush and once for Al Gore -- could be in jeopardy.

But unlike previous incidents of bad behavior in the beleaguered GOP conference, Fossella found virtually no support from party leaders, signaling a new approach Minority Leader John Boehner is taking to try to rebuild the party's tarnished image.

In an effort to begin the long, painful climb back, Boehner has taken a harder line with members whose actions could slow the process. While Boehner cannot force misbehaving members to leave Congress, he has quietly put pressure on those members to marginalize them as much as possible.

The new hard line is getting credit from strategists involved in what is looking like an increasingly difficult election cycle for the GOP, and while Boehner's actions won't help the party back to the majority this year, it is a critical first step, they say, to rebuilding the wounded brand.

After three Republican-held seats went to Democrats in special elections in just three months, Republicans need to do something to rebrand themselves.

"We're losing as many things as we can be losing, and those that we're not losing are a lot closer than they ought to be," said Glen Bolger, a Republican pollster.

The GOP's downfall in 2006 was precipitated, in part, by the torrent of inappropriate behavior from some Republican members. As Bob Ney and Randy "Duke" Cunningham became more a face of the Republican Party than other members of Congress, GOP leaders were slow to call for the ouster of miscreants and troublemakers whose behavior embarrassed and tarnished the party.Now, the party remains at a lower point in public opinion polls than at any time in history.

This time, even as Boehner publicly maintained the decision to run for re-election was Fossella's, the Republican leader was quietly working to save the seat and implicitly encouraging Fossella to quit. The day Fossella admitted the affair, Boehner called Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan to urge him to consider running. Donovan also spoke with National Republican Congressional Committee chair Tom Cole about a potential bid. By Monday, Fossella had announced he will not run for re-election this year.

Fossella is not the only Republican to receive Boehner's new stern treatment. Arizona Republican Rick Renzi, indicted on thirty-five counts ranging from conspiracy to fraud and money laundering, was quickly pushed off the committees on which he sat. California Republican John Doolittle resigned his seat on the Appropriations Committee after his home was raided by the FBI in April, 2007. Neither are running for re-election in 2008.

Others, should they get in trouble, will receive the same treatment.

"Leader Boehner has said repeatedly, since he first ran for leader, that he wants to hold our members to the highest standards," Boehner's spokesman Michael Steel said.

Boehner's new approach is earning plaudits from Republican strategists. "Let's look at the track record of folks who had [ethical] problems in 2006: They went oh-for-the-election cycle," Bolger said. "Clearly, it's the right thing to do."

One leadership aide, who didn't want to be seen as piling on Fossella, said, "It's clear that we've had good results with this." "It's imperative at this point in the Republican Party to show that Republican leaders do not tolerate members who violate ethics rules," said Ron Bonjean, a former top Republican aide in several Capitol Hill leadership offices.

But Boehner, like any leader of a caucus, is walking a tightrope. "You don't want to look like you're protecting your own, at the same time you want to make sure they get due process through the judicial system," Bonjean said.

Democrats, who are touting the "New Direction" Congress, have mercilessly attacked Republicans for ethical troubles. While a few Democrats have found themselves the target of investigations, their party does not have a common villain, akin to GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Abramoff, currently serving time in federal prison, is not gone yet, either. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has attempted to link Colorado Senate candidate Bob Schaffer, a former member of Congress, to Abramoff's dealings with the Northern Marianas Islands. Republicans still have more members under ethical clouds: Alaska Republicans Don Young, seeking his 18th full term in the House, and Ted Stevens, running for a seventh full term in the Senate, remain under investigation for their involvement with an oil services company, while a number of members from around the country are involved in some way with a scandal surrounding the dismissals of several U.S. Attorneys.

Young, and others, could still present a future challenge to Boehner and GOP leaders. Republican losses this year, and the likely trouble they will be in come November, have been pinned on Boehner's leadership, as well as Cole's handling of the NRCC. Some wonder whether either will keep their jobs in the next Congress.

But neither had anything to do with scandals that have engulfed the GOP, and yet their task now is to dig their party out of the hole in which they find themselves. Whether they can do so is an open question, but their success in beginning the arduous process may mean the difference between a massive Republican loss and a deficit of only a few seats.

With a new approach to ethically challenged members, Boehner has begun the process of rebuilding the Republican brand. But virtually everyone acknowledges that he's got a long way to go. "We're not just carrying baggage," Bolger said. "We've got the whole Samsonite luggage set."

Reid Wilson, national columnist for Politicker.com, is also an associate editor of RealClearPolitics.com and covers Senate, House and governors' races at PoliticsNation.com. Contact him at reid@realclearpolitics.com.