“Trying to be an effective House member without serving on a committee is like trying to play in the Super Bowl without leaving the locker room. You can’t do it.”
Six months ago, Congressman Duncan Hunter was indicted for misusing $250,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses including “family trips to Italy and Hawaii, golf outings, school tuition, theater tickets — even fast food purchases.” Hunter quickly lost his committee assignments and, according to a new report from The Press-Enterprise, his ability to serve his constituents.
“With a 60-count indictment against him and zero committee assignments, Congressman Duncan Hunter is about as useful to his constituents as a sopping wet towel. Luckily for southern California voters, they’ll have a chance to fire him next year if he manages to stay out of jail before the election,” said DCCC Spokesperson Brooke Goren.
The Press-Enterprise: Indicted and ‘radioactive,’ Rep. Duncan Hunter seeks influence in Congress
By Jeff Horseman
To watch Rep. Duncan Hunter on TV is to see a diligent, baritone-voiced congressman championing conservative causes and defending soldiers accused of war crimes.
But on Capitol Hill, Hunter, R-Alpine, is hamstrung, stripped of committee assignments that are vital to a lawmaker’s influence and effectiveness.
Then-House Speaker Paul Ryan forced Hunter to resign from the Armed Services, Education and the Workforce, and Transportation and Infrastructure committees last August, following a 60-count federal indictment accusing Hunter and wife Margaret of illegally spending $250,000 in campaign funds on groceries, an Italian vacation and airfare for the family’s pet rabbit among other personal expenses and filing false records.
…“Politically, Hunter is radioactive,” said Jack Pitney, a professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College. “The charges against him involve sleazy corruption, not some great matter of national policy. So his influence on other lawmakers is pretty limited.
…Lacking committees is “a pretty big deal,” said Robert Boatright, a political science professor at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. “Legislators without committee assignments are limited in their ability to procure benefits for their districts, and they don’t really have that much to do during the days they spend in Washington.”
…The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee put Hunter on its 2020 target list.
…Hunter isn’t the only committee-less congressman. Rep. Chris Collins, R-New York, who was charged with insider trading, has no assignments, and Iowa Republican Steve King, lost his committee seats after telling The New York Times “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization – how did that language become offensive?”
“I suppose they can form a ‘pariah caucus,’” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland, told POLITICO.
…Without committees, Boatright said Hunter could try to boost his influence in caucuses and informal working groups.
“Otherwise, start thinking through job options for what to do after Congress!” he said. “Or spend more time in the district (and) treat the lack of committee assignments like a sort of sabbatical.”
Hunter’s staff “will put out material making it seem as if he is doing a lot, even though he is not,” Pitney said.
“Trying to be an effective House member without serving on a committee is like trying to play in the Super Bowl without leaving the locker room. You can’t do it.”
###