Bob Novak Takes Shot at Bonner
It’s probably not the national spotlight Mobile’s congressman wanted, but Jo Bonner was written about in Bob Novak’s column in The Washington Post on March 11:
“House Republican Leader John Boehner, who, unlike McConnell, does not earmark and criticizes the practice, flinched from making a bold move as this year’s session began. He could have led the House Republican Conference to endorse a yearlong moratorium and name reformer Jeff Flake of Arizona to a vacancy on the Appropriations Committee.
Instead, the Republicans picked Jo Bonner of Alabama, who spent 18 years as a House staffer before his election in 2002. Bonner has voted against Flake in 49 out of 50 attempts to kill earmarks. He has promised his Mobile area constituents that they would get “fair value” for their tax dollar — the justification for bringing home the bacon from Washington. Incredibly, Boehner hailed Bonner’s selection as a step toward earmark reform.”
Novak, whose column is nationally syndicated, doesn’t have a lot of faith in Bonner to be the ultimate fiscal conservative. His criticism is a little unfair. Bonner isn’t likely to be quite as hawkish as Flake, but he won’t line up at the trough like Jack Murtha, the appropriations chair, or even Alabama’s senior senator, Richard Shelby.
Nonetheless, the Novak’s “shout-out” is the latest in national attention Bonner has gotten since getting the assignment on the House Appropriations Committee from conservatives demanding earmark reform.
Tags: Bob Novak, House Appropriations Committee, Jeff Flake, Jo Bonner, John Boehner, Richard Shelby