Waxman Dethrones Dingell As Chairman

By PATRICK O'CONNOR - POLITCO

Washington DC, November 20, 2008: California Rep. Henry A. Waxman on Thursday officially dethroned longtime Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell, upending a seniority system that has governed Democratic politics in the House for decades.

In a secret ballot vote in the Cannon Caucus Room, House Democrats ratified an earlier decision by the Steering and Policy Committee to replace the 82-year-old Dingell with his 69-year-old rival. The vote was 137-122 in favor of Waxman.

The ascension of Waxman, a wily environmentalist, recasts a committee that Dingell has chaired since 1981 with an eye toward protecting the domestic auto industry in his native Michigan. The Energy and Commerce Committee has principal jurisdiction over many of President-elect Barack Obama's top legislative priorities, including energy, the environment and health care.

"Seniority is important, but it should not be a grant of property rights to be chairman for three decades or more,” Waxman said after emerging from the caucus meeting.

The vote Thursday allows Waxman to unseat the dean of the House just three short months before he was set to become the longest-serving chairman in the history of the institution. Waxman says Dingell will be a “chairman emeritus” and will retain his Capitol office suite.

Waxman's unexpected challenge has quietly divided members of the Democratic Caucus since the election and forced wavering colleagues to cast a gut-wrenching vote. And the results Thursday could leave a bad taste in the mouth of Dingell supporters, who led a vocal effort to keep the chairman while Waxman’s team led the quiet coup that led to Thursday morning’s stunning vote.

Dingell was confident heading into the vote this morning, but his vocal supporters were clearly overwhelmed by Waxman’s behind the scenes lobbying for the chairmanship.

"Well, this was clearly a change year and I congratulate my colleague Henry Waxman on his success today,” Dingell said in a statement. “I will work closely with him on the issues facing the Energy and Commerce Committee and for a smooth transition. What will not change, however, and what will never change, is my commitment to the working men and women of the 15th Congressional District of Michigan who have honored me with the opportunity to represent them here in Washington. That commitment — to protecting and creating jobs, to providing health care for all Americans, to working to getting our state and nation’s economy back on track — is a fight I will continue to wage in Washington.”