Rochester Post Bulletin: Walz to whip Midwest

The Post Bulletin's Washington correspondent Ed Felker reports that Walz accepts appointment as regional whip:

Rep. Tim Walz of Mankato, fresh off his re-election to a second term, agreed to serve as a Midwest regional Democratic whip after being drafted by five committee chairmen for the post, his spokeswoman said.

Before joining the Tuesday's meeting of Democratic lawmakers from seven states, Walz said he was not seeking any leadership post for the upcoming 111th Congress. But that was before he was urged to accept the job by the two Minnesota committee chairs, Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson of Detroit Lakes and Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Jim Oberstar of Chisholm. They were joined by Appropriations Chairman David Obey of Wisconsin and the Michigan duo of Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell and Judiciary Chairman John Conyers.

"They felt they needed a moderate voice at the table in the whip organization," said Meredith Salsbery, Walz's press secretary. Walz will join the team of House Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C. , third in rank under Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland. They were easily re-elected by the newly expanded Democratic caucus during a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. . . .

The Felker article is chock-full of news:

Walz had already told Dingell, the longest-serving member of the House, that he would back him against a challenge to his chairmanship by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who currently chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The Democratic caucus expects to decide between the two on Thursday. Walz already serves with Oberstar on the transportation committee, which expects to reauthorize up the massive, multi-year federal highway and transit law next year.

While Walz is supporting Dingell to retain his chairmanship, he's not marching to Dingell's tune on the automotive industry bailout:

Walz, in an interview, said he preferred Dingell retain his chairmanship based on his experience representing the Midwest and his moderate views. Walz parts ways with Dingell over the prospect of using government financial-sector bailout money to quickly help the domestic auto industry, however. Walz voted against the bailout and said he wants auto-sector aid to be taken up when Congress returns in January.

"We're better off coming back with regular legislation, regular order, have it debated, have the amendments added to it," in the next Congress, Walz said.

Regarding calls by the automakers for $25 billion in immediate loans, presented by the heads of the Chrysler, Ford and General Motors at a Senate hearing on Tuesday, Walz defended his stance on the grounds that there has been no effective oversight of the first bailout and little has been done to stabilize the housing market.

"It's not that we're indifferent to them at all, but the issue is, is this the best way to approach it? Every other industry is starting to say, 'us too, us too,' and that's not the way to go about it."

Go read the whole article at the PB.

We apologize for the slow pace at crafting our post based on Friday's interview. It should be up today. The focus is on Walz's legislative agenda, rather than his deliberations about running for governor--or not--in 2010.

Til then, a little classic Allman Brothers, dedicated to Donald Junior, down in Albert Lea:

Comments

[MinnesotaCentral]

Going out on a limb here, but IF I was going to run for Governor, I would not accept a Whip position … so can we put that rumor to rest.
BTW, is Betty McCollum still a regional Whip or did she give that up to take a seat on the Democratic Steering Committee ?

Also, by know you’ve probably heard that Democratic Steering Committee picked Waxman over Dingell. I have been impressed with Waxman in his Oversight Committee work. Walz should be a big help as a new energy policy is implemented.