By Jackie Kucinich
Roll Call Staff
On any given day during House votes, Republican Reps. Don Young (Alaska) and Anh “Joseph” Cao (La.) can be seen sitting next to each other in the upper-right side of the chamber, chatting and laughing.
They are, by all accounts, an odd pair with seemingly little in common.
But Cao, a 43-year-old freshman from a Democratic district, and Young, a 76-year-old former chairman who has watched his influence fade, have forged a solid alliance as outsiders. Continue reading ‘Cao, Young Forge an Unexpected Friendship’
By Jackie Kucinich
Roll Call Staff
Rep. Greg Walden (Ore.) appears to have done all the right things to win him an appointed seat at the GOP leadership table: be a good team player, prove you’ve got political and policy chops, and have friends in high places.
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) tapped Walden last month to serve as the chairman of the Republican leadership, a post that has been vacant since Rep. Rob Portman (Ohio) left the House in 2005 to serve in the Bush administration. At the time, questions abounded about why Boehner would pluck a relatively obscure Member from the back benches and place him in the leadership. But Walden had a somewhat hidden portfolio: He may be National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions’ (Texas) closest friend, he had become a regular counsel for leaders on top issues, and he was willing to give up a powerful committee post to make room for the Conference’s newest lawmaker.
“We wanted to put Greg in a position where he is at the leadership table every week,” said Sessions, who last year appointed Walden to serve as his deputy chairman at the committee.
But the roots between Sessions and Walden run deeper than many political allies. Continue reading ‘Walden Rises Up From Obscurity’