Congress.org recently posted its power rankings of the 534 voting members of Congress (there is a vacancy in the House) and the five non-voting members, ranking members based on seniority, committee/subcommittee assingments, legislative success, and media appearances to promote bills. Our dear friend (*cough*) Phil Gingrey ranked dead last (12th) in the Georgia House delegation and 414th overall in the House, having mostly only a bunch of freshmen, a small minority of second termers, and William "Cold Money" Jefferson to pick on. He even ranks behind all five non-voting members of Congress.
Admittedly, a large part of the reason is the switch in party control, with Gingrey now in the minority, and his realitive lack of seniority (he's only in his third term). However, Gingrey ranks ten spots behind fellow Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (3rd district) and fifteen behind Rep. Tom Price (6th district), even though Gingrey has more seniority than both. Even better, he is ranked next to last (45th out of 46) among the House class of 2002, and even within his own party, Gingrey ranks 178th out of 202 in the House Republican Conference.
All of Gingrey's clout comes from his committee post on the powerful Armed Services Committee and the less powerful Science Committee. But even then, he's next to least on the Armed Services Committee (61st out of 62) and 40th out of 44 on the Science Committee. He has no legislative success and no indirect influence.
It makes you wonder how much he can deliver, to parphrase his slogan, when even Jean "Cowards Cut and Run" Schmidt has more clout than he does. But, hey, at least he's got more clout than the freshmen...for now.
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Congressman Gingrey is in fact the weakest link. Whenever his constituents write him with ideas about health care, he writes back stating that he was a doctor for over 30 years. He has two solutions to health care: 1. Give doctors money to automate their records, and 2) Give doctors freedom from litagation. That's it. Then he offers to send you his weekly newsletter. He is obviously not interested in listening.
I guess if the only tool you have is hammer, then all your problems look like nails. If he has no ideas and can not lead, he should get out of the way. I fear Newt Gingrich was the last great hope for Republican leadership in the post Reagan era.
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