There's a somewhat colorful joke involving two guys
exchanging ideas on picking up women at the beach:
The more successful fellow told the other
that one of his secrets was to put a good sized sweet potato in his Speedo and
then strolling the beach. Thinking it
sounded like a plausible plan, the second fellow did just that. After walking the beach for an hour and
meeting with nothing but raucous laughter or looks of disgust, he returned to
where he and his friend had set up on the beach. He told his buddy how disappointed he was
that this seemingly fool proof method of garnering the gals had such a major
glitch. His buddy retorted, next time,
put the sweet potato in the FRONT of your swimsuit!
If you are offended, you've probably moved on.
If you aren't, then perhaps you've noticed that the person
with "an artificially inflated masculinity" just might be the
Republican House leadership. They've
organized the Benghazi Select Committee AND they've held Lois Lerner, IRS
corruptician, in contempt. These stunningly,
seemingly, forceful actions they took in a matter of hours of each other. But watch out where the sweet potato goes!
Congress demanded Lois Lerner's testimony. Lerner had waived her privilege against
self-incrimination when she took a testimonial oath in a hearing before
Congress, offered an opening statement in which she denied wrong doing AND THEN
asserted her right against self-incrimination.
Lerner failed and refused to testify.
Because she disobeyed a Congressional subpoena to testify, the House
voted to hold her in contempt.
By itself, it may seem of small moment that the Congress
held her in contempt. It MAY SEEM that
this is just some sort of honorific that belongs to a select few (former)
government officials that occasionally find themselves between the Devil of
Presidential directives and the Deep Blue Sea of Congressional commands. And, as it turns out, it actually MIGHT JUST
BE of small moment ... unless the next steps are taken.
So what are the next steps?
Two avenues of action follow the failure and refusal to
answer questions of Congress.
First, such willful failure CAN be prosecuted as a
misdemeanor under federal law.
Conviction can result in fines and imprisonment. But such a prosecution would take place under
the direction of the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia,
who, of course, answers to the Attorney General, Eric Holder. So it remains to be seen whether Holder will
allow, let alone require, the US Attorney in Washington, DC,
to prosecute Lerner. The likelihood that
Holder will authorize such a prosecution, with its likely production of
embarrassing exposures of the Obama administration’s political abuses by the
IRS, seems quite small.
Second, Congress has inherent authority to enforce its subpoenas and, in
execution of that authority, the Speaker of the House can order the Sergeant at
Arms of the House to accomplish the physical arrest of Lois Lerner ANYWHERE in
the United States, and her incarceration in House facilities in the Capitol
building. This latter approach might
strike some harshly. After all, we are
accustomed to the arrest and investigation process to be entrusted to
law-enforcement personnel, not law-enactment personnel. Still, the precedent exists, and a House that
would not be further diminished in stature must look to maintaining its powers
and prerogatives, including the power to compel testimony in furtherance of the
House’s constitutional duties.
Now we can sit back and watch as, by turns, Holder and Boehner jockey for
position as least mindful of the House’s judgment that Lois Lerner deliberately
committed contempt of the Congress. Don’t
expect much from Holder, he’s got to plug holes in the Obama Ship of State, not
drill new ones. And be surprised at any
positive step from Boehner because he is from the Limp Noodle Wing of the GOP.
