According to Robert Novak, Grandma Pelosi is getting advised not to pick Alcee "Bribe Me" Hastings to head up the House Intelligence Committee.
Pelosi has made clear that she does not want to pick Rep. Jane Harman, the committee's ranking Democrat but an adversary of Pelosi in California politics. As speaker, Pelosi has complete power to name a chairman. But her advisers tell her that Republicans will have a field day if she selects Hastings, who was impeached by Congress as a federal judge on bribery charges. The committee's third-ranking Democrat, the low-profile Rep. Silvestre Reyes of Texas, would be a compromise.
I don't know anything about Reyes, but picking a third candidate would be a smarter move for Pelosi. Hastings has far too much (and too good) baggage to head the Intelligence committee. He could be the '08 "Michael Dukakis in a Tank" ad if she were to appoint him.
I'm not one of those arguing that there must be some sort of "catfight" between Pelosi and Harman, but they obviously have had a lot of political differences over the years and Pelosi isn't fond of her. It's understandable that she wouldn't want to promote someone with whom she's had difficulties, and Novak notes:
Senior CIA officials consider Harman a prima donna and say they dread the thought of dealing with her as chairman. They would much prefer Hastings, finding him consistently cooperative.
I'm not sure I want a committee head that might be beloved by the CIA, but I certainly see no reason to antagonize the intelligence community from the get-go.
If Novak is correct, Pelosi could have learned a valuable lesson from the bruising she took in the House Majority Leader election.
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