Essentially, the article points out how Petri's willingness to work with Democrats has kept him from achieving positions of power on the GOP side. He recently lost a big to be ranking member of the House Transportation Committee. A series of quotes lays out the explanation:
Petri been told by party bosses that they don't approve of his willingness to work with Democrats to address major issues.
"Maybe I'm missing something," jokes Petri, perhaps a bit bitterly. "Sometimes I think you can be more effective by working with people."
Petri's spokesman, Niel Wright, is blunter. After the Wisconsinite was passed over for the Transportation Committee chairmanship, Wright said, "It was pretty clear that those making the decision wanted a more confrontational and less bipartisan approach to the committee."
Though Petri's approach is extremely popular in Wisconsin, where he won re-election without opposition this year, Wright explains that the congressman is seen by Republican caucus leaders as "too independent and too much of a maverick."
The column (by John Nichols, an associate editor at the Cap Times) then suggests that Petri switch to the Democrats, under the reasoning that it would promote bipartisanship, and that Petri would get more respect from the Dem caucus.
For what it's worth, Petri is somewhat more of a moderate, based on voting record. When I did my latest set of lifetime vote ratings from the ADA & ACU, Petri scored a 20.6 out of 100. Going into the next Congress, he'll be the 26th-most moderate Republican in the House, based on those voting records.
I can't see him going Democratic. After all, I believe most of the Democrats who switched to the GOP after 1994 were already voting similar to other Republicans (on the ADA/ACU scale, they'd have been in the 20-50 range), while Petri going Dem would be like a Dem with a rating around 80 going Republican. In other words, not likely. However, becoming independent is, in my opinion, a possibility. Petri has been mostly safe in his re-election races since 1979. I believe his eastern Wisconsin district is nominally Republican...enough so that they would probably support a switch to being an independent.
This could be an opportunity for the Democrats. Promise more respect and decent committee assignments in exchange for becoming an independent and occasionally caucusing with the Dems. Yes, it's a long shot. But opportunities should be taken when presented, and this just might be one.
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