Any speculation at FDL or elsewhere about why Harman is leaving now?
Representative Jane Harman, a California Democrat, is leaving her job to become president of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, party officials said on Monday.
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Yutsano
I wonder if it’s just as simple as cuz the minority is no fun. But cleek is getting teh scandal ping, and I think there might be some truth to that.
A Commenter at Balloon Juice (formerlyThe Grand Panjandrum)
She’s probably still upset about being voted off of Dancing With The Stars.
Just Some Fuckhead
She’s taking a job as the new president of the Woodrow Wilson International Center For Scholars or somesuch.
I don’t think it has to be scandal-related. She’s old and nearly dead, prolly ready for a cushy sinecure.
Good riddance.
catclub
I would be very surprised at scandal. In scandals they don’t usually announce a big new insider job. They talk about spending time with family.
Plus if there was a scandal, it would have happened five years ago when the Bush admin was eavesdropping on her.
Just Some Fuckhead
AIPAC is prolly freaking out. They’ll have a hard time replacing her.
soonergrunt
DK has speculation that her district is more liberal than she is and her last primary was a lot closer than the general. That, combined with being in the minority just sucked too much for her tastes.
Yutsano
Of course now we got another special election to look forward to. I wonder what teabagger will crawl out from under their rock to try and take Harman’s seat.
PeakVT
Maybe there is a scandal coming, but if it’s of much significance I don’t see why WWICS wouldn’t throw her overboard.
The numbers for the district say it will probably stay a Dem seat. It would be nice to get someone more progressive in there. Any there Angelenos here who know more about the district?
Lisa
Damn. For a second I thought that your post said “Anyone know why Jane Hamsher is leaving Fire Dog Lake?”
That would have been tight.
handy
Jim Carroll rocked it.
Dennis SGMM
Harman’s district may be affected by redistricting. Her more liberal opponent took 38% of the vote in her last run. She probably saw the writing on the wall. When NPR reported her resignation this morning they kept describing her as a “centrist Democrat.” I guess that was because they couldn’t say “hawkish asshole.”
Napoleon
I think she planned to before her election and this is just the way to try to hand the seat off to someone in particular that she thinks can win a low turnout special election.
suzanne
My money is on, well, money. I bet this new job pays a hell of a lot more than a Congresscritter’s salary.
Violet
@suzanne:
Yeah, money.
Maude
@suzanne:
That was what I thought. The dollar signs made her skip out as quickly as possible.
handy
And I guess that’s one less liberal boogeyman the local wingnuts on the talk radio will have to pick on. That’s okay, they’ve still got Maxine Waters and Barbara Boxer.
eemom
silly! It’s cuz Jane Hamsher DROVE her out, just like she did Rahm and Joe Lieberman.
bwaaahaaahaaahaaahaaaa
shortstop
Some people, they like to go out legislating, and other people like Jane, they gotta collect fat checks for think tanking. Just watch her now.
SiubhanDuinne
Jeez, why all the hate on Harman? I don’t follow her much but a quick look at just her scorecard ratings from various interest groups, right and left, suggest that I could very cheerfully support her in Congress. Wish we had someone who voted like that over here in RedSouthLand.
http://www.votesmart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=26768
I don’t know how she’ll do as an administrator of the Wilson Center, but as I mentioned when I brought this news story up in an earlier thread (thanks for the h/t /sarcasm) I’ve done some work over the years with a particular unit of the Woodrow Wilson Center. I’ll be interested to see what my colleagues at Wilson think of Harman coming in as Chair or President or whatever the title is.
@Just Some Fuckhead:
She’s 65, three years younger than I am. So thanks for that, JSF.
dday
Happens to be my district, and people who know her have been saying she wanted out of Congress since 2007, when she was passed over for the top spot on Intelligence.
Her husband lives in Washington. It’s home.
James
Probably because her husband is the new owner of the Daily Beast/Newsweek. Is that a conflict of interest?
Ailuridae
@suzanne:
Even if that were the case she is worth just south of 200M.
Yeah, that Harman
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@suzanne:
You do realize that Harman is the second richest member ($160M) of congress, don’t you? (She’s behind only Issa) Harman’s husband is the Harman-Kardon stereo guy.
Ailuridae
@SiubhanDuinne:
She’s good on domestic policy stuff and pretty evil on intelligence and foreign policy areas.
Citizen Alan
I’m just amused to learn of the existence of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. What do these scholars do, exactly? Given Wilson’s own views about international politics, I imagine it has something to do with promoting the forceful subjugation of every non-white person in the world for the benefit of U.S. corporations. Oh, and possibly hating on Germans just for the hell of it.
salacious crumb
probably right wing Tea Bagger far bat shit crazier than she is is gonna run against her. she got wind of that and is resigning.
Punchy
Wait…isn’t Woodrow Wilson dead?
emptywheel
Speculation from FDL?
My guess would be that Yutsano has it right.
Though I will note that the one other “odd” resignation timing we’ve had of late came when Robert Wexler resigned, also a big AIPAC hawk, also to take over a think tank.
Turgidson
@SiubhanDuinne:
The hate is due to the fact that she represents a district that could easily reelect Eugene Debs every two years, but has a super-hawkish moderate instead. I have nothing against Harman either, but would rather have another Raul Grivalja type in that seat and Harman or someone like her representing a swingier district. But…oh well.
Alex S.
@emptywheel:
Oh, and Joe Lieberman.
Dork
@James: Mark? NCIS?
Barbara
My completely uneducated guess is that she took it because it came up — and she doesn’t like being in the minority, and probably sees no way to become chair of something important, even if Ds do take back the house a few years hence. Time to move on.
Ailuridae
@salacious crumb:
She had a lot more to worry about in her primary than in the general.
FlipYrWhig
@Punchy: Woodrow Wilson is the fons et origo of “liberal fascism,” according to Jonah Goldberg, so he can’t ever be actually dead as long as he keeps haunting our dreams like Freddy Krueger.
phantomist
“This comment thread doesn’t exist.”
sukabi
@emptywheel: could be that the resignations of those two has something to do with the long, ongoing investigation and soon to be litigated lawsuit of their AIPAC friends… but that’s just a guess, and what better way to get out in front of a scandal than finding other employment and removing yourself from public scrutiny and the cross-hairs of R’s just looking for something real to chew on?
tBoy
Maybe praying does work.
suzanne
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: Yeah, I do. I also know that rich people have been known to do a lot of really fucked-up things to get even richer. If she wasn’t interested in having her own money and prestige, she’d live off her husband’s money, maybe serve on a charity board or two. But instead, relatively late in her life, she’s giving up a considerable amount of power in order to have another (presumably) full-time job. Which makes me think it’s money.
Just Some Fuckhead
@sukabi: Damn, sucks to be an AIPAC tool now, I guess.
eemom
wow, a FPer mentions FDL in a post and PRESTO….
Martin
This might be boring, but it’s a pretty favorable climate here in CA for her seat to be replaced by a Dem. 90% of the time that seems to govern when someone gives a seat up voluntarily. The special election for her seat could be the one that we vote on taxes in May/Juneish.
Ash Can
@sukabi: I can’t imagine that the Republicans wouldn’t think twice about drawing attention to someone else’s involvement with an investigated/indicted AIPAC, for fear that the spotlight might shine a little too brightly upon them in the process. Then again, today’s Republicans aren’t exactly known for their brains, so I guess anything is possible.
browser
Obviously not the only reason, but Northrop Grumman moving its corporate HQ out of her district might have something to do with it. NG was her biggest contributor, and all those NG employee constituents are going to evaporate.
Its a weird district–liberal beach cities (Venice, Manhattan, Redondo), more conservative in Marina Del Rey (retirees) and Torrance (OC Light), conservative being a relative term. She could probably get reelected again, but the hill’s only getting steeper.
lol
@SiubhanDuinne:
She’s basically a female version of Lieberman in the House – pretty good on domestic issues, but odious on national security and military.
sukabi
@Ash Can: the thing is, even if the R’s are involved up to their eyeballs, the new batch of crazy hasn’t been brought “into the fold” so there’s always the possibility of one of them opening up that can of worms… also, it’s more likely that the media, such as it is, or one of the RW tools (think Beck or Limbaugh) would cover the trial, or “opine on it”, if one or more sitting D’s were implicated even a tiny bit…
so if they (Harmon & Wexler) have any involvement at all, the smart move is to remove themselves prior and to become very visibly involved in something other than “spending time with family”.
Chuck Butcher
Not being from her district…
Under appreciated in Congress – see Intel Cmt
Under appreciated in District
Tired of 2yr elections
Easier money
Dem shoo-in Dist
trollhattan
Harman has had scraps with Pelosi, including being passed over for a committee chairmanship, so it may be related to Pelosi retaining House leadership. BTW, she’s very wealthy so this isn’t a case of hopping on the Griftress Express.
Here’s your most likely replacement:
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2011/02/bowen-eyeing-harmans-congressi.html
I’m a fan, she’d be a great congresscritter.
sukabi
@Chuck Butcher: thing of it is, she was JUST re-elected… she’s less than a month into her next 2 year term… so I don’t buy the “didn’t get her assignments, is taking her crayons and going home” argument.
Origuy
From Calitics:
drkrick
@browser: Doubt it’s Northrup Grumman. The corporate HQ move only takes 300 people with it, the other 30K in California are staying right where they are.
Martin
@Origuy: Can’t say I’d be happy losing Bowen as SoS. She barely won that race, and keeping that seat might be very, very hard.
srv
She hasn’t gotten any new torture videos in a few years.
Hob
@SiubhanDuinne: She strongly supported the invasion of Iraq – lent it her credibility as senior Democrat on the Intelligence Committee – and then continued to insist it was justified even after she admitted that the WMD intelligence was bogus. Also strongly supported Bush’s wiretapping (which she knew about ahead of time) and said the NY Times shouldn’t have been allowed to break the story about it. Also voted with Republicans on the bankruptcy bill, and on abolishing the estate tax. Those are the main things as far as I know.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Hob: She’s with us on everything except the war.
piratedan
@Punchy: I dunno, thought I saw him on the back nine @ Augusta with Ronnie just last week.
Hob
@Just Some Fuckhead: Well no, she’s not with us (or at least me) on several other things I just mentioned which aren’t the war. At least two of those are fairly big deals.
Wallis Lane
That’s my district! We’ve volunteered in the past for Marcy Winograd, an ultra-progressive who took on Jane in the primaries twice in 2006 and 2010, and got about a respectable 40% each time.
The 2006 run was based almost entirely on anger due to Jane’s support for the Iraq war, and I believe the run was significant in that alerted Jane to just how liberal her district had become, and probably scared Jane into moving further left. Other than defense issues, she’s basically in the right-center of the Democratic spectrum these days.
I thought Marcy’s 2010 run was ill-advised since the War wasn’t much of an issue anymore, but I was very surprised that Marcy garnered an even better vote total than the first time. I’m hoping Marcy uses her existing organization and base to seize this unlikely opportunity. I expect she’ll throw the hat into the ring.
Assemblyman Ted Lieu would have been a natural to go for it too, except that he’s currently running in a special State Senate election to replace our late State Senator Jenny Oropeza, who was recently re-elected posthumously. So, the timing stinks for Ted.
Suzan
The Wilson Center hasn’t been nonpartisan in over a decade.
Something’s definitely up from the Rove corner. And the Newsweek and Daily Beast connections are just too rich for words. Centrist? HA!!!!!!!!!!!!
They are taking over every venue before 2012.
Obama will be left standing with the guys from Goldman and Morgan. You know, the banksters who elected him.
Perfect foils for teh tea partyers.
catclub
Maybe the prospect of being on the same committee as Michelle Bachman was just too much.
trollhattan
@Martin:
Say wha?!? She won 53.2% to 38.2%,–a California-Style(C)beatdown. (Unless she cooked the numbers, you know, since this is her Web site.)
http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/sov/2010-general/32-secretary-of-state.pdf
Also, too:
“She is very, very seriously considering running for Congress,” Bowen campaign consultant Steve Barkan said. “It’s brand new news, and so she needs to take all factors into consideration.”
Glen Tomkins
She’s undoubtedly resigning to spend more time with her family’s money.
When you think about it, her family wouldn’t even have to have a fascinatingly large amount of money to outcompete Congress in the year 2011 for fascination. Real power has gradually leached out of the place. The prestige value that’s left in being a Congresscritter is only useful as a stepping stone, and frankly a pretty lower rung stepping stone, for getting into the real club.
She pretty clearly is not one of those Congresscritters who is, to use the neat on-word descriptor the Italians have for sizing up papal prospects, “papabile”. She ain’t never going to be Preznit. She isn’t even close enough to being papabile to make a run for it credible enough to bargain away for anything.
A Senate run would be more credible, and that prospect may be what kept her at the Congresscritter racket so long. But being a US Senator is itself mainly significant as a stepping stone to the Preznitcy, rather than anything in its own right. She was probably never going to be Preznit anyway even with the added credibility of being a Senator, and at her present age and the lack of foreseeable openings for CA Senate seats — fuhgeddaboutit.
The other career path to power for which Congresscrittering is a lower rung leads off into lobbyist land. This can be either directly brokering Congresscritter services to malefactors of great wealth at, or at more distance, as part of the think tank racket. I don’t know too much about this Woodrow Wilson Cennter, but it at least appears from a quick wiki scan to be on the respectable end of the think tank spectrum. In other words, she isn’t going to be that big of a macher, either because that never interested her much, and she was in Congress out of a lack of clear thinking, or she just wasn’t that good at being a macher — not good enough to swing herself a sweeter deal, which is not a good advertisement for your abilities in this field.
jonas
I used to live in Harman’s West LA district and the good news is that for the past couple of election cycles, there’s been a strong progressive, Marcy Winograd, nipping at her heels in from the left in the primaries. Harman was always extremely well-connected, had a formidable fundraising network, and a record as a “sensible centrist”. She viewed Winograd as more of annoying gnat than a real threat, so it was really no contest in the end. But now that Harman’s moved on, Winograd might have a shot in a special election.
KatinPhilly
I want to see Winograd win just to watch AIPAC’s head explode.
And to get a true progressive in Congress. Sanders is good, but not on the Middle East.
pereubu77
I live in the district. I don’t think Winograd has much chance (too liberal for what is basically a moderately Democratic district, on average, Venice being more than balanced by the South Bay), nor Janice Hahn (why would I vote for an LA City Council member — they’re a reason I don’t live in LA City). I think Bowen would be the front runner (originally from MDR, I believe) if she’s interested. Ted Lieu might also be interesting although, as noted above, he’s currently running for Oropeza’s seat (which he’ll probably win). I’m sure others will consider the seat as well.
Bill Arnold
@catclub:
That might be a winner.
Has anyone asked her?
Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people)
@Turgidson: Marcy Winograd had more votes than I expected in the last primary (plus I got at least five voicemails from her campaign). Given the difference in fundraising between the two (Harman has waaay more money), I suspect Harman was worried about Winograd’s increasingly good numbers in the primaries. Only a matter of time.