Jeff Flake

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WSJ.com: “GOP Flake Out” House Republicans deny Rep. Jeff Flake’s bid for a seat on the powerful Appropriation’s Committee:

Mr. Flake is the scourge of earmarks and the last person Members of either party want on Congress’s main spending committee. He would have been a whistle-blower for taxpayers, in particular against the powerful Democrats who get the most earmarks now that they are in the majority, such as Pennsylvania’s Jack Murtha. But Republican spenders couldn’t tolerate someone who would call out their pork too.

“A Pay Raise for Poor Performance“: LDS congressmen Flake and Matheson have been consistent in opposing congressional pay raises.

Another critic, Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), doesn’t believe it’s appropriate for lawmakers to receive pay raises while the federal government is running a deficit. That’s a view shared by Rep. Jim Matheson (D-Utah), who has criticized the process for years.

More wisdom from Rep. Jeff Flake on the dangers of bipartisanship in this pre-New Hampshire tribute to the ‘Post-Partisan’ Obama.

Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said bipartisanship tends to produce the worst that Washington has to offer — transactional politics where lawmakers scratch one other’s backs without regard to the bigger picture. Pork-barrel spending goes unchallenged because members of both political parties know that by objecting to one project, they jeopardize their own, Flake said.

“Partisanship is underrated. There is a time and place for it, and more time and place than we realize,” he said.

Thanks Hit & Run.

Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) (who happens to be LDS) seeks a seat on the House Appropriations Committee:

But while our party has done a bit better in terms of the level of spending, we still have a huge credibility problem regarding the type of spending we’re doing. For all the talk about earmark reform, by the end of the year Republicans requested and received nearly as many pork barrel projects as the Democrats. It’s tough to argue that there is a real difference between the two parties on this issue. . .

Wouldn’t it make sense to have at least one Republican member of the Appropriations committee who doesn’t earmark?

As David Freddoso puts it: “I predict that it will happen when pork flies.”