Congressmen vie for leadership on House panel

Reps. Chris Shays of Connecticut and Darrell Issa of California are the top contenders to succeed retiring Virginia Rep. Tom Davis as the number one Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, sources told Government Executive.

Insiders familiar with House Republican discussions agree that Shays, a moderate deal maker cut from the same cloth as Davis, is likely to receive the ranking membership slot if he can survive his own tough reelection battle on Nov. 4. If he loses, the spot is all but guaranteed to go to Issa, sources said.

A University of Connecticut poll released on Oct. 20 shows Shays and his Democratic opponent, Jim Himes, running in a virtual dead heat. The House seat in Connecticut's 4th District is the only one in New England held by a Republican.

"My opinion is that if Chris survives on Tuesday, it's his job," said a former senior House staffer. "Chris has been comfortable with the level of assurance that he has received from House Republican leadership. The question is if the Republican leadership survives, and if their pledge to Chris will hold."

The source said Shays, who has bucked his party on several occasions, still will have to convince Republican leadership that he is willing to forcefully challenge Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., as Davis has for the past six years.

Shays may have tipped his hand in the horse race in September 2007, when he told National Journal that he would not seek a 12th term unless he received assurances from Republican leadership that he would assume the top spot on the committee.

"I am next in line, and I have proven myself very capable," Shays said at the time. "I am being honest with them: I have no interest in returning to the House if I won't be chairman of the committee."

Shays campaigned hard in 2002 to be the committee's chairman, but GOP leaders gave the spot to Davis, who had less seniority.

Dave Natonski, a spokesman for Shays, confirmed that the congressman has "received assurances" from party leadership that he would be named the next ranking member, "But right now we are focused on one thing at a time," Natonski said, referring to Election Day.

Issa, a fiery conservative, also has lobbied for the ranking member position, sources said. In recent months he has raised his profile on the committee, issuing a handful of reports and public statements together with Davis.

"Congressman Issa has made no secret his desire to be chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, or to play as large a role as possible and that would include ranking membership," said Frederick Hill, an Issa spokesman. Issa is not facing a difficult reelection battle.

If Illinois Sen. Barack Obama is elected president and Democrats retain control of Congress, Issa's stock could rise because of his willingness to publicly challenge Waxman not only on policy but on parliamentary procedures, the former Hill aide said.

A combustible confrontation between Issa and Waxman in May during a committee hearing on Environmental Protection Agency oversight -- in which Waxman threatened to have Issa physically removed from the hearing room -- has been viewed more than 77,000 times on You Tube.

Waxman's office declined to speculate on who would be the next top Republican on the committee.

A third possibility for the ranking member position, floated by one source, is Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind. Souder is considered a long-shot, but his ties to the committee's former Republican chairman, Rep. Dan Burton, also of Indiana, could create an opening, the source said.

A spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, who ultimately will make the final decision, did not return a call for comment.

The acquisition community is watching the selection of the committee's next ranking member closely.

During the past two years, Waxman has led investigations into questionable contracting practices and held hearings with officials from KBR Inc., the former Halliburton subsidiary, and Blackwater Worldwide. Congress also recently passed most of Waxman's acquisition reform legislation, although Davis -- his longtime foil and occasional ally -- was able to strip away some of the provisions opposed by the contracting industry.

"Davis is going to be extraordinarily difficult to replace, period, because he has taken a very keen interest in government contracting and government reform issues," said Larry Allen, president of the Coalition for Government Procurement, a contractor trade association. "And his type of expertise is unique."

And while Shays and Issa have shown interest in procurement issues -- both are part of Davis' new Smart Contracting Caucus -- neither is well-known in the acquisition community, Allen said.

David Marin, the committee's former minority staff director, agrees that neither Shays nor Issa can match Davis' familiarity and understanding of wonkish government reform issues.

"Tom Davis put his stamp on that committee. And that stamp was aligned with his interests and the region that he represented," said Marin, who is now a principal at the Podesta Group, a Washington consulting and lobbying firm. "His knowledge of acquisition, of information security and of issues down to the fourth decimal point is pretty much unmatched on either side of the aisle."

Democrat Gerry Connolly, chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, is widely expected to win Davis' seat on Tuesday. While Connolly currently serves as director of community relations for SAIC, one of the largest government contractors, he is not expected to play a major role in acquisition issues right away.

With Davis' departure, Marin suspects that the committee will begin to shift away from governance issues and focus more on oversight and investigations that serve other political or policy priorities. In recent months the committee has concentrated on investigating the banking industry in light of the current fiscal crisis.

The future of the committee, however, could depend less on who wins the ranking membership and more on the direction that Waxman steers the panel. If Obama wins, oversight of the Bush administration's contracting policies, for example, likely will have a shelf life of about six more months before it begins to look as if they are beating a dead horse, Allen said.

"Nobody expects that the curtain has come down on the final act so we are still keeping our eye on the ball here," he said. "But, if the polls stay the same, a year from now a lot of this contracting stuff will be a fading memory."