For Better or for Worse, the House Is Changing the Way It Deals With Its Worst Members |
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Reps. Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican, and Teresa Leger Fernández, a Democrat, may only be in their second and third terms in Congress, respectively. But this week, they jointly assigned themselves a powerful role in the body: executioners. The two worked in tandem, and without the permission of their leaders, to push a couple of creeps in the House of Representatives accused of sexual misconduct against their staff—GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales and Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell—into involuntary retirement.
Armed with the threat of forcing votes to expel the members, the two used social media to update the public regularly on their progress. On Sunday, Luna posted that Swalwell had “24 hours to announce you are resigning.” Shortly after Swalwell obeyed on Monday, Luna served notice to Gonzales that he, too, had better “resign immediately.” Gonzales immediately announced he would. Luna and Leger Fernández still didn’t let up, saying that they would force the votes to expel the representatives if their resignations weren’t officially tendered by 2 p.m. Tuesday. Both men met the deadline.
The sharp axe of member-driven justice may not end there, as the House returned to a bevy of simmering misdeeds following its two-week recess. Luna has already served notice to Florida Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, whose ethics investigation into allegedly routing her company’s Federal Emergency Management Agency overpayments toward her campaigns is nearly complete—and not looking good. “We have your expulsion vote ready to be called up on the 21st,” Luna posted Tuesday. “Either resign or be expelled.” Meanwhile, Democrats—and some Republicans—are eyeing Florida GOP Rep. Cory Mills, who’s under ethics investigation for a broad list of allegations relating to his campaign finances, his businesses, and “sexual misconduct and/or dating violence” relating to two different women.
How, in a legislative body that has always maintained a large contingent of scoundrels, did Swalwell and Gonzales get the boot in such quick succession—with more........