Rep. Joel Hefley sounds like a man who doesn't love his job. That is just as well since he may be about to lose it.
"It's not pleasant, the hardest job in Congress," says Hefley, the Colorado Republican who is chairman of the House Ethics Committee. Besides the time-sink, the workload, the political migraines inherent to the position, Hefley says it's "really painful to sit in judgment of my peers." He means peers such as Tom DeLay, the House majority leader whom Hefley's committee admonished three times in the last session for political and financial practices that were judged to be improper. (The committee said DeLay did not break any law or House rule.) This scrutiny goes over poorly among some Republicans, who credit DeLay for expanding their majority in the GOP-controlled House.
It is the kind of move that turns the fate of Hefley's committee chairmanship into a Hill parlor game -- Does he stay or doesn't he? -- and turns a soft-spoken congressman into something that he is generally not: well known.
Or better known. "I've always considered myself not one of those Washington politicians who jumps in front of every camera that comes along," says Hefley, 69. Cameras are now coming along in clusters, which Hefley calls "a bit strange, sure," given that he's a somewhat reclusive "cowboy" who doesn't care for interviews.
"Now all of a sudden I'm center of the storm," Hefley says. Reporters are staking him out, watchdog types are lauding his courage, and colleagues are calling him alternately gutsy (for taking on a powerhouse from his own ranks) and gone (for taking on a powerhouse from his own ranks).
Hefley is predicting gone, for what it's worth.
"I think I'm going to get booted," Hefley says. He bases this on the disparaging quotes from GOP leadership staffers that have shown up in media reports in recent days. He also says he has been threatened. "They said I was hurting my career here," Hefley says of Republican colleagues he will not name. "The implication is that some form of retribution would be taken."
Hefley has an affable manner, serene and droopy eyes, and a wide, down-turned mouth. He is known as a cultural and fiscal conservative with an independent streak. Hefley was one of three Republicans to vote against the budget resolution in May 2001. He favors killing the income tax and the IRS.
His previous brush with the spotlight came in July 2002, when he chaired the carnival hearings on the expulsion of Ohio Rep. James Traficant. "The funniest thing is when he would make statements about his bowel functions and kept asking for recesses," Hefley says of the baroque Democrat who is now serving an eight-year prison term.
As Hefley speaks, he sounds almost nostalgic for those lighter-hearted days. Likewise, he speaks of losing his job with an oddly big smile, raising the possibility that he is eager to get booted.
"On the one hand, it would make my life a lot easier if I do," he says, "so I would not object at all."
On the other hand:
"There's a lot of things left undone that I would like to finish up," he says, adding that a principle is at stake and the integrity of the institution. "If you feel that way, it is sort of a crusade for me that this committee continues to function in a certain way."
If Hefley has no great passion for this job, and many of his colleagues want him gone, why doesn't he just leave?
