ETHICS/POLITICS: “The House’s most powerful investigative gavel is set to land in the hands of Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) with little drama once Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz leaves Congress next month, according to multiple members and aides familiar with the behind-the-scenes discussions about the post.
Chaffetz (R-Utah) is stepping down June 30 to pursue a private-sector career amid sharp public focus on the Republican Congress’s willingness to conduct oversight on President Trump and his administration.
Gowdy, who led the two-year House Benghazi probe, has secured near-unanimous support among members of the House Republican Steering Committee — the 36-member body that selects committee chairmen — and one key potential rival said Monday [5-22-17] that he would not seek the Oversight gavel.
‘I have not been making a play, and I’m not going to,’ Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said Monday. ‘Look, you guys know how this works: The establishment’s not going to put the anti-establishment guy in charge of the committee whose job it is to go after the establishment.’ “
-Mike DeBonis, “Trey Gowdy poised to seize House Oversight gavel after Jason Chaffetz departs,” The Washington Post online, May 23, 2017 4:22pm