John Shadegg takes his job and shoves it
February 12th, 2008, 6:40 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Paul Giblin
John Shadegg
John Shadegg pulled one of the most surprising political acts in years when he announced that he will retire from the U.S. House in January.
OK, the simple act of Republicans retiring isn’t such a remarkable matter these days. What makes Shadegg’s retirement so surprising is that he, rather than voters, made the decision.
Despite Democratic challenger Bob Lord’s and independent Annie Loyd’s best efforts, Shadegg’s seat generally was considered relatively safe. After all, registered Republican voters outnumber registered Democratic voters 44 percent to 29 percent.
Shadegg decided that seven terms were enough.
“It is true that a lot of people at my level in the Congress don’t leave,” he told me. “They tend to stay. And they tend to stay for a long. And they tend to get kind of settled in. I don’t intend to get settled in and I don’t want to stay so long that the job become rote or routine or it’s just a mechanism to support the Shadegg family.”
He said that rather than being a member of the minority party in the House, he may be better able to advance conservative causes in the private sector. Since House ethics rules forbid him from looking around for another job while still in office, he has no idea exactly what private sector position may be in his future.
He said, “A lot of guys just stay. The decision to leave has been very, very hard, because there are a lot of nice things about the job. People call you ‘Congressman,’ and people are very nice to you, and you get to vote on very important matters, but I’m really anxious to do something, not just hold this job. I just don’t want to be a congressman; I want to change Washington. I think if you stay too long there’s a danger that you’re just a part of the process.”
