CNN: Pelosi has chosen Rep. Silvestre Reyes of Texas to take over as chairman of the House Intel

[sabra]

http://www.cnn.com/

News Alert >> Congressional aides say House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi has chosen Rep. Silvestre Reyes of Texas to take over as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, The Associated Press reports.

[aquart]

1. On the issues:

<http://www.ontheissues.org/TX/Silvestre_Reyes.htm>

I don't know him. I had to look him up. The above is what I found.

[dmosh42]

13. Thanks for the site info!

I'll add that to my favorites.

[Nightjock]

18. WOW!

What a great website!
Thanks for the info!

[ginnyinWI]

20. He's a Vietnam veteran--that should count for a lot when it comes to Iraq. n/t

[anotherdrew]

22. Voted YES on making the PATRIOT Act permanent. so is he an enemy or a fool ?

WTF?

[aquart]

35. Look at his war vote.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Anyone know anything about Reyes?

Is this a good choice or a bad one?

[aquart]

3. See above.

Conservative. Center-right, someone said. He's Texas. But a good no-vote on the war. Seems to think about his choices.

Take a look: <http://www.ontheissues.org/TX/Silvestre_Reyes.htm>

[snooper2]

5. Silvestre Reyes is a Moderate Liberal.

as far as the web site listed in this thread is concerned....he seems to be one of the good guys if you look at each of his votes on issues. Not to good for woman's rights/abortion, but he's not heading that committee :)

[Gold Metal Flake]

12. Moderate, maybe. Liberal? No.

http://www.ontheissues.org/TX/Silvestre_Reyes.htm

I see a centrist with conservative leanings.

Some centrist/conservative positions:
Member of Democratic Leadership Council. (Nov 2000)
New Democrat: "Third Way" instead of left-right debate. (Nov 2000)
Voted YES on making the PATRIOT Act permanent. (Dec 2005)
Voted YES on constitutional amendment prohibiting flag desecration. (Jun 2003)
Supports anti-flag desecration amendment. (Mar 2001)
Voted YES on banning partial-birth abortion except to save mother’s life. (Oct 2003)
Voted YES on banning partial-birth abortions. (Apr 2000)
Voted YES on barring transporting minors to get an abortion. (Jun 1999)
Voted YES on Bankruptcy Overhaul requiring partial debt repayment. (Mar 2001)
Voted NO on funding for alternative sentencing instead of more prisons. (Jun 2000)
Voted YES on more prosecution and sentencing for juvenile crime. (Jun 1999)
Rated 25% by CURE, indicating anti-rehabilitation crime votes. (Dec 2000)
Voted NO on prohibiting needle exchange & medical marijuana in DC. (Oct 1999)
Voted YES on allowing school prayer during the War on Terror. (Nov 2001)
Voted YES on passage of the Bush Administration national energy policy. (Jun 2004)
Voted YES on implementing Bush-Cheney national energy policy. (Nov 2003)
Voted NO on raising CAFE standards; incentives for alternative fuels. (Aug 2001)
Voted NO on prohibiting oil drilling & development in ANWR. (Aug 2001)
Voted YES on speeding up approval of forest thinning projects. (Nov 2003)
Voted NO on deterring foreign arms transfers to China. (Jul 2005)
Voted YES on Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China. (May 2000)
Voted YES on implementing US-Australia Free Trade Agreement. (Jul 2004)
Voted YES on implementing US-Singapore free trade agreement. (Jul 2003)
Voted YES on implementing free trade agreement with Chile. (Jul 2003)
Voted YES on continuing military recruitment on college campuses. (Feb 2005)
Voted YES on supporting new position of Director of National Intelligence. (Dec 2004)
Voted NO on adopting the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. (Oct 2004)
Voted YES on emergency $78B for war in Iraq & Afghanistan. (Apr 2003)
Voted YES on $266 billion Defense Appropriations bill. (Jul 1999)
Voted YES on deploying SDI. (Mar 1999)
Voted YES on more immigrant visas for skilled workers. (Sep 1998)


Some mitigating factors:
Rated 89% by APHA, indicating a pro-public health record. (Dec 2003)
Voted YES on strengthening the Social Security Lockbox. (May 1999)
Rated 87% by the AFL-CIO, indicating a pro-union voting record. (Dec 2003)
Voted NO on authorizing military force in Iraq. (Oct 2002)


Not saying he's bad. I'm saying he's not liberal.

[0rganism]

15. just keep him away from committees on energy, science, & environment

and he'll probably do okay.

Probably safest to have him right where he is -- armed services and intelligence. That should keep him busy.

[Zhade]

28. He's hardly a liberal.

Where he's right, those are moderate stances, not liberal ones.

[DeepModem Mom]

7. Reyes represents the blue district that is El Paso -- 85% Hispanic. nt

[iconoclastic cat]

8. The no vote will make DUers happy, I hope. nt

[underpants]

4. Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvestre_Reyes

[NoodleyAppendage]

6. Ha. ha! Screw you, Harman and your AIPAC masters

Those who live by the neocon should perish from power. Harman can boot lick from a position of diminished influence...good riddance.

http://www.themoderatevoice.com/posts/1164042627.shtml

J

[warrens]

9. Great pick

There's going to be some bitching but he is from the South, Latino, and well-respected. Great choice.

[nolabels]

16. Though I am not Latino, him being so should not give a free pass

As Euro-minority working elbow to elbow with Latinos at the job and around the neighborhood I have come to see that ones ancestry has little meaning into what kind of person they really are. That being said, his voting record does not impress me very much at all.

[DeepModem Mom]

10. AP article here --

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/12/01/reyes.intelligence.ap/index.html

[Lone_Star_Dem]

11. I knew he was a top runner and am not surprised

One thing I can say in his favor is he's not a neocon.

I've always felt he was a bit left of our more centrist Dems, but is considered to be a "blue dog" all the same.

He's intelligent and has voted largely the way his constituents have expected since he's been in office. He's highly respected and well liked by his voters.

Also, he spent 26 years with the U.S. Border Patrol before becoming a congressman in 1996. This and the fact that he's currently a senior member of the Intelligence panel were the two points that elevated him above the rest for Pelosi, or so I feel.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

24. another, he is NOT a paid agent of AIPAC.

and that is a hell of an advantage for America at large, our Congress and that committee. About time, too.

Harman probably had a copy/fax machine for the most secret docs tied into their network. It will be nice to have someone not beholden to that traitorous organization.

[jamesinca]

14. excellent choice I say

Jane Harmon is a war mongering person who would not provide the over site that congress is tasked with. Taking it from her showed Nancy's anti- war side. Besides that Harmon has called herself the best republican in the democrat party (I wonder if she has met Lieberman).

Aleece Hastings has to much baggage, hard to run on ethics reform, then put him in the chair position.

[Zodiak]

19. you mean DemocratIC party.

Cutting off the "ic" on the end of Democratic party is a slur invented by Republican strategists years and years ago. Not chewing you out, but letting you know.

[Emillereid]

36. Harmon may be changing - she co-sponsored a showing

of Iraq for Sale last week in Venice, CA.

[Wetzelbill]

17. another article to augment this

Pelosi taps Reyes for intelligence post
By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 4 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi has chosen a Border Patrol agent-turned-congressman to lead the House Intelligence Committee, ending weeks of Democratic debate about who will oversee the nation's spy agencies.

Rep. Silvestre Reyes (news, bio, voting record), D-Texas, takes over the key post next year, as his party tries to intensify oversight of the intelligence community. Critics say Republicans failed to do that, leading to faulty prewar intelligence on Iraq and other stumbles.

"When tough questions are required — whether they relate to intelligence shortcomings before the 9/11 attacks or the war in Iraq, or to the quality of intelligence on Iran or North Korea — he does not hesitate to ask them," Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement announcing her choice of Reyes.

The selection of Reyes resolves one of the few committee chairmanships that was still in question after Democrats won control of the House of Representatives last month. It set up an early challenge for Pelosi, who had sole discretion on the selection.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061201/ap_on_go_co/house_intelligence

[Nick Fallon]

21. A DINO, I'm not surprised.

nt

[w4rma]

23. Pelosi is on the ball. Reyes was 3rd in line for the position. (nt)

[JI7]

25. good for her

[philly_bob]

26. Smooth move!

No to Harman, no to Hastings.

[312MIB]

27. Good Pick nt

[Zhade]

29. Sad that this is the best she could do.

Doesn't believe in the separation of church and state, somewhat anti-choice. Better than Harman or Hastings, but still disappointing.

[fujiyama]

32. I'm not especially fond of those votes

on his part, but I don't think they are particularly relevant with regards to chairing the intelligence committee.

Hey at least it's not an impeached federal judge - or a paid whore for a foreign lobbying agency that basically weakened and undercut criticism of this administration every time she was on TV.

Pelosi IMO made a poor choice getting involved with the House Maj. leader debate, but she did right here. Appointing Hastings would have been disastrous. Of course, Harmon was unlikely anyways, considering Pelosi seems to hate her.

[Cha]

37. I don't think it's a big deal

that Nancy got involved in the Majority Whip election..that's more corporatemedia propoganda smear than anything, imo.

I'm really glad Nancy doesn't like harmon. Sylvestre is just going to have to understand we like our State and religion on two different planes.

[leesa]

30. Great. So he votes for Bush/Cheney's energy policy and then pretends

not to support the inevitable wars???? What crap!

Oh, and let's vote for the P.a.t.r.i.o.t. Act without reading it...and let's make it permanent.


More of the SAME OLD SHIT.

[TankLV]

31. So, all the talk about "vote for the Democrats, and all these LIBERALS will be heads of the

committees is becomming more DINO bullshit, huh?

While I will hold my final accessment of what this portends till all the heads are in place, this does not bode well at all.

What, next, jettisoning Conyers and Rangle, too?

I tell you, if the Democrats do this, I am DONE with the party and will become and independant...

This stinks to high heaven.

The minority chairs were there fighting the good fight for years, and this is how we get "rewarded".

Just fucking great...

[fujiyama]

33. The media speak was not accurate

but this was ultimately based on seniority.

Hastings was simply unfit and Harmon was even worse (and her term was set to expire).

Would I have preferred a more liberal candidate? Sure, but I don't know how she would have picked someone else without burning even more bridges and creating other problems down the line.

The real hope is that Reyes won't whitewash and cover the crimes of this administration.

[davidinalameda]

34. I think this is the best choice that Pelosi could make

I'd much rather have seen Harman stay in as chair but at least she didn't pick Hastings

he would have crippled the committee