Another Republican to Resign from the House

[Breeze54]

PICKERING TO RESIGN FROM CONGRESS

Posted: Thursday, August 16, 2007 5:05 PM by Mark Murray

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/08/16/320451.aspx

Rep. Chip Pickering, R-Miss., is announcing he's resigning from Congress to work on K Street,
becoming the latest House Republican to either vacate his seat or decide not to seek re-election
in 2008.

This news -- reported by the Cook Political Report and shared with First Read -- comes after word
that former Speaker Dennis Hastert and Rep. Deborah Pryce will not seek another term in office.

Pickering was seen as the heir apparent to the next GOP Senate opening in Mississippi. Does this
mean that Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., has hinted to Pickering that he'll be seeking re-election?

*** UPDATE *** The Cook team is getting conflicting signals over whether Pickering is resigning
or whether he won't be seeking another term (however, with Pickering heading to work on K Street,
he might want to leave Congress before the lobbying/ethics reform legislation is signed into law).
But one thing is clear: Another GOP-held House seat is being vacated.

:applause: :applause:

[merh]

1. Here is the MS capitol's paper's link

Rep. Pickering not seeking re-election

In a surprise move, six-term Third District U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering, R-Miss., announced today he will not seek re-election in 2008.

Pickering said he wanted to devote more time to his family in Flora. He serves on the House Energy & Commerce Committee and is assistant minority whip.

He was first elected to the congressional seat in 1996 and has easily won re-election since. The district stretches like a sash across the state’s mid-section from Wilkinson County to Noxubee County.

-snip-

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070816/NEWS/70816045

Pickering's statement regarding not seeking re-election http://www.clarionledger.com/assets/pdf/D082748816.PDF

[Breeze54]

3. I'll take empty GOP seats anyway I can get them!

Thanks for the additional info. ;)

[merh]

Did you see this one?

Yay! Deborah Pryce Is Leaving To "Spend More Time With Her Family"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3454929

What committees does she serve on? Pickering is on the energy committee and is the assistant house whip.

What's the connection besides serving in the house, not seeking re-election in '08 and leaving to spend more time with their families?

[Breeze54]

5. Guilt?

fear of conviction and imprisonment? :shrug:

[merh]

7. Connections to the man

who is said to have been squealing like a stuck elephant?

Some interesting links:

http://www.newsmeat.com/washington_political_donations/Jack_Abramoff.php

http://www.politicalypso.com/archives/56-Chip-Pickering-Casts-His-Lot-with-McCain.html

http://www.meridianstar.com/local/local_story_259003457.html

[merh]

8. Yup - it looks like that's the connection

Deborah Pryce - Abramoff-Reed Indian Casino Scandal connection

On September 12, 2003, Pryce wrote a letter to Interior Secretary Gale Norton about a Louisiana casino proposal. In the letter, Pryce, the number four Republican in the House, said that Interior Department approval of a casino proposed by the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians would "set forth a dangerous precedent" and encourage "reservation shopping" by tribes. Republican Whip Roy Blunt sent a similar letter to Norton dated May 21, 2003. A third letter, dated June 10, 2003, was signed by Blunt, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Majority Leader Tom DeLay, and Republican Chief Deputy Whip Eric Cantor. Identical wording appears in all three letters.

http://www.politicalfriendster.com/rateConnection.php?id1=5407&id2=2551

[Breeze54]

9. Thanks for the links and the refresher.

I went blank on that Pryce name.

I have a slight headache, which I never get, so sorry for drawing a blank.

Bookmarking to read in the AM. ;)

[SoCalDem]

2. Great.. another republican "street" walker ..

:)

[Breeze54]

4. lol! You got that right!

He should just get out of DC and spend some time with his family. ;)

[AlCzervik]

6. To spend more time with Rove's family?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

10. Is it true that when a party loses the majority, and has no good immediate prospects for getting it

back, that resignations like this are common? Since these people, like Hastert, have lost their positions of influence: speaker, committee chairman, etc., and have no prospect of getting them back soon?

[Ilsa]

11. How long does he have to wait to be a lobbyist? 12months? 18? 2 years? nt

[karlrschneider]

13. 42 milliseconds.

:shrug:

[HughMoran]

12. That's cool

I'm sure he's from a RW area where a Repuke replacement is assured... :(

[Breeze54]

14. Maybe not!!

Have you checked? I haven't yet.

[Breeze54]

15. No Democrat challenged him in 2006. -- Why the hell not??

Reps. Pryce, Pickering Bow Out for 2008

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6855674,00.html

Friday August 17, 2007 1:46 AM

By JOHN McCARTHY

Associated Press Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Republicans scrambled to find a candidate for one of the nation's most competitive congressional districts Thursday as Rep. Deborah Pryce, nearly a casualty of the 2006 Democratic surge, announced that she would not seek a ninth term.

Also announcing that he will not run for re-election in 2008 was Rep. Chip Pickering, a six-term Republican from Mississippi.

Pryce, once the most powerful Republican woman in Congress, beat Mary Jo Kilroy last year by 1,062 votes out of 220,000 cast. Democrats are backing Kilroy, a Franklin County commissioner, in 2008.

Republicans could have trouble finding a top-flight candidate for an open seat in the district. Former Attorney General Jim Petro, now a lawyer in private practice, said Thursday that House GOP leader John Boehner and others had approached him about running for the nomination. He said he would decide whether to get back into politics within two weeks.

``I'm giving those thoughts a lot of consideration now,'' Petro said.

State Sen. Steve Stivers, another Republican mentioned as a possible replacement for Pryce, said Wednesday he had no interest in the job.

Pryce, 56, said she based her decision on wanting to spend time with her elderly parents and her daughter Mia, who starts kindergarten next week. She noted that another daughter, Caroline, died in 1999 at age 9 from a rare cancer.

``I missed a lot of her growing up,'' Pryce said of Caroline. ``I don't what that to happen again.''

She said a tight 2006 re-election victory thickened her skin and did not play a part in her decision to retire. ``I think the ugliness of the election might have played a part in it, but not the closeness of it,'' she said.

Next year's race had already attracted the attention of outside groups, and phone calls targeting Pryce, mainly for her support of President Bush and the Iraq war, hardly took a breather after last November's election.

Pickering's seat could be safer for the GOP: No Democrat challenged him in 2006.

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