#ncga: What will Hager DO? (We’ll know Thursday.)
An awful lot of political eyes are on House Majority leader Mike Hager (R). The word on the street is that he has job offers (1) to be a lobbyist, or (2) to work for Donald Trump. His third option is to run for reelection, and to position himself as the key intra-caucus rival to speaker Tim Moore.
I am told there is a Thursday deadline for Hager to decide whether he is going to run for reelection or seek one of these other two job opportunities. Conservatives have had high hopes for the majority leader. His “Mr. Nice Guy” reputation, and his solid conservative record, made him an excellent foil to the Moore-Dollar-Lewis ruling troika in the House.
But critics on the right say Hager has been little more than a paper this session — remaining silent and below the radar as the leadership troika has run roughshod over the rank and file and been peppered with scandalous revelations.
If Hager steps down, the Republicans would have to caucus right away to find a new leader. I am told that, should Hager step down, the speaker’s team will be strongly supporting the candidacy of Rep. Jason Saine.
Hopefully Hager will stay. Lobbyist jobs pay a lot, but the potential there would be a lot more if he moves up to Speaker next year and then at a later time decided to be a lobbyist. As to a short term job with Trump, that should not be too appealing.
All of this smells like Obama Republican Tim Moore trying to arrange something tempting to remove the one conservative among the House leadership team.
Obama Republican Jason Saine would be an utter disaster for the GOP. He is nothing more than a special interest flunky. Who are the other options?
And why should our caucus be looking left for leadership?
Jason Saine and Tim Moore were both tied for 65th most conservative in the last Civitas rating of the legislature, putting them both to the left of the overall centerline, including Democrats. In fact, there were several Democrats who ranked more conservative than either. Both Saine and Moore rank in the most liberal half of the entire legislature.
In the previous legislative session, Saine was tied for 48th place and Moore for 70th most conservative. For that session, those numbers put Saine on the left side of the GOP caucus and Moore on the left side of the entire legislature.
With RINOs like Saine and Moore, who needs Democrats?
Hager has stated publicly he supports and expects to see Speaker Moore remain at his job. Secondly Hager isnt the majority leader for nothing. He doesn’t get pushed around, however a good paying job may be what the doctor orders.
It is interesting that the third choice is to “run for reelection.” Another example fo the rules (in this case the filing period for office). Not applying to the establishment parties or their apparatchiks.