Streetsblog.net

By Frank O’Donnell

With a secret-ballot vote by Democrats in the House of Representatives likely next week, Washington, D.C. continues to buzz over the effort by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) to unseat Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) as chairman of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Dingell’s corporate-lobbyist friends on K Street are coyly staying off the record on this — I guess they don’t want to make it too obvious that Dingell is their guy — though unnamed sources have begun floating the idea that some sort of compromise might be appropriate. This is probably a sign of weakness from the Dingell camp. (One reporter did suggest the following compromise to me: that Waxman and Dingell exchange chairmanships, since Waxman is currently chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee, and Dingell excels at oversight.)