Himes has shot at top intel post
WASHINGTON — Not a slam-dunk by any means, but Democrats retaking the House this November could yield an important new post for Rep. Jim Himes — chairman of the House intelligence committee.
Himes is the No. 2 Democrat in the minority behind the omnipresent Rep. Adam Schiff, DCalif., who has carved out a sideline on cable news as the critic-in-chief of the committee’s President Donald Trump-obeisant chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif.
But House Democrats by tradition limit their House intel leaders (majority or minority) to two terms. So if Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., becomes House speaker, she may abide by tradition and name Himes to replace Schiff.
Or she might not. (And don’t get us started on whether Pelosi would be selected by House Dems as speaker, should they take control for the first time since early 2011.)
Schiff has done yeoman’s service as the even-tempered spokesman for Democrats on the wide variety of big issues before the committee, from oversight of the nation’s vast intelligence community to its Trump-Russia investigation — upon which Nunes brought the curtain down in March.
But Himes is a regular on MSNBC and CNN, using his customary turns of phrases to help Schiff poke holes in the Trump-Nunes script.
Pelosi may opt to retain Schiff as the sure hand on the tiller. And Himes may or may not have endeared himself to Pelosi with his “time for a new generation of leadership” mantra.
So chairman or not, Himes will continue as a major Dem voice on the committee. And whether special counsel Robert Mueller drops Russialinked bombshells on the Trump White House or falls short, oversight of the U.S. spy network isn’t destined to become any less important in the near future.
“Our intelligence community does surveillance,” Himes said at a reporters’ roundtable, according to Hearst Connecticut Media colleague Emilie Munson. “They sometimes undertake lethal activity, so it’s pretty high-stakes stuff.”
Getting an earful
Last week, Connecticut Office of Early Childhood Commissioner David Wilkinson was in Washington to receive the “Future of Feedback” award from Feedback Labs, which describes itself as “a global network of over 400 leading aid, philanthropy, and governance organizations around the world.”
Formed in 2014, OEC is responsible for the state’s role in child care, pre-kindergarten, help for kids with developmental problems, and support for at- risk families — areas that five state agencies used to oversee.
The secret of their success? Listening.
“We believe that by listening and responding, we will provide better, more effective services for Connecticut families with young children — and in so doing help create a brighter future for the state,” said Wilkinson, an earnest young Yale Law grad who used to run the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation during the President Barack Obama years.
I have to say the lead sentence of the news release caught my eye: The award to OEC was for “innovation in serving the state’s youngest children and their families … and for doing so by listening to them.”
A state agency that actually listens to children? That would be a first. Of course, the “listening” is to families and community providers who “too often don’t have a seat at the table,” as Wilkinson himself put it.
But imagine the award he would receive if OEC ever managed to listen to 6-yearolds? Those of us who are parents (or grandparents) of children that age can only imagine.