Ex-Speaker Boehner’s Lucrative Return

When House Speaker John Boehner quit, he acted like he was done with Washington’s toxicity, but the big dollars of the lobbying world have lured him back through the golden revolving door, writes Michael Winship.

By Michael Winship

There are a few certainties in this world: fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, John Boehner’s gotta cry. Remember how a year ago — just a year ago — the former speaker of the House wept when Pope Francis addressed a joint session of Congress? And then only a couple of days later announced he was stepping down as speaker?

There were tears then, too. In part, tears of joy, because Boehner no longer would have to deal with the Freedom Caucus, those tea party Republican bully boys who had been making his life miserable, threatening government shutdowns — and Boehner’s job — at every turn.

Former House Speaker John Boehner. (Photo credit: Gage Skidmore)

Former House Speaker John Boehner. (Photo credit: Gage Skidmore)

As deeply conservative as he is, Boehner nonetheless realized that even in a grossly dysfunctional Congress at loggerheads with the President, occasionally some modicum of bipartisanship had to come into play or the entire enterprise would go belly up. The Freedom Caucus found such a rational thought revolting.

So, battered but unbowed, he quit, sang “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” when he declared his departure to the press corps and seemed greatly relieved to get out of government. He said he’d be playing more golf, relaxing, hanging out with friends. He’s been pictured mowing his lawn in Ohio and driving his RV across what he calls “America’s asphalt prairie.”

Yes, there he was, John Boehner, the tear-stained, chain-smoking man of leisure, right? You’ve got to be kidding. A fellow with his connections? He has been cozying up to corporate interests and their lobbyists since the 1990s. Boehner could no more stay away from Washington than a kitty cat could stay away from a dangling strand of yarn. He is back in the DC marketplace, where power and influence are the coin of the realm and he’s crying all the way to the bank.

A couple of weeks ago, Reynolds American, the second biggest tobacco company in America — and maker of Boehner’s favorite brand, Camels…

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