Jeers … to grandstanding Labrador

In his Cheers & Jeers column, Opinion Editor Marty Trillhaase of the Lewiston Tribune gives JEERS to Congressman Raul Labrador:

JEERS … to Congressman Labrador. Wednesday’s deal to put IRS Commissioner John Koskinen before the House Judiciary Committee has postponed a threatened showdown over impeachment proceedings.

Labrador and his Freedom Caucus have been right in the middle of this standoff.

Some, most notably columnist George Will, contend impeachment is warranted because Koskinen has stonewalled congressional inquiries into how the IRS delayed tax-exempt status for conservative organizations.

It was never going to happen. The last time Congress impeached a presidential appointee was President U.S. Grant’s secretary of war, William Worth Belknap, in 1876.

Even if Labrador’s Freedom Caucus allies prevailed with the broader House GOP majority - and that was unlikely - they could never amass the two-thirds vote in the Senate required to remove Koskinen.

No doubt, it’s great campaign material for a Republican congressman seeking his fourth term from a state where the IRS is truly detested. But what does Labrador’s grandstanding produce for you?

• Full column here.