Last in the House

2011-08-02 01:46:16

My congressman, Rep. Todd Young (9th district, Indiana), might not be the most retrograde congressman in the House of Representatives. But of 435 members of the House, he is the very last member in alphabetical order. I noticed this when I read the roll call of the debt ceiling bill this evening. (He voted for it.)

Louisville, in the neighboring congressional district across the Ohio River (3rd KY), is also late in the alphabet as far as their congressman goes: Rep. John Yarmuth is fifth from last. (He voted against the debt ceiling bill.)

Of course, alphabetical order has nothing to do with politics. It happens that Todd Young is quite conservative (he's a freshman congressman in the Tea Party caucus), but John Yarmuth is quite liberal (he's a third-term congressman who was the founding publisher of the Louisville Eccentric Observer, a popular local alternative newspaper).

By the way, the 9th district of Indiana was the district of Lee Hamilton, who was a well-respected and influential Democratic congressman with a strong reputation for foreign affairs; I had the opportunity to vote for him before he retired a dozen years ago. He might be best known in recent years as the vice-chair of the 9/11 Commission.