[TheMercenary]

No shit, ya think?

Towns Walks on Thin Caucus Ice
By Tory Newmyer and Jackie Kucinich
Roll Call Staff
Oct. 22, 2009, 12 a.m.
Government Reform Chairman Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) is facing heat from up and down the Democratic ladder after locking Republicans out of his committee room this week in an ongoing spat over a mortgage lending controversy.

Towns’ move set off alarms in House Democratic leadership, with top staffers voicing growing concern Wednesday that the Oversight chairman is losing control of his panel amid a showdown with ranking member Darrell Issa (R-Calif.). It was unclear Wednesday evening whether leaders would intervene, but aides made clear they were now monitoring the situation.

“It will be on the agenda going forward,” one senior Democratic aide said.

And while committee Democrats blasted what they called partisan cheap shots from their Republican counterparts, some also decried their own panel leadership for allowing the dispute to distract from other work.

“There seem to be a lot of theatrics, and I wish we would get beyond the theatrics and get some real work done for the American people,” said Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-Ohio), an Oversight member.

http://www.rollcall.com/issues/55_45/news/39788-1.html