It’s been quite a ride.”ĭraper accurately describes Labrador’s misgivings about Congress: “The Idaho freshman hated being away from his young family, hated sleeping in his office and for that matter he was not altogether impressed with what he had seen from the House of Representatives.” And sometimes I sit there and I think, ‘OK, is this real? Am I just dreaming this?’ Because it’s been pretty amazing. “I sometimes think, ‘Wow, this is crazy.’ In the last year and a half I’ve been in the middle of every major debate that has happened back in Washington. Butch Otter over increases in highway taxes in 2009, told me he pinches himself at how swiftly life has changed. Labrador, who famously clashed as an Idaho state legislator with Gov. I’m like, ‘Did you have a microphone in there?’ ” Labrador marveled at Draper’s sources inside the GOP caucus. Labrador said he met with Draper six or seven times in Washington, D.C., and joined him in Idaho last summer. Rather, he was arguing that if Boehner overplayed his hand, he’d be vulnerable because enough anti-establishment freshmen would stand against him. If that happened, Labrador could easily foresee a coup against Boehner.”ĭraper doesn’t say Labrador was pushing to topple Boehner. Writes Draper: “Labrador was hearing whispered threats that the dissenters on the major votes would be punished. I wasn’t threatening, I wasn’t trying to start a cabal of people to take down the speaker.” So, if you’re punishing freshmen, this is what’s going to happen. “Remember what happened to Newt Gingrich. “What I said was a historical fact,” Labrador said in an interview last week after he read the book. Labrador says he was simply recalling how Speaker Newt Gingrich was nearly ousted in 1997. Relying on the Post account, National Public Radio said Labrador “suggested ousting” Boehner and the Statesman’s Idaho Politics blog said he was “trying to expel” the speaker. “They saw Labrador as an eventual legislative heavyweight - assuming he could be persuaded to stick around long enough.”Ī story last month in The Washington Post based on an advance copy of the book described Labrador as having “openly mused about expelling the speaker and every committee chairman.” Still, Labrador has won respect from leadership. Mike Simpson of Idaho.Ī new book by Robert Draper, “Do Not Ask What Good We Do,” is an account of how 87 freshmen Republicans have proved difficult for Boehner to manage and nearly forced a government shutdown.ĭraper describes Labrador’s “obnoxious outbursts” and depicts him lunging for the microphone to criticize Boehner. Now, he’s characterized as a leader among the freshman class that was willing to confront House Speaker John Boehner and his allies, including seven-term Rep. Instead, Labrador rode the tea party wave, winning easily. Two years ago this month, the smart money held that incumbent Democrat Walt Minnick would beat surprise GOP congressional nominee Raul Labrador.

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