Owens may back House Republican leader John Boehner for Speaker

Bill Owens

Last week Representative Democrat Bill Owens (pictured right) said that he might back House Republican leader John Boehner for speaker. After this news became public, Owens told the Adirondack Daily Enterprise that, “I was blowing off a little steam” since he was frustrated over not hearing back from either leader (Pelosi or Boehner) about an extension of the expiring Bush era tax cuts. According to Brendan Quinn, the former state party director who oversaw GOP House races this year, Owens is running scared and made the following statement to the National Review Online:

“If he’s talking about a vote for Boehner, it’s a sign that he’s looking to protect his backside in New York,” Quinn says. “But the real issue for him is not Boehner; it’s the New York State Senate and redistricting. And this is not about securing earmarks from the House Republicans — they’ve already pledged to end them.”

“Owens knows that Republicans will have, at minimum, a 32-30 majority in the state senate,” Quinn says. “Republicans will have an active role in reapportionment, and New York is going to lose two House seats. Typically they come out of upstate, due to the numbers of people moving out of the region. Many Republicans would love to carve off Owens’s district…That will force Owens to pick his poison come 2012.”

“Republicans could easily gobble up New York’s 23rd into those three districts,” Quinn says.

So is it really that Owens is “blowing off a little steam” due to no response from either leader or is it because he is realizing the effect of the Republican-controlled Congress and redistricting? What we do know is that Bill Owens voted for Nancy Pelosi for Democratic conference leader last week, but he says he might vote for Republican John Boehner for speaker of the House in January. Owens also said he is "very disappointed ... in the failure of either she or Mr. Boehner to offer a compromise on the Bush tax cuts. I think that's a real failure of leadership on both of their parts."

I believe Owens’ main focus right now is on trying to extend the Bush tax cuts and getting feedback from Pelosi and Boehner. Owens and three Democratic colleagues in the House have proposed a compromise that would include a one-year extension of the tax cuts for individuals and joint filers making under $500,000 yearly, as well as five-year extensions of the tax cuts on capital gains, qualified dividends and for individuals making under $200,000 and couples making under $250,000 yearly. Even though Owens hasn’t received any feedback from the leadership on both sides, he continues to push for a vote on a compromise.