A liberal Republican gets a plum

Connie Morella, until this January my representative in the House, has been appointed by President Bush to be Ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris, the Washington Post reports. Morella represented my district, in the Maryland suburbs of Washington D.C., for sixteen years, until the Democrats re-districted her into forced retirement. She was probably the most liberal Republican in the House for most of that time, as she had to be in order to survive. I’m happy for Morella because she is a gracious lady who provided excellent service for her constituents and was very nice to my daughter when she interned for her. In addition, there is not much question that she has the competence to do the job. Still, I find it a little puzzling that this plum job should go to someone who so rarely voted with her party and who was one of only five Republicans in the House who voted against the impeachment of Bill Clinton.