Get used to the smell

'Garbage men get used to the smell of bad garbage'

In an exclusive interview, House Speaker John Boehner says he's resigned himself to trying to make Washington work - and raise lots of money for his party.

By Jake Sherman

John Boehner spends his weeks in Washington getting bashed by House conservatives, some of whom are itching to try to oust him from the speakership. Then, on the weekends, he darts around the country to raise money for a Republican majority that can be described charitably as inefficient, but in reality is closer to unmanageable.

“Garbage men get used to the smell of bad garbage. Prisoners learn how to become prisoners, all right?” Boehner said in a phone interview this weekend from Seattle during a fundraising trip to the Pacific Northwest, referring especially to the grind of constant travel. “You can teach yourself to do anything, especially if you’re committed to a cause. I came to Washington to fight for a smaller, less costly and more accountable government.”

With the government on track to shut down in less than two weeks and his conference consumed by speculation about whether he’ll survive as speaker this fall, Boehner appears as though he is trying to ignore the drama and push through what his allies say is as aggressive a fundraising schedule as ever. Raising money is a huge part of Boehner’s job: He says he spends between 180 and 190 nights a year “outside Washington and Ohio” collecting cash for House Republicans. Boehner said his job is to ensure Republicans “have the resources necessary to win.”

Boehner said the reception from donors is warm — perhaps warmer than from members of his own House Republican Conference. Contributors, he said, grasp what the House Freedom Caucus can’t seem to: that he’s a conservative but not a miracle worker.

“Almost all of the donors understand that, you know, without a Republican in the White House, or 60 votes in the Senate, there are limits to what you could accomplish,” he said. “They understand all the accomplishments I’ve had, and then some, have been accomplished with a Democrat in the White House. Donors around the country understand it.”

Of the House Freedom Caucus members who are most upset with him, Boehner added, “I don’t think they understand I’m as conservative as they are. When I voted regularly, I had the eighth most conservative voting record in Congress. And the idea that I’m the establishment, that I’m some RINO, is just laughable. It really is.”

According to Boehner’s staff, he’s pulled in nearly $300 million for Republicans since 2009; over the past month, he has traveled from “Maine to Seattle, and New Orleans to North Dakota,” Boehner told POLITICO. He has raised $35 million for House Republicans this year, cut $800,000 in checks to GOP lawmakers and candidates and transferred $6.5 million to the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Boehner said that, as he travels the country, he tries to sell Republican donors on the House GOP’s accomplishments — such as a balanced budget blueprint, changes to entitlements and keeping taxes low for most Americans — and the need to maintain the largest GOP majority in a century.

Of course, Boehner’s ability to raise piles of money from a nationwide fundraising network has done nothing to improve his stormy political relationship with conservatives in the House. His aides believe he is almost certain to face a vote to strip him of the speakership in the coming weeks or months. He and his staff say he has the support of the vast majority of GOP members.

Boehner wouldn’t commit that there won’t be a government shutdown, saying he’s been “talking to our members and trying to find our way through a difficult situation.” Aides close to the speaker say Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) are intent on not allowing the government to close because of opposition to federal funding of Planned Parenthood.

Boehner called the political considerations of his job “a big chess game.”

“Well, yeah, you play a chess on one level, the legislative level, you try to protect the institution, trying to protect your majority, trying to get things accomplished,” he said. “And then you’ve got the whole political side of what we do, which is just as complex. And it’s another big chess game that involves making the right political decisions, raising the resources, finding the candidates, developing the candidates and working together as a big team.”

Boehner, in the interview, addressed other critiques from the conservative agitators. He said the founders made the government “inefficient, and it’s inefficient for a reason.”

Some conservatives have complained that he doles out punishment to conservatives who cross him; Boehner said that’s not his style.

“I don’t believe in rewarding bad behavior,” he said. “That’s a much better way of saying it.”

The rap that his leadership style is autocratic is also off the mark, he said.

“People who think I’m a dictator or acting like a dictator have absolutely no clue what they’re talking about because I never make a decision on my own,” Boehner said.

Boehner insisted he would raise money even for the conservative lawmakers who oppose him, saying he doesn’t believe he’s ever turned down a fundraising request.

“They typically don’t ask,” Boehner said.