Boehner's Blue-Collar Roots Frame Possible Next Speaker's Views

John Boehner's political philosophy is informed by the hard work and self-reliance that he says come from his blue-collar background

By James Rowley

(Bloomberg) — John Boehner — the Ohio congressman poised to be speaker if Republicans capture the U.S. House in the Nov. 2 elections — pumped gas, mopped floors and tended his family's bar to pull himself up from blue-collar roots to success in business and politics.

"I've had every rotten job there ever was" and "was grateful to have every single one," the House Republican leader told supporters at a rally this month in West Chester, near his home about 25 miles north of Cincinnati. Boehner, 60, the second of 12 children in a family of Roman Catholic Democrats, put himself through college in seven years and became a millionaire businessman. He uses his life story to urge voters to stop President Barack Obama's "job-killing agenda" by electing Republicans, who he says will cut federal spending, extend tax cuts, repeal the Democrats' health-care law and create a more business-friendly environment.

"Whether you push a mop, run a backhoe, lay shingles, tend bar," Americans "take pride in our work," Boehner said at the West Chester rally. The midterm elections are about "one issue, jobs," that were "promised by the current administration but never delivered," he said. The values of hard work and self-reliance are the source of Boehner's political philosophy of getting government out of the way of entrepreneurs. He says his experience in running a small business shaped his view that politicians have "no understanding of the private sector."

Still Unknown

Boehner has worked largely behind the scenes with a tactical sense for organizing the House Republican caucus; only in the past year has he become a more publicly visible leader. Many Americans haven't formed an opinion of him, a Bloomberg poll this month showed. He was first elected to Congress, representing southwestern Ohio's 8th District, in 1990 and was named majority leader in 2006. After Democrats took control of the House in that year's elections, he became minority leader.

Democrats say that even though Boehner comes from humble roots, as a congressman he has become a protector of wealthy interests and is cozy with business lobbyists. They cite his opposition to a proposal to require corporations, unions and trade associations to disclose their political contributions and donors for such spending. Boehner is "the guy that was huddling with all the lobbyists from Wall Street" to try to defeat the financial regulatory overhaul enacted this year, Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland told reporters at an Oct. 21 breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. Van Hollen is chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Humble Beginnings

Boehner grew up in a two-bedroom house in Reading, a town near Cincinnati. Until they added more rooms to their home, his parents, Earl and Mary Ann, slept on a pull-out couch. A few miles away is Andy's Café, the family-owned tavern in Carthage. Boehner and his older brother, Bob, started sorting bottles in the tavern when they were 8 or 9 years old.

Soon they were "mopping the floors, washing the windows on Saturday," the lawmaker's brother said. "Our parents taught us to work hard to be successful," Bob Boehner said. "That's what he has done all his life." Boehner played football at all-boys Archbishop Moeller High School under Gerry Faust, later the head coach at the University of Notre Dame. Faust "showed you how to dedicate yourself to something you believed in," said teammate Jerry Vanden Eynden.

'Team Player'

Faust said in an interview that he remembers Boehner as a "team player" who "didn't care who got the credit." As House Republican leader, Boehner operates "more in a team concept than a captain concept," said Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the party's chief deputy whip.

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