DEAN OF THE DELEGATION: DeGette has a title fetish

The Denver Post’s Lynn Bartels and Curtis Hubbard spent the weekend poking fun at Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) for anointing herself the “Dean of the Delegation”. We’ll admit, we laughed. 

But, Hubbard forgot one of DeGette's most memorable self-anointments when she called herself "Dean of the Delegation" – during the Colorado Remembers 9/11 10th anniversary commemoration at City Park last September. What an awesome time to be feathering one’s nest – at a commemoration of the death of nearly 3,000 innocent people at the hands of terrorists. 

But, “Dean” isn’t the only meaningless moniker that DeGette has adopted. As it turns out, her “Chief Deputy Minority Whip” title that she throws around is also not as prestigious as it sounds. Wikipedia explains that the "Chief Deputy Whip" in the Republican hierarchy is the highest appointed position, but that Democrats rank things differently. 

DeGette is just one of ten chief deputy whips in the Democratic organization, which includes none other than Colorado’s recent visitor, Rep.Maxine Waters (D-CA), as well as Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who, rumor has it, is on her way out as chairman of the DNC.  All of these committee members are overseen by a Senior Chief Deputy Whip Rep. John Lewis (D-GA).  So, DeGette’s not the assistant to the Whip as her title would convey, but the assistant to the assistant to the Whip. That’s three degrees of separation to the Minority Whip, Steny Hoyer (D-MD).

Leave it to Democrats to insert bureaucratic bloat into their own organization.  As many times as she’s been on the wrong side of internal party battles, we'd bet she’s closer in degrees of separation to Kevin Bacon than to a Democratic House leadership position.