Let's be Blount

Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), would like to be the next Majority Leader of the House. Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and a couple of others would prefer the job themselves. They'll probably have a shot at it if too many people start to look at the Blount - Phillip Morris connection. Some fun there.

According to the Washington Post, "Just hours after Blunt was named to the House's third-highest leadership job in 2002, he unsuccessfully tried to insert a measure benefiting Philip Morris into the 475-page bill creating the Department of Homeland Security. Blunt's ties to the company are thick: He was very close to a company lobbyist, Abigail Perlman, at the time, and married her in 2003. She does not lobby Congress. One of his sons, Andrew B. Blunt, lobbies the Missouri legislature for Philip Morris."