The Sea of Galilee incident reinforces opinions of politicians, the author writes. Skinny-dipping could cost GOP seats

If there is one thing voters don’t forgive - especially in the mood they are in this year and with Congress at a 10 percent approval rating - it is being embarrassed by their representatives in Washington.

Americans already think Congress is essentially a joke.


As I have traveled the country speaking about our polarized and dysfunctional political system, I no longer get angry reactions when I talk about Congress - I get laughter. People’s expectations are so low, they are surprised by nothing.

The antics of a group of GOP representatives on a recent junket to Israel just reinforces what most people think their representatives are up to. It is behavior worthy of the buffoon political characters in the current Will Ferrell movie “The Campaign.”

In the wake of the news that freshman Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.) decided to go skinny dipping in the Sea of Galilee, you would expect him to be facing a suddenly tough re-election battle. However Yoder, who has a $1 million campaign war chest, is running unopposed. The Democrats didn’t even field a candidate in the third congressional district.

This isn’t Yoder’s first brush with this kind of behavior. Prior to the 2010 election, it was revealed that Yoder pleaded guilty to failing to take a breathalyzer test after being pulled over by a Kansas state trooper. In “The Campaign” the character played by Will Ferrell is pulled over for drunk driving but wins re-election anyway.

Despite being the butt of late night jokes, Yoder is all but guaranteed re-election.

Some of the others involved in the Sea of Galilee escapade may face the voters’ wrath, or at least disgust.

Rep. Ben Quayle of Arizona is running in a two-way GOP primary next week. As a result of redistricting, he is facing David Schweikert, another GOP House freshman.

Schweikert, was also on the trip to Israel but went back to his hotel room with his wife after the infamous dinner where the wine flowed freely. In interviews with Arizona media, he called the behavior of Quayle and others disappointing but not surprising.

Another member of the group involved in the late-night revelry who could be in trouble is Rep. Michael Grimm of New York who has a general election challenger. Grimm already faces an investigation over possibly illegal contributions to his campaign.

The House class of 2010 has often been compared to the historic class of 1994. Both were large GOP classes which won the Republicans majority control of the House. But the current GOP freshmen don’t seem to have learned the lessons of their predecessors. In 1996, when the class of 1994 ran for re-election - many of the dozen members who were defeated or didn’t return to Washington were those who had acted irresponsibly or been an embarrassment to their constituents.

Maybe skinny dipping in the Sea of Galilee isn’t illegal or even unethical. But it makes a congressional trip look ridiculous and the members look like they were just in the Holy Land to party.

Remember the Mark Foley page scandal? That story broke in September 2006 and many Republicans think it was a significant contributing factor in the GOP loss of the House that November.

The re-elections of those involved in the Sea of Galilee dip, and possibly for GOP members in general, just got a lot tougher.

Linda Killian is the author of “The Swing Vote: The Untapped Power of Independents.” Her previous book was “The Freshmen: What Happened to the Republican Revolution?” She is a senior scholar at The Woodrow Wilson Center. Follow her on Twitter @lindajkillian.