Miller's selection as committee chair(woman) stirs controversy

Candice Miller's selection as the only female among the 21 committee chairs in the House has again sparked a bit of controversy as those on the left and the right debate whether the Republican lineup represents a stodgy party utterly lacking in diversity at the top.
Over at MSNBC, Rachel Maddow pointed out that the House Administration Committee that Miller will oversee for another two years provides oversight of House operations and finances. In other words, Maddow said, the lone female chair "is in charge of the cafeteria and the bathrooms."

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise defended the nearly all-white-male lineup by, well, essentially engaging in denial. In addition to Miller, he said, the GOP members re-elected Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers as chairwoman of the Republican Conference -- a group that meets behind closed doors. 
“But if you look at this new class, especially, such a great, new, diverse group of members, with great backgrounds, too," Scalise added. 

Michael Barone, a veteran report/commentator and congressional historian of some heft, chose sarcasm to make the point that Miller is who she is. Writing for The Washington Examiner, Barone took issue with headlines in the mainstream media that said the GOP had opted for an all-male slate. 
The House Administration Committee does not handle legislation, but it is not a "trivial post," Barone intoned.

"Whatever else she may be," he wrote, "Candice Miller is not a non-person or a non-woman. Yes, I know, in the views of mainstream media, Republicans hate women, would never promote them to influential positions, look down on them, blah, blah, blah. But, hey, guys in the mainstream media: There is a woman who in the Republican House is and will be chairman of a full committee, whether you like it or not."

(Barone also offered this quirky little explanation of Miller's hometown of Harrison Township: "... just east of Mount Clemens, the county seat of the famous Macomb County, on a swampy peninsula extending out into Lake St. Clair, the tiniest and least great of the Great Lakes.)

Of course, the Republicans and their conservative allies wouldn't have such difficulty defending Miller's distinction if they had learned their lesson from 2012. Two years ago, House Speaker John Boehner noticed that the initial 19 chosen committee chairs were all males. With two relatively obscure committees to go, the GOP leadership scrambled to find a seat at the head of the table for a woman. 

They chose the Administration Committee for that spot but, when they realized that the Republican members on the panel were all men, they brought in Miller from the outside and made her the chairman -- uh, chairwoman.