A quiet battle is brewing over who should get the House Oversight and Government Reform gavel if Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) is successful in ousting Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.).

From a seniority standpoint, Waxman’s successor would be Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), who chairs the Government Management, Organization and Procurement Subcommittee.

Some Democrats are wary of Towns being tapped, citing his spotty attendance at the committee’s recess hearings on the financial crisis, a subject expected to take up a great deal of the committee’s early work in the next Congress.

There is also some concern that Towns will not be able to go toe to toe with fiery Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the likely ranking member next year on Oversight and Government Reform.

As a result, another intra-party fight may get thrown to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Neither Pelosi nor Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) had anything to say this week about the future of the oversight panel, their aides said.

Pelosi is staying completely out of the Waxman-Dingell fight, her aides said. However, Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), who is close to Pelosi, is rallying support for Waxman.

Pelosi recently persuaded Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen (Md.) to stay on for another cycle instead of challenging Rep. John Larson (Conn.) for caucus chairman.

The future leader of the oversight panel is a touchy issue for Democratic leaders, who want to avoid taking sides in what could be a bitter dispute between senior members of the caucus — and possibly two members of the Congressional Black Caucus. They also don’t want to say anything publicly because to do so would assume that Dingell will not win.

But senior Democratic aides said that Pelosi has talked with members of Oversight other than Towns about the possibility of taking over for Waxman.

The staffers said the short list of viable candidates essentially includes the next three members behind Towns — Reps. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.), Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Elijah Cummings (D-Md.).

Kanjorski and Maloney might be reluctant to surrender their Financial Services subcommittee chairs, especially as Congress gears up for a complete overhaul of the financial services regulatory structure, the aides added.

Neither Kanjorski nor Maloney’s offices commented for this article.

Cummings, meanwhile, expressed interest in the Government Reform gavel.

“The congressman has enjoyed playing an active role for 12 years on the committee,” Jennifer Kohl, Cummings’s spokeswoman, said. “There are a few people in line ahead of him, but he would be extremely honored to accept the chairmanship should they not take it.”

Another possibility is Rep. John Tierney (D-Mass.), who chairs Government Reform’s National Security and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee. Tierney was pleased to be mentioned, but will only “begin to reflect” on the possibility of being chairman if Waxman is not heading the panel, his spokeswoman Catherine Ribeiro said.

Towns spokeswoman Shrita Sterlin said she was unaware if Towns had discussed the Government Reform chairmanship with either Waxman or any of the top Democratic brass, including Pelosi.

“His position is that he supports the seniority system, he supports Congressman Dingell, and he is focused on his current responsibilities as the chair of the subcommittee on Government Management, Organization and Procurement,” Sterlin said.

She also defended her boss against criticism that he is anything less than fully engaged in his committee work, pointing to seven hearings that Towns’s subcomittee called in 2008.

Towns missed all but one of Waxman’s recess hearings because of “various commitments in Brooklyn and due to the fact that he had minor surgery before,” Sterlin said.

Who Democrats choose to take over for Waxman, if necessary, may say a lot about how vigorously Congress intends to probe the Obama administration.

Waxman’s staff would not entertain questions about whether the committee plans — either under Chairman Waxman or with a new chairman — to investigate the incoming administration with as much tenacity as it scrutinized the Bush administration.

But the committee’s outgoing ranking Republican, Rep. Tom Davis (Va.), said it’s highly unlikely.

“I don’t think you’re going to have a Democratic Congress investigating Obama the way they investigated Bush,” Davis said with a laugh.

“I think what they really ought to do is focus on government management, cost savings in terms of the way the government does business,” Davis said. “Government waste and inefficiency was why the committee was started in the first place … For the Obama administration to move ahead with some of their initiatives, they’re going to have to find [money].”

In that regard, “it looks like Towns is that guy,” Davis said.

Davis has endorsed Issa to take his spot on the committee next year.

“Darrell is the natural guy to succeed me. He’s been at all the hearings, he’s been a subcommittee [ranking member], and also he’s run a business, so he understands how this stuff works,” Davis said. “He would be excellent.”