“And my job here is to try to help you do your jobs.”
— Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), talking to reporters March 7, 2006

Hugs to new House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio). He is still on his honeymoon with the press.

What’s not to like? So far.

In his second pen-and-pad session with reporters, held Tuesday, Boehner blew kisses.

”I should have started last week with a little preamble,” he said, referring to his inaugural pen-and-pad.

”I know a lot of you. I have worked with a lot of you. I have always understood you all have a job to do, and my job here is to try to help you do your jobs, to make it as easy as possible for you all to do your jobs. So most of you know I am pretty straight-up, just kind of say it the way it is. And if there are ideas about how we can help you do what you have to do, just speak up.”

And so people did. “We are here to be helpful.”

Ask to be asked, and you will.

The cry came for TV cameras to be allowed, at least tape on camera. (Last week I wrote that Boehner’s team is considering allowing video, which is probably a good idea, but then we lose the neat pen-and-pad tag). Transcripts was another plea. (Done! I am writing this from a transcript provided by Boehner’s press office.)

”You know, you give an inch, they take a mile,” Boehner said as another reporter wanted to up the ante to two pen-and-pads a week.

“Geez. Oh, no, no,” said Boehner, who punted to his top staff.

On another, more serious note, it’s clear that Boehner is on the same playbook as House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) when it comes to creating some sort of public-integrity office, where outsiders would deal with congressional problems. The idea of going to third-party ethics cops is getting little traction in the Senate and did not get out of committee. Even if the Senate were to pass something (the Senate is working on amendments as I write this), Boehner’s strong dissent — following Hastert’s opposition to outsiders’ being part of the ethics process — means it probably won’t happen this time around.

“I think members are in the best position to judge other members, just like journalists are in the best position to judge other journalists and engineers to judge other engineers,” Boehner said.

“I have never been for that and won’t be, and I don’t expect it to be part of our package. There are conversations continuing today about that. I think that we will be ready to work with our committee chairs on the relevant pieces of this, and believe that the House will act before the Easter recess.”

• Hastert on the city of New Orleans. Back in September, Hastert caught heck after he questioned the practicality of rebuilding hurricane-ravaged New Orleans, putting him in the cross-hairs of Louisiana Democrats. Hastertites said his comments were taken out of context.

Last week, Hastert led a delegation with Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) on a swing through the region to see for themselves how Congress was spending our money.

Did his words haunt Hastert?

Said spokesman Ron Bonjean, “It barely came up.”

Sweet is the Washington bureau chief for the Chicago Sun-Times. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it