Gallagher Throws in the Towel

Rep. Mike Gallagher, the most strident anti-communist to come out of Wisconsin's Fox River Valley since Sen. Joseph McCarthy, has had enough of the House of Representatives.   

Mr. Gallagher told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he will leave Congress at the end of his current term to enter the private sector and spend more time with his young family.  

“I think that the fact that we have so many lifers and careerists in this institution is why it’s so dysfunctional, and that the framers, when they created the Constitution and this country, had in mind that you would embark on a season of service and then return to private life,” Mr. Gallagher told Fox News.

For rest of the year Mr. Gallagher says he'll work to turn the reams of testimony and recommendations generated by his committee into legislation.    After that, the 39 year old former Marine Intelligence officer with a PhD in international relations intends to remain engaged in the national security dialogue.

“My mission is to prevent World War III. I’ve dedicated myself to restoring conventional deterrence in order to prevent a war with China, and so whatever I do next will be an extension of that mission,” Mr.Gallagher told the Journal Sentinel.

Mr. Gallagher had also served as chairman of the House Armed Services subcommittee on cyber, information technologies and innovation and on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Other high-profile retirements include Appropriations Chair Kay Granger (R-TX0, Financial Services Chair Patrick McHenry (R-NC) and Energy & Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rogers (R-WA).