Rep. Flake gets bumped from Judiciary — on principle?

One of the top free market legislators — Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) — got kicked off the House Judiciary Committee, even though he had more seniority than some of the other Republicans who were kept on.

Rated the most fiscally conservative House member by the National Taxpayers Union, and the top free trader by Cato Institute, Rep. Flake has also been a leader against “earmarks” — lawmakers’ pet pork projects that get buried in larger bills.

Other papers report that he got dumped because of his stands against the Republicans’ immigration and border control measures. He also has taken on warrantless wiretap policy.

I’m with the Wall Street Journal in their laudatory view of Rep. Flake — he should be getting pushed into more leadership positions because of his principled stands on a range of issues. And, in the 2006 elections, he got 75 percent of the vote in his District.

As the WSJ wrote:

If Republicans truly believed in limited government, Mr. Flake would be running Appropriations and Mr. Lewis would be a back-bencher.