"Huuh, Huuh...Not Cool"

So Rep. John Boehner of Ohio (and yes…that really is how you spell his name) is the new House Majority Leader, I see (with a "Delay-esque" look on his face if I do say so myself, if there is such a thing).

Well, as this article from Forbes Magazine explains, for-profit universities got the man they wanted. In this story, I thought the following paragraphs were instructive:

While the for-profits' revenue grew, so too did the attention they received from regulators. Late in 2003, the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, Education Department, state regulators and accreditation bodies mounted a flurry of investigations against the schools amid rumors they were overstating enrollments to collect more loan dollars. Students accused schools of misleading them about the value of their degrees. The FBI even stormed the headquarters of ITT Educational Services (nyse: ESI - news - people ) to seize documents. The investigations shocked investors and alerted the companies about how heavy the hand of regulation can be.

Today, many of those probes seem to have quietly wound up without any action. Nevertheless, probes had their effect on the industry. "What happens in Washington has a much greater effect on all the for-profits," says Eduventures analyst Sean Gallagher. "Regulatory issues have come to the forefront."

Now, as Congress considers rewriting the Higher Education Act, the for-profits are looking for more regulation--of the sort that will help them at the expense of traditional universities. The bill has been stalled in the Senate, and if Boehner is vaulted to the majority seat he might just be able to kick-start the legislation and put more of his education reforms through on Capitol Hill.

Boehner is a logical choice to succeed Delay in a way since, of the Repug house leadership candidates, he has been making the most noise lately about “reform.” However, based on this article, I think the only thing he’s going to end up doing, as opposed to actually cleaning out the Repug cesspool, is to make it flow more efficiently.

Update 2/7: Yep, the name definitely fits.