Rep. Joe Barton is cheating voters by completing his term

Rep. Joe Barton, R-Ennis, isn’t seeking reelection. But he still plans to finish his term representing almost 700,000 people living in Congressional District 6.

That isn’t fair to the voters in Ellis County, Navarro County and portions of Tarrant, who deserve an effective lawmaker working for them in Washington.

We understand Barton may want to hang in there and collect the $174,000 a year base salary paid to representatives. But we want to repeat what we’ve said before: District 6 is best served if he leaves now.

If Barton stays until January of 2019, he’ll be the subject of gossip and some ridicule. It will be difficult for other lawmakers to work seriously with a man whose nude photo has been posted on Twitter. Women then came forward to describe incidents in which he repeatedly made sexual overtures.

Barton, 68, has served in Congress for more than 30 years. He is one of the most senior members of the House and is Chairman Emeritus of the full Energy and Commerce Committee. That should make him very influential – and it did. But he lost that clout with his escapades.

In recent months Barton has demonstrated his independence from other Texas Republicans by co-sponsoring a bill that would give Dreamers – immigrants brought here as children – a pathway to legal status. We wish he could be a persuasive leader for that measure and others, but it won’t happen now. He’s a lame duck. He’ll have a vote but limited influence.

We support a process that would allow voters to select a successor as soon as possible.

For that to happen the Congressman needs to do the honorable thing – retire now.

This story was originally published January 5, 2018 at 8:37 PM with the headline "Rep. Joe Barton is cheating voters by completing his term."