“Elections have consequences!” So proclaimed Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), the newly minted chairwoman of the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works, as she wielded her gavel and made clear to former committee chairman James Inhofe (R-OK) that she—not he—was now running committee proceedings. While she may not have been the first to use this phrase, Sen. Boxer succinctly summed up the sea change that occurred in the corridors (and behind closed doors!) of power in Washington one year ago.
 
This is why it is so important for those whose jobs and income depend on a ...