They sure do like this secret ballot, don’t they? Unless, of course, it’s for American workers deciding whether or not to unionize their workforce. Then it’s a bad thing.

In a major win for environmentalists, Democrats in the House of Representatives voted Thursday to put Rep. Henry Waxman of California in charge of a key panel that will have oversight over global warming issues in the new Congress.

He’ll head the House Energy and Commerce Committee, bumping Michigan Democratic Rep. John Dingell, 82, the most senior member in the House.

Thursday’s Democratic caucus secret ballot, 137-122 in favor of Waxman, mirrored a decision a day earlier by the Steering and Policy Committee to replace Dingell, who’s been the top Democrat on the panel for 28 years.

As I noted earlier this week, Democrats voted to allow Joe Lieberman to keep his chairmanship by another secret ballot. The Congressman wanted to vote the way they felt Lieberman should be dealt with without attracting the ire of nutroots and other liberal activists. Kind of like the way workers would like to decide whether or not their workplace gets unionized without getting intimidated by union officials like Bill.

Even George McGovern opposes eliminating the secret ballot for workers, but most Congressional Democrats support it.