KEEP YOUR FRIENDS CLOSE, YOUR ENEMIES CLOSER: Boehner Foes Get Gavels, Not Punishment: The speaker’s allies are annoyed that GOP rebels are getting top subcommittee slots.

As Republicans try to foster unity at a joint retreat here, frustration is boiling over among allies of House Speaker John Boehner that his biggest detractors are being rewarded with promotions, even after trying to overthrow him in a coup earlier this month.

The latest controversy comes as Rep. Louie Gohmert, who directly challenged Boehner for the speakership, announced on Thursday that he was given the chairmanship of the Natural Resources Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.

“This is a major slap in the face,” said one Boehner-allied GOP House member, speaking anonymously to talk candidly about the conference’s internal dynamics. . . .

Boehner’s allies have been much more eager to exact revenge against his opponents than the speaker himself has, and leadership sources have said that while Boehner is angry at his foes, he does not think public retribution is the best long-term move.

Gohmert is only the latest Boehner foe to receive a gavel. Because of that, several members described a thick air of tension within the House GOP Conference, a feeling a second Republican House member described as a blanket hanging over the GOP’s three-day retreat, which ended Friday.

Hmm.