CQ TODAY
House GOP to Elect New Majority
Leader,
Feb. 2 Vote Likely
By Alan K. Ota with Susan
Ferrechio and Steven T. Dennis,
CQ Staff
The
race to replace Tom DeLay,
R-Texas, has quietly erupted
into a contentious battle that
could force all elected GOP
leaders to run for re-election.
John
E. Sweeney, R-N.Y., urged
Speaker J. Dennis Hastert,
R-Ill., to hold across-the-board
leadership elections in the
interest of sparking a broad
debate aimed at building
consensus among Republicans for
a new agenda to attack lobbying
abuses and prepare for the
coming 2006 midterm election.
"He
did not raise an objection to my
proposal," Sweeney said. "To the
contrary, the speaker said, 'If
this is the will of the members,
I will be supportive.' "
Sweeney said he likely would put
his proposal in a letter to
colleagues, and said his idea
already was attracting support.
"A lot of members feel the same
way I do," Sweeney said.
An
aide to a senior conservative
also said there was support in
the caucus for a complete new
set of elections.
But
Hastert has let it be known that
only one election is being
planned, and that is for the
position of majority leader.
During a Monday evening
conference call involving
Hastert and a number of senior
Republicans, "At least two
participants raised a question
of opening the election to more
than just the majority leader's
race," a senior GOP aide said.
Hastert indicated during that
call that the plans he was
setting in motion would set up
just one election and not a
review of the entire leadership
slate, that aide said.
An
open election could be bad news
for John Doolittle, R-Calif.,
who holds the entry-level
leadership job of secretary of
the House Republican Conference.
Doolittle has a tie to the
lobbyist at the center of the
ongoing federal corruption
probe, Jack Abramoff. Sierra
Dominion Financial Solutions, a
company run by Doolittle's wife,
Julie, worked with Abramoff in
the 108th Congress.
Doolittle has denied being
influenced by that or by
campaign contributions from the
lobbyist and his clients.
On
Monday, Majority Leader Roy
Blunt, R-Mo., and Education and
the Workforce Chairman John A.
Boehner, R-Ohio, worked behind
the scenes to line up support
for a head-to-head battle for
the No. 2 House leadership job,
while a contentious fight broke
out among members of Blunt's
whip team for the third-ranking
job of whip.
House Republicans will vote the
week of Jan. 30 - and most
likely Feb. 2 - for a new
majority leader to serve out the
remainder of the 109th Congress
now that indicted Rep. Tom
DeLay, R-Texas, has said he will
no longer seek to reclaim that
leadership post. If Blunt wins
that race, a second election
could be held for the job that
Blunt would vacate, majority
whip.
The
race for majority leader appears
for now to be a head-to-head
contest between Blunt and
Boehner, as several other
potential candidates have
dropped out. A competitive race
for whip erupted Monday, with
Cantor's aides claiming he had
already won the race by locking
up commitments from 140
Republicans in the race for
whip. A Cantor aide insisted his
boss had the commitments but
declined to provide a list of
names.
Two
prominent Republicans - Mike
Rogers of Michigan and Todd
Tiahrt of Kansas - disputed
Cantor's claim and jumped into
the whip race. Zach Wamp of
Tennessee previously said he was
interested in running for that
job.
Rogers has served as the liaison
for Blunt's whip team to
lobbying coalitions for GOP
constituents that help
leadership aides whip votes on
major Republican initiatives. He
emphasized his background as a
former FBI agent.
Tiahrt's office released a
written endorsement from
Veterans' Affairs Committee
Chairman Steve Buyer, R-Ind.,
who said Republicans need "a new
face on leadership."
Blunt has held both the No.2 job
and the No. 3 job of majority
whip since DeLay was forced to
step down as majority leader
Sept. 28 following his
indictment in Texas for alleged
campaign law violations.
Though there is sentiment to
vote on more than just that
position, a leadership aide said
only one vote was planned at
this point. The House GOP
Conference will vote on filling
the majority leader post, and if
Blunt wins, a second election
will be scheduled for a later
date to fill the whip position,
that aide said.
Interview With Moderates
Before Boehner and Blunt stand
for election, a group of
moderates wants to interview the
potential future leaders.
The Tuesday Group and Republican
Main Street Partnership of
moderate Republicans plan to
meet with both Blunt and Boehner
to discuss their candidacies,
with ethics reform at the top of
their list of concerns.
Moderates have had a sometimes
rocky relationship with DeLay,
but several moderates have
praised Blunt for listening to
them in the midst of the debate
on the $40 billion savings
package (S 1932). The moderates
forced House leaders to strip
drilling in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge from the budget
bill and won concessions on milk
subsidies, low-income heating
assistance and food stamps.
Moderates also were pleased that
Republican leaders allowed a
vote on stem cell research (HR
810) without whipping votes to
try to kill it.
In
taking on Blunt, Boehner faces
an uphill fight against a rival
who already is an elected leader
and a close ally of Speaker J.
Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.
Hastert has not taken sides in
the intra-party competition, and
has made clear that he believes
both men are qualified.
A
Boehner aide released a list of
17 supporters, and a Blunt aide
offered a list of 23.
But
there are 231 Republicans in the
House, so neither of those
public counts is even close to a
lock on sufficient support.
On
the list of Blunt backers were:
Richard H. Baker of Louisiana;
Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee;
Jo Bonner of Alabama; Dave Camp
of Michigan; Tom Cole of
Oklahoma; Adam H. Putnam, Ander
Crenshaw and Mark Foley of
Florida; Robert W. Goodlatte of
Virginia; and Mike Ferguson and
Rodney Frelinghuysen of New
Jersey.
Other supporters claimed by
Blunt included Kenny Hulshof and
Sam Graves of Missouri; Darrell
Issa of California; Bobby Jindal
of Louisiana; Nancy L. Johnson
and Christopher Shays of
Connecticut; Jack Kingston and
Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia;
Mark Steven Kirk of Illinois;
Sue Myrick of North Carolina;
Charlie Norwood of Georgia; and
Joe Wilson of South Carolina.
Jindal, Norwood and Wilson are
members of the Boehner-headed
Education and the Workforce
Committee.
On
the list of Boehner backers
were: Buyer; David L. Hobson,
Paul E. Gillmor and Pat Tiberi
of Ohio; Steve Pearce of New
Mexico; Devin Nunes of
California; H. James Saxton of
New Jersey; Mike Simpson of
Idaho; Melissa A. Hart of
Pennsylvania; Edward Whitfield
and Anne M. Northup of Kentucky;
John Kline of Minnesota;
Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan;
J. Gresham Barrett of South
Carolina; Charles Boustany Jr.
of Louisiana; Pete Sessions of
Texas and Tom Latham of Iowa.
"I
can tell you Mr. Blunt is
extremely encouraged by the
conversations he is having with
members," said spokeswoman
Jessica Boulanger. "He has over
two dozen members working for
him and making calls to his
colleagues."
"We
have a growing list of members
who are willing to make their
support for Mr. Blunt's
candidacy public. It is by no
means comprehensive," said a
Blunt aide.
In a
letter to colleagues Sunday,
Blunt urged Republicans to close
ranks behind his candidacy. "Tom
DeLay put it best when he
reminded us that as a unified
team, our Republican Conference
is unstoppable," Blunt said in
his letter.
He
emphasized his role in helping
to move parts of the GOP agenda
through the House in the final
months of the 2005 session, and
he blamed unexpected costs of
hurricane recovery and the
ongoing public corruption probe
around lobbyists Jack Abramoff
for slowing action on some
initiatives.
"The
past six months have been some
of the hardest for our
majority," Blunt said. "We faced
events outside of our control
from natural disasters to
runaway prosecutors to corrupt
lobbyists, while a unified
minority and their dedicated
band of 527s pursued one goal:
denying us legislative victory
on the floor and electoral
victory in November."
Taking a Pass
Meanwhile, more House
Republicans who had been in the
mix of speculation about
possible bids for the No.2 job
squelched such talk.
Appropriations Chairman Jerry
Lewis, R-Calif., who took the
panel's gavel just last year,
issued a statement about keeping
the job he has.
"Reforming the appropriations
process has been my central
focus during the short time I
have been chairman of the
Appropriations Committee," he
wrote. "My goal and plan is to
further that reform as I
continue as chairman of the
committee in the years ahead."
Indiana Rep. Mike Pence,
chairman of the conservative
Republican Study Committee,
announced Monday that he and his
wife had talked over the
options, and he had decided not
to be a candidate.
"Because some of you have
encouraged me to consider
seeking a leadership position,
Karen and I endeavored to give
the matter the kind of prayerful
consideration that such
encouragement merits. I am
writing to confirm that I will
not be seeking any elected
position in the Republican
Conference at this time," Pence
said in a written statement.
"Rather than facilitating an
unnecessarily divisive election
for leadership, the Republican
Study Committee should assist
our members in selecting our new
leadership and developing an
agenda for the fiscal and moral
reform our nation awaits from
this majority," Pence wrote.
A
Blunt aide said the Missouri
Republican was not giving press
interviews.
"He
is focused on talking to his
colleagues about the coming
election," the aide said.
GOP
aides said Boehner also was
canvassing members trying to
build support for his own run
for majority leader.
That
intramural action was happening
as DeLay suffered a setback in
his effort to quickly put the
state money laundering charges
behind him.
The
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
denied DeLay's request to
dismiss the charges or send them
back to a lower court for an
immediate trial.
