CQ
TODAY
GOP Leaders Try to Keep
the Lid On
By Alan K. Ota, CQ Staff
Republican leaders were
figuring that a bloodless
replacement of the embattled
Tom DeLay
as House majority leader
would allow the GOP to begin
distancing itself from
ethics problems and focus on
a legislative agenda for the
second session.
Instead, Speaker
J. Dennis Hastert
finds himself presiding over
a full-scale power struggle
that threatens to turn a
Feb. 2 party caucus into a
secret-ballot referendum on
the current leadership team,
its agenda and its methods
of doing business.
Only Hastert now appears
certain to avoid a direct
challenge. He can only be
replaced by the full House,
and he apparently retains
broad support among the
majority.
But a letter circulated by
John E. Sweeney,
a New York Republican, calls
for new elections for every
other GOP leadership post.
If that demand gains
support, House Republicans
could spend Groundhog Day
electing a new leadership
team.
Some changes may occur even
sooner. Hastert wants the
GOP to seize the banner of
reform, and has been talking
with House Administration
Chairman
Bob Ney,
R-Ohio, about relinquishing
his gavel. Lobbyist Jack
Abramoff and his onetime
partner, Michael Scanlon,
have entered plea agreements
acknowledging that they
participated in schemes to
bribe Ney.
Although the chairman has
not been charged, it would
be embarrassing for Hastert
to have Ney at the helm of a
House committee that would
share jurisdiction over the
legislation Hastert has
requested to overhaul
congressional lobbying
ground rules.
Late Entrant Stirs the Pot
It was Rep.
John Shadegg, a
Republican from Arizona, who
last week transformed a
two-man race for the
majority leader's job into a
larger family feud.
After about half the members
of the Republican Conference
had publicly endorsed either
Roy Blunt of
Missouri or
John A. Boehner of Ohio for majority
leader, Shadegg entered the
race and made the
significant gesture of
resigning from the
fifth-ranking leadership
position, the chairmanship
of the Republican Policy
Committee.
That move put new pressure
on Blunt, the acting
majority leader and
front-runner for election to
the post, who has been
holding both the No. 2 job
and the No. 3 post of
majority whip.
"I personally believe it is
not appropriate to try to
retain one position in our
elected leadership while
running for another,"
Shadegg said. "My campaign
is based on reform, and
reform should begin with an
open process."
Two candidates -
Darrell Issa of
California and
Adam H. Putnam
of Florida - immediately
jumped into the race to
replace Shadegg as chairman
of the Policy Committee.
The roughly 100
conservatives in the
Republican Study Committee (RSC)
could be big winners if they
vote as a bloc in a full
slate of GOP leadership
elections.
Mike Pence of
Indiana, who heads the RSC,
has refused to endorse a
majority leader candidate
until his group meets with
the hopefuls in two weeks.
A Republican aide said Blunt
has lined up support from
about 25 RSC members, and
that Boehner has about a
dozen. But the aide said
those commitments might
soften with Shadegg in the
race.
Leaders of a moderate
faction, the Republican Main
Street Partnership, were
also considering how to
extract concessions from
leadership candidates.
Both Boehner and Blunt have
pledged to prohibit funding
earmarks in spending bills
and to distance themselves
from the K Street Project,
the GOP's effort to pressure
law firms, companies and
trade groups to hire
Republican lobbyists.
All three candidates are
stressing their support for
fiscal conservative themes,
tax cuts and spending cuts.
Blunt has pointed to a deal
he made with conservatives
to broaden spending cuts in
last year's budget
reconciliation measure (S 1932),
while Boehner has stressed
his efforts to develop
bipartisan proposals on
education and pensions.
Promises, Promises
Blunt appeared last week to
be lining up support among
lawmakers with ambitions to
succeed committee chairmen
who will be forced to step
aside at the end of the
109th Congress under GOP
term limits. Blunt's
publicly declared supporters
included two challengers to
succeed Ways and Means
Chairman
Bill Thomas of
California -
Nancy L. Johnson
of Connecticut and
E. Clay Shaw Jr.
of Florida.
Commitments to one majority
leader candidate or the
other carried big stakes for
lawmakers hoping to become
chairmen. The new majority
leader will wield
considerable power on the
Republican Steering
Committee, which chooses
committee chairmen.
A number of committee
chairmen - including Thomas,
Transportation and
Infrastructure Chairman
Don Young of
Alaska and Appropriations
Chairman
Jerry Lewis
of California - have not
publicly taken sides in the
majority leader race.
Current chairmen want to
avoid lining up against the
next majority leader, who
will decide which bills will
enjoy priority status as
they line up for House floor
action.
Shadegg entered the race
with few commitments of
support, but nonetheless had
an immediate impact by
competing for the backing of
Republicans eager for a more
conspicuous change from the
tenure of DeLay, who was a
mentor to both Hastert and
Blunt.
Campaign for Change
When DeLay stepped aside
permanently on Jan. 7 -
dropping his effort to
return as majority leader if
he is able to beat charges
he faces in Texas - Blunt
and his chief deputy whip,
Eric Cantor of
Virginia, seemed presumptive
favorites to win election as
the permanent majority
leader and as majority whip,
respectively.
Both men moved rapidly to
consolidate support,
beginning with a strategy
meeting in Missouri with
their aides.
Working separately, they
quickly piled up commitments
from supporters, many of
whom agreed that if Blunt
lost the election as
majority leader, he would
remain as whip. But if Blunt
won, Cantor would be a
favorite to become whip.
But their plan could be in
danger if across-the-board
elections are demanded.
Whit Ayres, a GOP
strategist, said the push
for wholesale change in the
leadership reflects the
depth of rank-and-file
worries about this year's
elections and the deep
erosion in public approval
ratings for the
GOP-controlled Congress and
President Bush.
"Poll numbers have been down
in the cellar when it comes
to public regard for
Congress,'' Ayres said.
"There's a desire for
change. We are not going to
see the sweeping change that
we had, say, after the 1994
election. But we could have
a shake-up of several
positions in the leadership
ranks inside Congress."
Ayres said the majority
leader's race finds
lawmakers moving into two
camps:
. Those supporting the
current leadership team by
backing a Blunt and Cantor
ticket, while opposing
across-the-board elections.
. Those pushing for new
faces, such as Boehner or
Shadegg as majority leader
and one of the three
candidates challenging
Cantor for whip if that job
becomes open.
The other whip candidates
are
Mike Rogers of
Michigan,
Todd Tiahrt of
Kansas and
Zach Wamp of
Tennessee.
"What we can see clearly is
that there is a substantial
difference of opinion on
where they should go right
now on some issues," Ayres
said. "If Blunt wins, he's
more of a status quo choice,
even though he's a very
different person from
Tom DeLay. And
Cantor would be a logical
extension of the current
team."
Supporters of Blunt and
Cantor, including
Jack Kingston of Georgia, say they are
good listeners and have done
well despite a series of
recent setbacks for the
majority party since Blunt
took over for DeLay last
fall - such as the
unexpected cost of hurricane
relief, a litany of ethics
problems and growing
concerns about the fall
elections.
"We've gotten a lot done
under Roy under some trying
circumstances," Kingston
said. "No one can deny
that."
A New Environment
But critics argue that the
current leadership team has
not proven to be effective
at developing new ideas or a
legislative agenda that can
be sold to voters before the
November elections.
"We need more of a relaxed,
creative environment. I
think we've had kind of a
Prussian, Teutonic
approach," said
Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan, a Boehner
supporter. "Ideas go up the
food chain, and they stay up
the food chain. We can't
seem to legislate. There's
not enough room for
individuality."
McCotter said the first
phase of the leadership
contest has ended - the
sprint to collect chits from
friends and lock up blocs of
votes from state
delegations.
"We are now entering the
marathon phase," McCotter
said. "What we have is
Stalingrad. It's going to be
a long, hard fight."
