TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/040389/04038900.036

Text File | 1992-09-23 | 6.0 KB | 120 lines

                                                                                NATION, Page 22

An Attack Dog, Not a Lapdog


House Republicans make feisty Newt Gingrich their No. 2 man


    One view is that Newt Gingrich is a bomb thrower. A
fire-breathing Republican Congressman from Georgia, he is more
interested in right-wing grandstanding than in fostering
bipartisanship in the House of Representatives.

    Another view is that Newt Gingrich is a visionary. An
impassioned reformer, the six-term lawmaker from Jonesboro,
Ga., brings innovative thinking and a respect for deeply felt
American values to the House.

    Whether his congressional colleagues regard him as a hero
or a hothead -- there seem to be few opinions in between --
Newt Gingrich, 45, accomplished a feat last week that not many
of them would ever have ever predicted. By a vote of 87 to 85,
he was elected minority whip, the G.O.P.'s second-ranking
leadership post, by House Republicans. Gingrich succeeds
Wyoming's Richard Cheney, who left the House to become Secretary
of Defense.

    The choice of Gingrich, a former history professor, may
mean an era of confrontational politics in the House, where
Democrats outnumber Republicans 258 to 174. By selecting the
aggressive Gingrich over his mild-mannered rival, Illinois'
Edward Madigan, House Republicans signaled that they want more
lash in their whip. "We had a choice of being attack dogs or
lapdogs," said a G.O.P. lawmaker. "We decided attack dogs are
more useful."

    Gingrich's victory was a rebuke to the House's Old Guard
Republicans, a breed typified by the congenial minority leader,
Bob Michel of Illinois. The chunky, blow-dried Gingrich
represents the party's Young Turks, ultra-conservative
Republicans, many of them elected in the '80s, who are fed up
with their elders' deference to the majority. The Old Guard,
Gingrich said, "tends to say, `Oh, gee, (the Democrats) are in
charge. How can we be nice enough to them that they'll let us
pretend we're part of the game?' " In contrast, he declared, "I
represent the wing of the party that says, `Fine, we'll take up
that challenge.'"  Michel, who slipped and referred to Gingrich
as "Nit" during a press conference, seemed resigned to the Young
Turks' triumph. "There's such a frustration on our side at being
mired down in the minority," said Michel.

    While the whip's basic job is to count votes, getting a
sense of where lawmakers stand on an issue, Gingrich is more
likely to use the post as a bully pulpit for his legendary
Democrat bashing. In 1984 Gingrich enraged then Speaker Tip
O'Neill by vehemently accusing Democratic lawmakers of blindness
to the Communist threat. It was Gingrich who fomented the House
Ethics Committee's investigation of O'Neill's successor, Jim
Wright of Texas. In a characteristically antagonistic oratorical
flourish, Gingrich accused Wright, as well as other Democratic
leaders, of having a "Mussolini-like ego."

    But Gingrich may find himself caught in an ethics scandal
similar to Wright's. One of the main charges against Wright is
that he used an unusual royalty arrangement for his book,
Reflections of a Public Man, to get around limitations on
campaign contributions. The book was sold primarily in bulk to
such political supporters as the Teamsters Union and Washington
lobbyist John White. The Speaker pocketed a 55% royalty. The
Ethics Committee is expected to release next week a potentially
damning report on Wright's activities.

    Gingrich employed a different device. According to the
Washington Post, he persuaded 21 supporters to contribute
$105,000 to promote Window of Opportunity, a book on the
"American future" that the Georgian co-authored in 1984 with his
wife Marianne and a science fiction writer, David Drake. Though
the book sold only 12,000 hard-cover copies and failed to make
a profit for its publisher, the investors reaped tax benefits
for their contributions. They also paid Marianne Gingrich nearly
$10,000 for her efforts. Gingrich admitted last week that his
book deal was "as weird as Wright's."  But unlike the Speaker,
said Gingrich, "we wrote a real book for a real company that was
sold in real bookstores."

    Democratic lawmakers plan to ask the House Committee on
Standards of Official Conduct to investigate Gingrich's book
arrangement. After Gingrich's election last week, Wright sent
the new whip a copy of Reflections of a Public Man with a
pungent inscription: "For Newt, who likes books too." When asked
how Gingrich, in his new leadership role, would deal with
Wright, Gingrich replied, "Politely."

    Most Democrats expect anything but courtesy from Gingrich.
In fact, they view his combativeness as a potential plus. "Newt
probably unites the Democratic Party more than any other single
Republican," said House Majority Whip Tony Coelho of
California. If Gingrich lives up to his loose-cannon reputation,
he could further hinder the President's crusade for
congressional bipartisanship. Of course, if Gingrich has his
way, there will not be a Democratic majority in the House for
long. "Newt wakes up in the morning, and the first thing he
thinks about is how to become the majority party," says Charles
Black, a Republican political consultant. Gingrich is hoping the
G.O.P. will win a strategic edge from the redrawing of
congressional districts in 1991, an unlikely outcome since
Democrats control a majority of the state legislatures that will
be redefining the districts.

    Moreover, there has not been a G.O.P. majority in the House
since Dwight Eisenhower's first term in office. Despite
victories in the past three presidential elections, the
Republicans have actually lost 18 House seats since Ronald
Reagan was first sworn in. Because roughly 98% of congressional
incumbents can count on re-election, the Democrats have a
tremendous advantage. Bomb thrower or visionary, Newt Gingrich
can probably plan on being in the minority party for a long time
to come.