TIME: Almanac 1990/1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso/time/040389/04038900.036

Text File | 1990-09-22 | 6KB | 108 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.