[Mb-civic] When a Firebrand Burns His Bridges - Dana Milbank - Washington Post Op-Ed

[William Swiggard]

When a Firebrand Burns His Bridges

By Dana Milbank
Thursday, January 5, 2006; A04

The fiery phrases and righteous anger were straight out of 1994. But 
this time, Newt Gingrich was turning his famous indignation on fellow 
Republicans:

"Cronies behaving as cronies!"

"Indifference to right and wrong!"

"A system of corruption!"

"Clean up this mess!"

A day after former GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff's first guilty plea, the 
former House speaker was in the Hotel Washington yesterday, telling a 
group of Rotarians how rotten the capital has become -- and warning that 
the Republican Revolution is being betrayed.

"There are a series of behaviors, a series of attitudes, a series of 
crony-like activities that are not defensible, and no Republican should 
try to defend them," Gingrich fumed.

The ex-speaker is an imperfect messenger on such matters (he had to pay 
$300,000 in 1997 to settle ethics violations). But Republicans who 
remember how Gingrich vanquished the Democrats in 1994 with charges of 
corruption have reason to worry: His charge of cronyism echoes one of 
the Democrats' campaign slogans this year.

"It's very important to understand this is not one person doing one bad 
thing," he advised. "You can't have a corrupt lobbyist unless you have a 
corrupt member or a corrupt staff. . . . This was a team effort."

But will his former colleagues hear his warning? Gingrich's venue 
yesterday was decidedly second-tier. Vice President Cheney had booked 
the Heritage Foundation, so Gingrich joined the little-known Rotary Club 
of Washington, D.C., in the basement of the down-at-the-heels Hotel 
Washington in a ballroom scented strongly by pot roast and decorated 
with felt Rotary banners and balloons from a previous party.

The former speaker found himself in a meeting reminiscent of Fred 
Flintstone's gatherings at the Water Buffaloes Lodge. After the ringing 
of a bell, Gingrich was compelled to join hands in "the sacred Rotary 
wheel" and join in a Native American benediction praying to the "Great 
Spirit" for the "return of robins and other creatures." He declined to 
join Rotarians in singing "Hail to the Redskins," though he could not 
avoid drawing the raffle winner at the end.

It was an incongruous setting for the dire alarm the former speaker 
sounded, calling the scandal "central to the survival of the United 
States" and "a serious, profound challenge" to our system of government. 
"The Abramoff scandal has to be seen as part of a much larger and deeper 
problem," what the Founders would see as "a system of corruption," 
Gingrich said.

"The election process has turned into an incumbency protection process 
in which lobbyists attend PAC fundraisers to raise money for incumbents 
so they can drown potential opponents, thus creating war chests that 
convince candidates not to run and freeing up incumbents to spend more 
time in Washington PAC fundraisers. So, in effect, this city is building 
a wall of money to protect itself from America."

Gingrich's assessment was at odds with those of President Bush and GOP 
leaders in Congress.

Asked whether Bush worries about "a culture of favors" in Washington, 
White House press secretary Scott McClellan, at a briefing just after 
Gingrich's speech, replied: "Well, you're speculating based on facts 
that aren't known at this point."

A couple of hours later, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) 
issued an upbeat statement that Abramoff's plea "indicates that our 
system of justice works and those who break the law for personal gain 
find no favor in Washington."

At points, Gingrich was careful to mention that the abuses are 
bipartisan. But voters usually punish the majority party when 
conversation turns, as Gingrich's did yesterday, to Congress's "orgy of 
spending" and the complaint that lawmakers "raise the same money with 
the same cronies."

Gingrich skipped some of the most inflammatory rhetoric in his prepared 
text, including the suggestions that "Abramoff is only the tip of the 
iceberg" and that Congress should "eliminate from authority those with 
bad judgment."

Was he talking about Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.)? Reporters surrounded 
Gingrich after the speech to find out -- and Gingrich confirmed that 
Republicans should elect a new House majority leader. "I see no prospect 
that DeLay will in any sense be cleared in any reasonable time," he 
said. Gingrich was asked whether DeLay's leadership had contributed to 
the GOP problems. "I'm not going to comment on that," he said, thereby 
providing all the comment necessary.

The speaker advised his former colleagues to hold urgent hearings, and 
to come up with legislation that, among other things, bans fundraising 
in Washington and forces disclosure of all contact with lobbyists. The 
Spirit of '94, he said, is at stake.

"That legacy hangs in the balance," he said. "We arrived here as a 
reform party. . . . We were real and we were serious."

So what happened to Republicans in Congress? "You have to go ask them," 
the former speaker said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/04/AR2006010402058.html?nav=hcmodule
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