[Mb-civic] After Abramoff, a GOP Scramble - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

After Abramoff, a GOP Scramble
DeLay's House Colleagues Anticipate a Leadership Shake-Up

By Jonathan Weisman and Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, January 6, 2006; A01

An internal battle is underway among House Republicans to permanently 
replace Rep. Tom DeLay (Tex.) as majority leader and put in place a new 
leadership lineup that is better equipped to deal with the growing 
corruption scandal.

Acting Majority Leader Roy Blunt (Mo.) will ask House Republicans to 
make his temporary tenure permanent early next month if, as is likely, 
DeLay is unable to clear his name in the gathering corruption and 
campaign finance scandals, according to a member of the GOP leadership 
and several leadership aides.

The move would almost certainly touch off a GOP power struggle between 
Blunt, whose rise to power was heavily aided by DeLay and House Speaker 
J. Dennis Hastert (Ill.), and House Education and the Workforce 
Committee Chairman John A. Boehner (Ohio), a former House leader who has 
been maneuvering for a comeback.

But other potential candidates could add unexpected twists, especially 
if rank-and-file Republicans decide that neither Blunt nor Boehner would 
present a fresh response to the corruption scandal triggered by Jack 
Abramoff, a GOP lobbyist with close ties to DeLay.

Rep. Mike Pence (Ind.), chairman of the conservative Republican Study 
Committee, recently said in an Internet chat that he had "no present 
intention of seeking any leadership position at this time" but that 
circumstances could change.

A potential bid by Pence, who has angered some members with what they 
consider grandstanding on a host of issues, has prompted some 
conservatives to reach out to the low-key Rep. John Shadegg (Ariz.) as 
an alternative. Rep. Zach Wamp (Tenn.) has announced his intention to 
run for a leadership post, saying yesterday that "the leadership of 
Congress needs to be above reproach." Other dark horses could emerge as 
members scramble for a consensus candidate.

Hastert appears secure in the speakership, despite his own ties to 
Abramoff-related fundraising and other activities. Abramoff's guilty 
pleas have renewed scrutiny of a letter the speaker sent to Interior 
Secretary Gale A. Norton in June 2003 urging her to block a casino 
opposed by Abramoff's Indian tribe clients. The letter was sent just 
days after Abramoff's tribal clients contributed more than $20,000 to 
Hastert's political action committee at a fundraiser at Signatures, the 
swank restaurant the lobbyist owned at the time.

Abramoff's guilty pleas this week and pledge to cooperate with federal 
prosecutors in investigating members of Congress could significantly add 
to DeLay's legal problems. But the more immediate threat is the legal 
battle in Texas over his indictments on campaign finance violations. 
DeLay had hoped that the court battle with Travis County Prosecutor 
Ronnie Earle over the money-laundering charges would be well underway by 
now, if not over. Instead, the case is dragging on over multiple appeals 
and pretrial motions.

"I would have told you a month ago we'd be in trial by now, but that was 
before Ronnie Earle pulled his shenanigans with his frivolous appeals," 
said Dick DeGuerin, DeLay's lead attorney in the case.

Now, the Justice Department's bribery and corruption investigation has 
forced one former DeLay aide, Michael Scanlon, to plead guilty to 
corruption charges, while another, Tony C. Rudy, has been implicated in 
Abramoff's plea agreement.

Leadership aides and DeLay allies said that, in light of the Texas case 
and Abramoff's plea agreements, they now expect DeLay to soon renounce 
claims to the leadership post he was forced to relinquish under GOP 
House rules when he was indicted in September -- and certainly before a 
planned House Republican retreat on Feb. 9.

"The environment has changed. I don't even need to qualify that," said 
the GOP leadership member, who spoke on the condition of anonymity 
because he does not want to be seen as pressuring DeLay to step aside.

DeLay remains determined to reclaim his leadership position, and he is 
confident that he will be exonerated in Texas before early February, 
DeLay spokesman Kevin Madden said yesterday. But there are few others 
who share that optimism, even among leadership members and aides who 
only weeks ago expressed the same confidence.

Since DeLay's indictment, Blunt has served as both House majority whip 
and acting majority leader.

The Missourian would enter a leadership election as the favorite to take 
DeLay's place as majority leader. And he has said his position in the 
Republican conference was significantly strengthened last month when he 
successfully steered through the House a $50 billion budget-cutting 
measure, legislation cracking down on illegal immigration and a 
provision forcing a 1 percent across-the-board cut in all discretionary 
spending outside of veterans programs.

But other members, particularly committee chairmen, are stressing the 
leadership's blunders, including the embarrassing defeat of a spending 
bill funding labor, health and education programs, and the initial 
pulling of the budget measure from House consideration for lack of votes.

Boehner has been angling for a top job for most of his eight terms in 
the House. In the early 1990s, he belonged to a group of young 
Republican crusaders who sought to publicize the names of more than 350 
members with overdrafts at the House bank -- setting off a major 
political scandal. He rode on Newt Gingrich's coattails to rise in the 
Republican leadership, but he lost his job as conference chairman when 
the Gingrich era ended, after GOP losses in the 1998 midterm elections.

Rather than retreat, however, Boehner moved into a new realm, rising in 
2000 to become chairman of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, 
where he earned praise from Republicans and Democrats alike for his 
handling of the No Child Left Behind education legislation.

But Boehner's record has some blemishes that could be used against him 
by his opponents. In 1995, Boehner raised eyebrows by distributing 
campaign checks from tobacco lobbyists on the House floor. Since 2000, 
his political action committee, the Freedom Project, has raised $31,500 
from four of Abramoff's tribal clients.

Such concerns could provide an opening for supporters of Pence or 
Shadegg. Alternatively, some leadership sources say discontented GOP 
members could draft a more experienced lawmaker, such as House 
Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis (Calif.), who would have 
the weight of his powerful panel and his big state delegation behind 
him. Appropriations Committee spokesman John Scofield dismissed such 
speculation, saying Lewis "likes the job he has."

Blunt's move for the position of majority leader would leave Chief 
Deputy Whip Eric I. Cantor (Va.) with a chance to claim the whip's post. 
But Cantor, too, would likely draw opposition.

One leadership source close to DeLay said some members hope to draft 
Rep. Mike Rogers (Mich.), a former FBI agent who specialized in public 
corruption cases, for that post to signal that the party is taking the 
Abramoff scandal seriously.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/05/AR2006010502449.html?referrer=email
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