This is not just your ordinary personality contest in the "inside baseball" politicking that happens when two lawmakers want the same job.
This is a race that can determine:
Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., is aggressively seeking to leap over a more senior member of the committee to become the chairman.
The GOP policy of limiting its chairmen to three terms means that Rep. Floyd Spence, R-S.C., must step down. Next in line in seniority is Rep. Bob Stump, R-Ariz., a solid conservative and World War II veteran who has all the right instincts.
Stump, 73, was the only member of the Arizona congressional delegation who refused to support Sen. John McCain’s bid for the presidential nomination. Weldon describes Stump as "a great American" when addressing his GOP colleagues.
It used to be that someone with Stump’s credentials would be honored with the chairmanship to cap his career. But the alarming state of our military under the Clinton administration has prompted many conservatives and military people to push for Weldon because, as Free Congress Foundation President Paul Weyrich puts it, "clearly something out of the ordinary is called for."
Moreover, it is not as if Stump has been denied a full committee chairmanship in all his years on Capitol Hill. He has just completed six years as chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee. He had to step down from that post because of the term limits rule.
In a Weldon Armed Services Committee, "all members would have a substantive role," according to those close to the Pennsylvania lawmaker. And that would surely include Bob Stump. Every one of the committee’s subcommittee chairmanships will be open.
The irony in this contest is that Weldon, 53, has a more "moderate" voting record. But unlike the stereotypical East Coast Republican "moderate," he is no country club elitist.
He is a product of the Delaware County "War Board" Republican machine in his Pennsylvania district. He knows how to play hard-nosed politics with the best of them. He does the attentive local congressman routine, attending every Eagle Scout induction in his district while at the same time taking on the "big picture" national issues.
A Russian studies major in college, Weldon worries that crime, corruption and internal disintegration are so rampant in Russia that nuclear weapons theft "seems entirely plausible."
He accuses the Clinton administration of "squandering the opportunity of a lifetime" in its dealings with post-Cold War Russia.
The congressman, who speaks fluent Russian, has become acquainted with members of the Russian parliament and parliament members in other countries in that part of the world. He commands their respect. He played a key role in the peace plan, backed at the last moment by the U.S., that headed off a ground war in Yugoslavia.
The eastern Pennsylvania lawmaker has used his chairmanship of the Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Research and Development to confront the Clinton administration’s approval of export licenses for commercial satellite sales to China that likely revealed vital weapons technology.
In his pursuit of the Armed Services chairmanship, Weldon’s goal is clear: Link the badly needed effort to rebuild the military and national security to Republican political fortunes.
As Ronald Reagan used to say, good policy is also good politics. And Weldon personifies that philosophy to a T. He is convinced that restoring America’s military strength can also break the back of the Beltway liberal establishment.
The congressman outlines exactly how he intends to accomplish it. Leaving no stone unturned, he is circulating among his GOP colleagues a professionally created brochure on his plans in the policy and political arenas.
The Weldon scenario envisions "maximizing our efforts with key target groups."
In the Weldon world, you help your friends and you don’t kowtow to your enemies.
"They can’t have it both ways," the Pennsylvanian reportedly told the House GOP caucus. His colleagues are being reminded that you don’t see the AFL-CIO "hedging its bets" with an evenhandedness toward Republicans when it’s time to cough up support.
Speaking of which:
The congressman regales his colleagues, in meetings and in one-on-one conversations, about how he campaigned for GOP congressional candidates by going to UAW- and IAM-organized factories in their districts and talking directly to the union members, explaining to them how the Clinton-Gore policies threaten their ability to put food on the table.
Weldon actively campaigned in this fashion for Republicans in eight politically tough districts, and he is not the least bit bashful about reminding his fellow members who will have a say in the Armed Services chairmanship that "If we hadn’t won seven of them, we [the Republicans] wouldn’t have the [House] majority." (The one loser, Dick Zimmer of New Jersey, fell short by about 200 votes.)
"We need to bypass [AFL-CIO President John] Sweeney and go right to the members," Weldon believes.
He has also made it abundantly clear that his support for bolstering the military does not translate into making him a "shill" for the Pentagon. Just as he is skeptical of welfare fraud, so too will he take a hard look at Pentagon spending. He promises a Weldon House Armed Services Committee will insist on military muscle, as opposed to pure pork. He is nobody’s patsy.
How to deal with that? "We must support university-based student organizations and national research and academic organizations that raise awareness about how our [Republican] conference looks out for their vital interests."
The House GOP Conference should engage in "comprehensive outreach efforts" to "all of the major ethnic organizations who help comprise our great democracy and benefit from its long-term defense."
Those are external factors. Internally, the Weldon plan envisions a reorganized Armed Services Committee that activates and motivates junior members and places priorities on legislation that furthers "America’s strategic interests" and unifies the GOP conference.
Added to that is a communications strategy to spread the GOP message, along with an approach aimed at electing "a pro-defense GOP House majority."
Weldon’s colleagues know, from what they have seen of his subcommittee chairmanship, that his belief in the principled use of political muscle on behalf of his party should not be mistaken for blind partisan bluster. In the six years he headed that panel, there were no split votes.
He says, "Democrats can be brought around when the message is right." Being a partisan, he believes, is constructive provided it is coordinated with street smarts and knowing how to deal with people.
The vote by House Republicans supposedly could come as early as the week ahead, and would come by Jan. 4 at the latest. Grassroots activists who want to put the U.S. back in a position of unchallenged strength and who want the Republican Party to forge ahead and dominate the political scene in the 21st century are being urged by Weldon allies to contact their local Republican congressman right now. You may or may not have the luxury of waiting until the holidays are over.
The House GOP Steering Committee will make recommendations for the post. The full Republican House membership usually follows that committee’s lead.
Here are names of the Steering Committee members: Speaker Dennis Hastert (Ill.); House Majority Leader Dick Armey (Texas); House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (Texas); House Conference Chairman J.C. Watts (Okla.); Rep. Roy Blunt (Mo.); Chris Cox (Calif.), Deborah Price (Ohio); Barbara Cubin (Wyo.); Tom Davis (Va.); Ken Calvert (Calif.); Sonny Callahan (Ala.); Dave Camp (Mich.); Tom Latham (Iowa); Ralph Regula (Ohio); John McHugh (N.Y.); John Linder (Ga.); Cass Ballenger (N.C.); Joe Barton (Texas); Bob Stump (Ariz.); Don Young (Alaska); Jerry Moran (Kan.); John Sweeney (N.Y.).
As you can see, Stump himself is on the Steering Committee. All the more reason, say Weldon backers, that those who want the Pennsylvanian to be chairman should be on the phones urging others on the panel to support the more junior candidate.
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