And yet, observers are scratching their heads over the fact that GOP lawmakers may name as chairman of the all-powerful House Ways and Means Committee a congressman who has fought tooth and nail against a measure to ensure that our uniformed men and women would not lose the right to vote simply because they were stationed overseas.
As explained by the Rev. Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition, Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Calif., in his position as chairman of the House Administration Committee, single-handedly stripped a military-voting provision out of the Defense Authorization Bill four years in a row, using a "states' rights" argument for doing so.
Had Thomas allowed the measure to go through, says Sheldon, "Florida military service personnel would not [have faced] the threat of having their absentee votes tossed in the Bush/Gore election."
Moreover, while President-elect Bush quietly assembles his administration as his lawyers fight to stave off Gore’s attempted theft in the courts, some Republicans worry that, in Thomas’ hands, the Ways and Means Committee could sound the death knell for GOP initiatives on taxes, Medicare and Social Security.
Conservative veteran Rep. Phil Crane, R-Ill., next in seniority to outgoing chairman Bill Archer, R-Texas, is also making a bid to head the tax-writing panel.
Crane has the solid backing of activists, in and out of Congress, who want to see Bush’s program become reality.
Crane’s conservative credentials go back many years. Before his election to the House in 1969, the one-time headmaster of a private school in suburban Chicago was known to readers of such journals of conservative opinion as William F. Buckley’s National Review, where his byline appeared on several occasions.
In a letter to his fellow Illinoisan, Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert, Crane recounts that he has been involved in "every major tax issue since 1972," as well as "Social Security, Medicare, welfare and trade issues." He pledges that, as chairman, he will "push aggressively to eliminate the marriage tax penalty, end the death tax, reduce marginal rates, and increase the dependent deduction – all elements" of the promised Bush tax relief plan.
Stephen Moore, president of Club for Growth, says bypassing Crane would be "an insult to fiscal conservatives and a blow to economic common sense."
Thomas, on the other hand, has worked hard in his 22 years in Congress to shy away from identification with any conservative economic "cutting-edge" issues, even when President Reagan was riding high in national popularity for his tax-cutting initiatives.
Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation notes Thomas did not even endorse such "no-brainer" issues (even to liberal to moderate Republicans) in the 106th Congress as ending the death tax.
Despite his position as a member of Ways and Means, the California lawmaker was widely regarded as of little help in the battle against Hillary Clinton’s plan to nationalize one-seventh of the economy through her massive health care initiative in 1994.
Then there is the personality difference between the two men.
While Crane is liked by his colleagues for his willingness to work with others in both parties, Thomas, to quote a Congressional Quarterly profile published in 1995, "comes off as haughty, pedantic, and brutally sharp-tongued." Many of his colleagues describe him as erratic in his actions toward them. Those who work for him have had to tolerate his mood swings.
Several years ago, Thomas upbraided Human Events Political Editor John Gizzi on a flight back to Washington from California over something Gizzi had written in a column. It is one thing for a politician to tell off a journalist if he doesn’t like what he writes. But Thomas did it in such a way as to cause a scene before bewildered fellow passengers, some of whom may have thought the congressman out of control.
Crane, in his letter to Hastert, refers to his having the "demeanor to work with leadership and colleagues." He makes no direct reference to his opponent. He doesn’t have to.
"Never in my entire tenure in Congress have I allowed my temper to insult, berate, or offend a colleague," Crane says.
Some express wonderment that the House GOP Caucus would even consider rejecting a loyal, intellectual and personable lawmaker such as Crane for anyone as mercurial, in personality and in policy, as Thomas, particularly considering the latter’s vulnerability on the right of military personnel to vote. The Democrats have stumbled on that one. And when your opponent stumbles, you get out of his way and let him fall. You don’t help yourself by imitating him.
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