It's My Party

...He managed the decline of the Soviet empire and crushed the fourth-largest army in the world, but he left the Republican party weak...

...Rich Bond elevated the du Pont candidacy to a new high when he included in a November 6 letter to all RNC members a paragraph that reads: In an act of absolute political treachery, former Governor Pierre "Pete" DuPont [sic] of Delaware began campaigning for the RNC Chairmanship several weeks before election day...

...Opposition to tax increases is, in Phyllis Schlafly's phrase, "the unifying principle" of the Republican party...

...But his days are numbered...

...And he skillfully followed Richard Nixon into China...

...Over Lewis's extralegal delays, Armey forced a vote on the resolution that made headlines around the country, reminding voters that the House Republicans¡ªif not the President¡ªremembered they were the anti-tax party...

...The idea was floated and defeated just before the election, but is certain to resurface...

...The Republican party cannot regroup until that deal and the breaking of the no-tax-increase pledge have been exorcised...

...Newt Gingrich, who won an insurgent campaign to become whip in 1989, has worked to move Michel into a more confrontational political position, while calming the fears of House Republicans who are frightened by anyone courageous (crazy...

...enough to take on and topple both Speaker Jim Wright and Tony Coelho...

...It would be laughable to, imagine Lynn Martin standing before a group whose resolution she had not even acknowledged...

...As Ron Brown of the Democratic National Committee has demonstrated over the past few years, in the absence of a President, the party chairman can become an effective spokesman for the party and help set its direction and tone...

...This personal attack was bizarre, as du Pont was not, in fact, campaigning for the RNC position, and most of the others listed as possible chairmen were long ago having discussions about their futures¡ªincluding the possibility of Rich Bond's job...

...A Lynn Martin candida cy would be interesting...

...It is worth noting that the 1988 and 1992 Republican platforms call for the implementation of Beck...

...A number of would-be chairmen have offered themselves, or have been suggested: former Governor Pete du Pont of Delaware, former Minnesota congressman Vin Weber, outgoing Labor Secretary Lynn Martin, NRCC chairman Spence Abraham, Mississippi Committeeman Haley Barbour, political consultant Charlie Black, and former Secretary of the Army Bo Calloway...

...stitute a 57-percent governing majority...

...Gradison represents both the moderate wing of the party and the non-confrontational Bob Michel style of leadership...

...The other leadership positions would be appointed by Michel...

...It's disloyal, unseemly and cowardly to put one's own ambition before the good of the Party and our President and that is exactly what Pierre did...

...The Republican party has been taken on this ride in 1982 and 1990...

...To this end, the new chairman must be able to denounce the 1990 budget deal without reservation, and support the original Republican platform passed in Houston, which called for repealing the tax hikes in Darman's 1990 agreement and denounced the deal as a "mistake...

...He shares Ross Perot's obsession with the deficit and would cheerfully walk back into a negotiating room to raise taxes in return for promised spending cuts...

...Bond writes: "We can't let our opponents `Carterize' George Bush...

...Gingrich would be cheered and encouraged by the reinforcement, and Michel would find it easier to confront the Democrats...

...First, he must be a spokesman for the entire party, unifying the coalition that won in 1980, 1984, and 1988...

...Both Gingrich and Hyde have made it clear, however, that should Michel choose to move over to a ranking position on an important commit tee, such as Appropri ations, they would like to be considered by their peers...

...The last paragraph of Bond's intemperate letter might explain the intensity of the White House¨Cdirected attack...

...When Packard asked Lewis about this, Lewis denied that there were any deals at all...

...Robert Dole has offered himself as the leader of the Republicans in the Senate, and hopes to graft the Perot voters to the Bush voters of 1992 and recon Grover Norquist is president of Americans for Tax Reform...

...Packard was besieged by fellow members, who asked if their deals with Lewis were still good with him...

...Enforcing Beck would have taken hundreds of millions off the table, instead of leaving it available for use against Republican candidates...

...Debates on how the Republican party can patch back together the Reagan coalition¡ªlow-tax, small-government, and traditional-values conservatives and supporters of a strong defense¡ªnow begin with the question of who will lead such a restoration...

...0 f the above-mentioned possible chairmen, Vin Weber has begun to take himself out of consideration by discussing his plans for organizing an activist think tank or a "Heritage for the 1990s...

...n the absence of strong leadership in the Senate / and in the absence of a strong presidential contender such as Ronald Reagan between 1976 and 1980¡ªmany Republicans are looking to the House Republican leadership to provide a strong Republican voice in opposition...

...But when Bob Michel decided not to retire, he disappointed some of the more activist members of the Republican caucus in the House...

...It is worth a great deal of effort to outside conservative groups and would-be House Republican activists to ensure that Dick Armey and Tom DeLay join Gingrich and Michel in the leadership...

...Spence Abraham acquitted him self admirably as the exec utive director of the NRCC, is strong on the tax issue, and works well with the entire coalition...

...G eorge Bush was a successful com ¡¡¡¡¡¡mander-in-chief, but a failure as a party leader...

...Setting the vote in odd-numbered years removes charges of partisan politics and allows all members to vote unsuccessfully to stop the closure of bases in their districts...

...Thus Republican members of Congress who wished to get a good committee assignment were well advised to promise to vote for Lewis for Conference chairman, and they did...

...Thus, the RNC chairmanship is about to emerge from the shadow and become a very important position, rivaling the leadership of the House and Senate Republicans...

...Please bear this in mind when he contacts you for your vote...

...DeLay, like Armey, is an aggressive conservative who fought the 1990 budget fiasco...

...Second, he must be technically competent in party-building...

...He co-authored the 1991 DeLay-Wallop tax-cutting legislation, which would have cut the capital gains tax, rolled back the Social Security tax increase, and speeded up the depreciation for business investment...

...But Michel is still Michel...

...Prior to the election, .Armey announced that he had a majority of the votes of Republicans...

...Exit polls and the results of tax-cutting initiatives demonstrate that the party and nation are firmly against higher taxes...

...The election demographics helped, as twenty-six of the thirty retiring Republicans were Lewis supporters...

...This election cycle alone, when many Republicans were strapped for cash, GOPAC provided $1.6 million to House challengers...

...0 nce the House and Senate Republican leadership is settled by mid-December, the party will then focus on who will replace Republican National Chairman Rich Bond...

...With a staff of fifteen, it is the institution through which the Republicans in the House get together to vote on resolutions that define party positions...

...The legislation once again put the conservative House and Senate Republicans on the record as favoring lower taxes and pro-growth legislation...

...The coalition that gave the Republicans three presidential victories in a row was ignored, ill-used, and betrayed to the point where 27 percent of Republicans and 35 percent of conservatives voted for Ross Perot or Bill Clinton...

...So far we haven't seen any vision, any principles, any policies...

...Senator Phil Gramm of Texas would like to be a leader of Senate Republicans, but as an architect of the 1990 budget deal, he is tied to the failures of the past...

...The vote took place July 18 and was correctly read by the White House and the press as a warning from House Republicans that they would not support the tax increases Damian was then cooking up with the Democratic leadership...

...The du Pont candidacy would be accompanied by a commitment that du Pont would not run for President in 1996...

...Upcoming elections for the leadership of the Republican National Committee and key congressional posts will determine whether the GOP settles for the embarrassed and embarrassing politics of the 1992 campaign...

...This would greatly reduce the fears of some that he might use the position as a springboard...

...Its initial list of bases to be closed will save the taxpayers $700 million each year...

...Conservatives remember how successful Newt Gingrich, Vin Weber, and Bob Walker were as backbenchers organized in their Conservative Opportunity Society in defining an, activist forward-looking Republican agenda...

...Dole never understood the low-tax, pro-growth strategy of Ronald Reagan and Jack Kemp...

...It is just this success that rebuts criticism that Armey is a mere partisan battler...

...He had served as the California representative on the Committee on Committees, which decides who will serve on what committee...

...Martin refused to enforce the law¡ªprotecting union members from paying compulsory dues used for political purposes¡ªuntil the Bush campaign called her on the carpet in Spring 1992...

...There is the stench of betrayal and treason in the air, and it comes from the biggest betrayal of all: George Bush's decision in 1990 to tear the heart out of the Republican coalition...

...Dick Armey, the feisty former economics professor from Texas, is challenging Lewis...

...Louis, Missouri, on January 28-29 to elect Bond's replacement...

...To the dismay of some young Turks, Gingrich has promised Michel that he will not run against him for the position of Republican leader this year...

...Lewis would cast as many votes as there are Republican members from California¡ªa total of nineteen out of 187 votes...

...Gramm's people may complain about his ties to Quayle and Kemp...

...In past years, Lewis had a tremendous advantage in his campaigns for reelection as Conference chairman...

...Armey is well remembered as the congressman who cut the Gordian Knot on military base closings by fashioning a vote to empower a bipartisan commission to recommend a list of obsolete bases to be closed, consolidated, or downsized...

...Alone in the list of possible party chairmen, Pete du Pont publicly and actively opposed the 1990 budget deal that Ed Rollins points out cost the Republicans some twenty-four house seats...

...One wonders, however, if Bob Dole, one of the negotiators of the 1990 tax increase, can be a credible leader of the Reagan coalition...

...But in 1991, for many of the same reasons that Armey is challenging Lewis today, the conservative California delegation stripped Lewis of his powerful position on the Committee on Committees and gave it to Ron Packard...

...When Republicans hold the White House, the job of RNC chairman is managerial¡ªraising money, recruiting candidates, and keeping the party structure together...

...Armey's commission has worked so well that some of Clinton's more moderate advisers are looking to replicate it to save costs in the agricultural extension agent offices and other departments...

...Now, every two years, the commission will recommend more bases to close...

...When du Pont ran for President in 1988, he resigned as general chairman of GOPAC and handed the organization over to Newt Gingrich...

...And he might be acceptable to Kemp, Gramm, and Pat Robertson, as he is known to have been a strong opponent of the 1990 budget deal and is a free-market conservative who is sympathetic to the concerns of social conservatives...

...Thus protecting Michel and Gingrich...

...Another possible challenger, Henry Hyde of Illinois, is temperamental ly unsuited to such a chal lenge...

...Du Pont also has a record as a technically proficient party builder¡ªhe founded GOPAC to help identify, train, andelect Republicans to state legislatures and to Congress...

...All members of the coalition share a commitment to limited government and reduction in the tax burden...

...It was du Pont who in 1988 said: George Bush heroically followed America into war...

...In 1990, Armey led the call for a revolt of House members that resulted in a two-to-one vote putting the Republicans on record against any tax increases...

...ewis serves in the present leadership meetings as L a supporter of Michel's worst instincts: to cooper ¡¡¡¡¡¡ate with the Democratic majority and avoid fights...

...F aced with the possibility of a House leadership that consists of Bob Michel surrounded by Newt Gingrich, Dick Armey, Henry Hyde, and Tom DeLay, the moderates, led by Steve Gunderson and tax pledge breaker Fred Grandy, have offered a novel reform: Why not elect only two leadership positions, the minority leader and the whip...

...This, some hoped, would lead to the appointment of moderate¡ªin tone and principle¡ªmembers who could never get elected on their own...

...Lewis repeatedly refused to allow Armey's resolution to come to a vote...

...The first task of any chairman will be to undo the damage of the Bush presidency in losing the tax issue...

...Ell...

...A ny successful RNC chairman or candidate for the presidency in 1996 will have to repudiate the 1990 budget agreement...

...Some party loyalist...

...And third, he must avoid being seen as the tool of one or another potential candidate for 1996...

...He is 'one of us'¡ªa GOP county chairman and a National Chairman and he deserves our undying loyalty, respect and support...

...Each time, Armey went to the effort to get fifty signatures of fellow House Republicans¡ªthus requiring Lewis to bring the resolution up as soon as possible...

...Facing Democratic and White House opposition, the legislation did not pass, but it put down a Republican marker and began to reclaim the tax issue for Republicans...

...Charlie Black and Haley Barbour are too closely identified with the Phil Gramm candidacy for the presidency in 1996, as well as with the mistakes of the Bush era...

...Members who remembered their conversations with Lewis differently were not pleased...

...The most important race for the future of the House Republicans is the contest for Republican Conference chairman, a post currently held by Jerry Lewis of California...

...The RNC chairman has three important duties...

...Dozens of House Republicans wrote to Martin demanding the same...

...This happened only days after Lewis had won reelection as Conference chairman in return for promises to help those who voted for him in his capacity as California's representative on the Committee on Committees...

...In 1991 and 1992, the Republican National Committee unanimously passed resolutions introduced by Virginia Committeeman Morton Blackwell urging the Secretary of Labor to enforce the Supreme Court decision Beck v. Communication Workers of America...

...And he somewhat less enthusiastically followed Ronald Reagan into the modern economics of tax cuts and job creation...

...A second key race pits Tom DeLay of Texas against Willis D. (Bill) Gradison of Ohio for the job of Secretary of the Republican Conference, made vacant by the retirement of Vin Weber...

...Thus weakened, he was able to win re-election as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee by only one vote over Mitch McConnell of Kentucky...

...Armey and Lewis have clashed before, and past conflicts are an indication of just how big a shift replacing Lewis with Armey would represent...

...The New York Times headline read: "Defying President, House Republicans Vote Opposition to Tax Rise...

...The process was so successful that the Pentagon has institutionalized it...

...A year earlier he had dragged his feet on an identical anti-tax resolution...

...The 165 members of the RNC¡ªthree from each state and territory¡ªwill meet in St...

...But the question is: In a Bush Presidency, who would lead America...