On the Prowl
ON THE PROWL Herman's Hermits Republicans never raised serious questions about Labor Secretary-designate Alexis Herman's past business dealings during Herman's halfday confirmation hearing...
...This is about the DNC and the White House, nothing else," said the leadership source...
...Sources say it is highly unlikely the questions will ever receive any public airing...
...Thompson's people would love to subpoena Berger's notes from all those meetings, but they've been told by committee lawyers not to hold their breath: the White House will cite "national security concerns" before turning over materials from such meetings...
...Leon, a Washington lawyer with Reagan-Bush ties, is already representing Ann Eppard — a lobbyist and former chief of staff to Shuster...
...Charles Rangel...
...When local Republicans complained about Kasich's appearance to the RNC and House Majority Leader Dick Armey, Armey informed Kasich he would have to pay for the plane flight to California himself, and not out of any House Republican leadership fund...
...Some thought it was because of his close ties to DNC fundraising queen Pamela Harriman...
...Covert Conversion...
...Last year the AFL-CIO spent $35 million to run "educational" TV ads in the districts of some seventy GOP House members, helping to defeat eighteen Republican congressmen such as Reps...
...Unlike Panetta, Feinstein has a readily available fundraising machine in place, left over from her '94 campaign...
...Committee chairman Jim Jeffords of Vermont confined his comments to some mild criticism of Herman's possibly illegal work for the Clinton campaign while she served as a top White House official...
...This Bud's for You Newt Gingrich was furious when Rep...
...Bud Shuster, as the committee's new outside counsel...
...Pete Wilson's camp...
...With Shuster under a genuine ethics cloud, Gingrich was concerned the hiring would be interpreted as an effort by an ethically challenged Newt to help a fellow Republican get off...
...Marion Barry roamed the room while his wife, Cora Masters Barry, fell deep into conversation with Rep...
...Lott's Life After losing the first major legislative battle of the new Congress—the balanced budget amendment vote in early March—Trent Lott didn't feel he could afford to lose the fight over the scope the Senate probe of campaignfundraising illegalities...
...Kasich was identified as the "keynote" speaker at the Condit event, which was billed as a "policy forum" on budget concerns in Condit's Modesto district...
...Kasich has told friends he believes Condit is ripe to be recruited to the GOP, and that he was just doing Condit a favor...
...Nebraska Rep...
...Andrea Seastrand of California, Peter Torkildsen of Massachusetts, and Martin Hoke of Ohio...
...Conspicuously missing from the negotiations were Thompson and Democratic leader Tom Daschle...
...Lott presented Thompson with the compromise three hours before announcing the deal on the Senate floor, and suggested he put his best face on it...
...After Democrats threatened to filibuster Thompson's request for $6.5 million, Lott pulled the proposal off the table and met privately with Rules Committee chairman John Warner and Majority whip Don Nickles, a member of Thompson's investigative committee...
...and polling numbers show she's more popular than both Panetta and the likely Republican nominee, state attorney general Dan Lungren...
...Good as Golding Former congressman and White House chief of staff Leon Panetta can't decide whether to make a run for governor of California—and that leaves the field open for popular Democratic Sen...
...She has earned her way the hard way, by hard work...
...In early March, Republican sophomores who survived the onslaught hit back, albeit meekly...
...Jon Christensen introduced a bill that designed to implement the 1988 Supreme Court ruling in Beck that forbids the use of union dues for political purposes without union member permission...
...Carol Moseley Braun dropped by, as did gravel-voiced Rep...
...John Kasich has privately made no bones about his desire to one day become Speaker of the House...
...David Dreier has more cash, but is tainted by his close ties to fallen GOP leader Newt Gingrich...
...The thinking now is that there was a larger reason for Berger's presence...
...Christopher Cox, an early favorite, has yet to hold a fundraiser—and with only about half a million in the bank, he's $7.5 million shy of what party officials believe is needed to make a credible run...
...We were afraid he'd get snookered by the Democrats and this thing would be treated as a bipartisan investigation for campaign reform...
...ON THE PROWL Herman's Hermits Republicans never raised serious questions about Labor Secretary-designate Alexis Herman's past business dealings during Herman's halfday confirmation hearing before the Senate Labor committee...
...Kweisi Mfume posed for pictures with admirers...
...Warner agreed on a $4.35 million budget that will limit the scope of Thompson's investigation...
...All co-sponsors of the bill were AFL-CIO targets last fall...
...The way he's been acting, it could happen even if Democrats regain control...
...The last straw was Kasich's agreeing to attend an April fundraiser for Gary Condit, a conservative Democrat from central California—having declined invitations to appear at several RNC-sponsored events in Washington, Texas, and Florida around the same time...
...Bob Livingstone, who is overseeing the House Ethics Committee task force, recommended the hiring of Richard Leon, an attorney with close ties to Pennsylvania Rep...
...But what really made Thompson furious was when John Glenn, the ranking Democrat on the investigative committee, told reporters Thompson had been "rolled" by his leadership...
...Facing such a crowd, the Republicans made nice...
...Well before the hearing began, Herman supporters had lined up three-deep outside the door...
...Over a recent dinner of salmon, lemon meringue, and California chardonnay at Feinstein's Southern California home, DNC big-wig Bill Wardlaw, husband Dick Blum, and longtime Feinstein strategists Bill Carrick and Kam Kawata lobbied the undecided DiFi to put her token on the board for the '98 race...
...4} The American Spectator • May 1997 17...
...Barbara Boxer...
...The extent of Lott's power play was later confirmed when Rules Committee Democrats chided Thompson for accepting a deal he had not been a part of...
...Nor did anyone mention her $600,000 affirmative action deal on another giant real estate development...
...Besides," says a staffer in the Republican leadership, "he was sick of seeing Fred Thompson's mug plastered all over TV as some great GOP leader when the guy hasn't done diddly...
...Anti-rap cnisader C. Delores Tucker sat near the front alongside Maro ian Wright Edelman...
...The two are so close that Shuster has been known to spend the night on Eppard's sofa in her Virginia townhouse...
...A Feinstein win would open her Senate seat and create still more problems for California Republicans, who haven't even sorted out who will mount the 1998 challenge to Sen...
...The new bill, however, would only require unions to inform members how much money goes toward political activities...
...Nobody brought up the fact that Herman received a handout worth at least $500,000 from the developers of a downtown Washington real estate project in return for no work...
...As deputy to Anthony Lake from 1993 through the '96 campaign, Berger sat in on almost all political meetings at the White House...
...Dianne Feinstein, who is said to be missing her family...
...She's been holding small fundraisers since November, and has even signed up key advisers from Gov...
...those who made it inside were a who's who of Herman's world...
...The likely nominee is San Diego Mayor Susan Golding, who was highly visible at last year's GOP convention, where she networked extensively with RNC officials...
...Richard Shelby—who just the day '<2 ° before had derailed Anthony Lake's CIA nominationgave Herman (a fellow Alabaman) a warm introduction...
...I'm proud to be with her today," Shelby said...
...Ruttin' Egg How desperate is ranking Government Operations Democrat Henry Waxman to find dirt on Republicans...
...Berger King One name keeps popping up on the radar screens of Fred Thompson's White House fundraising investigators: national security agency director Sandy Berger...
...Janitors in the Rayburn office building say they have found him lightly rummaging through their large rolling garbage carts after they'd picked up trash in offices belonging to Dick Armey and John Boehner...
...Beck Is Back...
...others believed he was on hand to offer advice on Thailand, China, and Taiwan...
...Maybe Waxy was just checking if Republicans abide by recycling rules...
...In short, Berger provided national security cover for raw politics...
...Daschle privately told reporters that he knew something was up when Lott didn't return a single phone call from his office for two days...
...Maxine Waters and "commentator" Julianne Malveaux...
...conspicuously missing were any New York Republicans, whose wayward ways have seen them become the most hated delegation among GOP colleagues...
...newly confirmed transportation secretary Rodney Slater watched from the wings...
...Or was that California's far-livelier social scene...
...Jeffords then moved on to express his deep affection for underwater motorist Ted Kennedy...
...But Golding's hardly a favorite among con16 May 1997 • The American Spectator servatives: she's pro-abortion, and opposed popular antiracial-preferences measure Proposition 209 - not to mention that San Diego's city government has enjoyed rapid growth under her tenure...
...At some point this year, the reconfigured ethics committee will decide whether to take up a complaint against Shuster that focuses on the ties between Shuster, who chairs the House Public Works and Transportation committee, and Eppard, who lobbies on transportation matters while also serving as Shuster's main fundraiser...
Vol. 30 • May 1997 • No. 5
