On the Prowl
ON THE PROWL President Podesta Never mind Al Gore. White House Chief of StaffJohn Podesta is Bill Clinton's real No. 2. During the summer months and as late as September 28, Podesta called and...
...One of them even occurred while Clinton was working in the Oval Office...
...He's conservative, but he's not divisive like Gingrich or DeLay...
...That's where she's been staying when campaigning in the state...
...Both were asked about Gore's annoucement during their regular mid-afternoon press briefings the day it was made, and neither knew anything about it...
...In case Buchanan doesn't jump from the GOP, Hoffa has been smart enough to cover his bases with George W. Bush...
...In a heated meeting of House Republicans, Shuster threatened to block any appropriations bill on the floor of the House that he wasn't allowed to vet first...
...Further irritating DeLay, Shuster wanted the ranking Democrat on the committee, Jim Oberstar, also to have vetting privileges...
...Dreier Fire Conservatives in the House disappointed with Dennis Hastert are already talking up the candidacy of Rep...
...1 of Democrats who want to take back his California seat, he wound up raising more than Sr million in the first six months of 1999, and did so nationally...
...In fact, when pressed by reporters for comment about what they termed "Vice President Gore's campaign shakeup," Daschle turned to an aide and asked, "Did Coelho get fired...
...Speaker Dennis Hastert has tried on several occasions since the Reader's Digest article appeared in mid-September to broker a private meeting between DeLay and Shuster, but both have declined to meet...
...As target No...
...Shuster and his staff believe that much of the damning information about him and his relationship to various D.C...
...But when Gore suddenly decided to shut down his D.C...
...He even sits in the president's customary chair for the meetings," says one White House aide...
...The Secret Service wouldn't let our neighbor leave her packages in the lobby unattended...
...operation and move the campaign to Nashville, the building's management company refused to renegotiate the lease or let the campaign out of the contract...
...Dreier is keeping a low profile, but has told close associates that he'd be open to challenging Hastert should Republicans hold on to the House in 2000...
...They want to use the shots for campaigning in Italian neighborhoods in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, and Long Island," says a White House advance staffer...
...Gates doesn't seem to care that his liberal brethren want his company dead," says a conservative fundraiser...
...The best example of Gates's liberal blindness is in his own backyard...
...All Roads Lead to Rome, N.Y...
...2. During the summer months and as late as September 28, Podesta called and chaired more than ten Cabinet meetings...
...He is up for re-election next year, but there doesn't seem to be a Democrat with enough nerve to take him on...
...Hoffa has even allowed talk to continue about his potential candidacy for VP on the Reform Party ticket...
...Dreier has shown a knack for fundraising— he's raised more than $2 million for his own campaign and will probably raise another $2 million for colleagues...
...But he knows his constituents read Reader's Digest, and he's furious...
...Reinventing Rents Whoever owns the downtown Washington building where the Gore 2000 campaign leased office space must be a Republican (or a friend of Bill Bradley...
...So sudden was his decision that no one had time to notify any of 12 November 1999 • The American Spectator Gore's Hill backers, including Dick Gephardt and Tom Daschle...
...DeLay will get the votes he needs to ram appropriations through...
...lobbyists was fed to the magazine's writer by House Majority Whip Tom DeLay...
...Rick Santorum gone Hollywood, or is he just bored...
...When Ted Turner needed Reagan administration help with his cable regulations to secure CNN's future, he ponied up the dough to Republicans...
...As a result, Gore's campaign shelled out more than $1.4 million in campaign funds to cover the rent for office space it won't be using...
...The two have met privately on at least three occasions in Washington since June, get along well, and Hoffa is said to have no problem with endorsing Bush...
...The Pennsylvania Republican has been spotted by eagle-eyed reporters in the Senate press gallery sitting on the Senate dais during quorum calls at the conclusion of the Senate's business day autographing piles of photos of himself...
...While Gore and his staff were invited to several, the Prowler has learned Gore often was not informed of the meetings...
...Pat on the Back Even if Pat Buchanan jumps to the Reform Party, Teamster President James Hoffa is committed to backing Buchanan, especially in Michigan and Ohio, during the primary season...
...He's too busy running -.4 for the seat Podesta is already sitting in...
...David Dreier, currently chairman of the Rules Committee...
...Clinton was through with it," says another resident...
...Rogan's Run If House Republican Rep...
...Someone has to keep the nuts and bolts of government working, and Podesta loves to keep the trains running on time...
...Longtime residents have complained to the building's management about aggressive Secret Service agents who've on occasion patted down unannounced guests and refused residents access to an elevator if Clinton was using it...
...Yet Gates has declined to back Chris Vance, Smith's moderate conservative opponent...
...Shuster doesn't care what the Washington Post or the New York Times, or even '6o Minutes' says about him," says an aide...
...As for the move, Gore people may spin that it was long in the making, but indications are that Gore made the decision within hours of learning how poorly he'd fundraised over the summer—and how well Bill Bradley had done...
...The White House is so used to us shilling for them, that when we don't do their bidding, a guy like Lockhart thinks he has the right to complain about a perceived slight...
...Sacked Fifth Avenue Hillary Rodham Clinton may get no votes from residents of the swank apartment building at 834 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan...
...DNC pollsters now doubt they can beat him...
...Lockhart tore through Kaplan for giving Bradley a forum Clinton and Gore never get anymore from CNN, unless it's on Larry King," says a CNN reporter in its Washington bureau...
...But a pointless trip that would only cost taxpayers a bit over $3 million doesn't cut it with Hillary anymore...
...When the Justice Department sued Microsoft for alleged monopolistic business practices, Republicans like Newt Gingrich and the RNC's Jim Nicholson were all over Gates, hoping for contributions to conservative causes...
...Clinton, of course, isn't paying rent, perhaps because her husband already purchased the apartment, in a manner of speaking...
...According to itinerary records in the first lady's office, Hillary Rodham Clinton was scheduled to travel only to Iceland, Poland, and Slovakia on a trip this fall, although the reasons for the junket mapped out more than six months ago were sketchy even then...
...Gates Closed Even though the Clinton administration is doing everything it can to tear apart the company he built, Microsoft's Bill Gates isn't helping Republicans the way they had hoped...
...Taxpayers will also cover the additional $1 million or so the Italian campaign stops will add to the trip's total costs...
...One afternoon, one of our oldest residents was forced to wait 20 minutes in the lobby with her packages until Mrs...
...Last spring Gore 2000 signed a two-year lease to the tune of $6o,000 a month...
...This Is CNN CNN president and Clinton golf partner Rick Kaplan got an earful from White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart after CNN was the only network to carry Bill Bradley's muchpublicized speech on his national health care plan live and in its entirety...
...James Rogan was bruised by his performance in the Clinton impeachment hearings, he's hurting all the way to the bank...
...When he's sitting up there, he's basically chairing the Senate...
...When House minority leader Dick Gephardt asked the president to come up to the Capitol to demonize the Republican budget, Clinton sent Podesta instead...
...the least he could do is read a policy paper or something," says a Senate leadership aide...
...Podesta, incidentally, plays president in other ways...
...Shuster has underestimated DeLay," says one leadership aide...
...Podesta, on the other hand, evidently loves them...
...Several staffers confirm what Fred Barnes reported long ago: Clinton hates Cabinet meetings (unless he needs Cabinet members to lie for him afterwards) or sitting through them...
...Shuster will just look like a bitter old man...
...It couldn't be that he needs campaign cash...
...Shuster is so peeved that he is rallying the 75 members of his transportation committee against DeLay, as the House leadership struggles to get appropriations bills passed...
...House Republicans have targeted Rep...
...So on the advice of New York campaign adviser Harold Ickes, she and her handlers tacked on a side trip to Italy, and arranged for a full-time freelance photographer to shoot her every move...
...Picture This Has Sen...
...And he'd be a huge improvement on Denny," said a member of the House leadership...
...He hasn't expressed an interest < in running them," says the . aide...
...The American Spectator • November 1999 13...
...Highway Robbery House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bud Shuster feels betrayed after a scathing article calling him the "Prince of Pork" recently ran in Reader's Digest...
...It belongs to Paul Cejas, a businessman whom Clinton nominated to be ambassador to Belgium in 1998...
...But his associates in Washington say a more likely scenario has Hoffa pushing the Teamsters to endorse Buchanan if he shows any staying power at all...
...It was just inconsiderate...
...So why doesn't Gore chair the E meetings, which could pro; vide good photo-ops...
...Adam Smith of Seattle, who supports the administration's suit against Microsoft, as beatable in 2000...
Vol. 32 • November 1999 • No. 11
