On the Prowl
ON THE PROWL Arrivederci, Roma New York ex-Senator Alfonse D'Amato probably won't be going overseas on the Clinton administration's lira after failing to stop a single moderate Republican from...
...The American Spectator • February 1999 15...
...Boehlert even asked what he was getting out of the deal...
...In a brief December meeting that included House Majority Leader Dick Armey and Tom DeLay, Hastert told Kasich that he wasn't going to get his big budget and tax cuts, and that if he didn't get with the program he would lose his budget chairmanship as well...
...Bruce Bartlett, a former Reagan Treasury official, again campaigned for the job, after being rebuffed four years ago...
...If the chairman [Roth] decides to retire, this would be another piece to add to his legacy, along with the Kemp-Roth tax cut and the IRA expansion...
...Hastert spoke, Kasich listened, and then everyone wished each other happy holidays...
...Chicago, by contrast, ranked eighth...
...Another story being shopped is that of a former White House employee who paid for a mistress's abortion to avoid a potentially messy press scandal and divorce...
...Budget cuts...
...In the days leading up to the House vote, White House chief of staff John Podesta asked D'Amato to use his influence on ten Republican moderates from the New York area...
...We don't want to anger the unions...
...Like other lame-duck congressmen, he had moved out of his offices in late November to make room for their new occupants...
...Instead of helping her Clinton looked down and pointed at the woman, mumbled something, then walked away...
...In a press release faxed to the Washington Post, he announced he would not cross a union picket line...
...The bad news is that conservatives are likely to remain disappointed with her successor...
...Recently Gore had Education Secretary Richard Riley travel to Chicago and in a press conference announce that the city was one of the most successful and progressive bastions of education reform...
...Livingston was an appropriator at heart, and Kasich didn't feel they were on the same page," says a member of Hastert's leadership team...
...It was a straightforward, one-way conversation," says the member...
...He doubted it would work, So what should they do...
...Soon enough, "Night-line" came calling...
...But when "This Week" wanted Espy less than a week later, he declined...
...House Budget Committee chairman and likely presidential aspirant John Kasich was telling colleagues that with Bob Livingston out of the picture he expected to push through deeper budget cuts and a larger tax cut in logo...
...The best thing they could do, he told a stunned room, was give District of Columbia delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton a full vote in Congress...
...Lee Hamilton, the top Democrat on the House International Relations Committee—felt slighted...
...They were not receptive to his suggestions that they support the White House...
...Happy New Year New Speaker Dennis Hastert doesn't mince words...
...So Espy waited in a limo around the corner from the ABC bureau, until a phone call from an ABC staffer alerted him that the picketers had taken a break...
...Kemp-Roth, Finale Sen...
...But one Democrat—retiring Indiana Rep...
...He doesn't think Gejdenson is qualified to speak on anything involving foreign affairs," says a committee staffer...
...Such an appointment would have been news to the current ambassador, former Rep...
...In late December a CBS "6o Minutes" producer was offered copies of what he claims were a former high-ranking Clinton administration staffer's internal employment file, which included potentially embarrassing memoranda from the Secret Service and the IRS...
...Espy crossed the vacated picket line and went on live with Ted Koppel...
...Riley didn't visit any other city on the list, nor did he hold a press conference in Washington to announce the top ten...
...At last report, the GOP short list is split between Dan Crippen, moderate budget chairman Sen...
...Crossing the Line The ABC News bureau in Washington has found it difficult of late to attract prominent Democratic guests to such programs as "This Week" and "Nightline" because of ongoing picketing by a handful of unionized TV production personnel...
...On a cold December night a long line of pressies and their family members were served stale cookies, punch, and water...
...Not for long...
...D'Amato promised Podesta results, and lobbied Reps...
...Mr...
...The woman in question now works in the Washington news bureau of a broadcast network...
...Tax cuts...
...But former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy was hot to get on "Nightline" to crow about his acquittal on bribery charges...
...Four of these turn out to be in states run by Republican governors and are cities where school choice is coming into its own...
...Just what the Republicans need: another Democratic vote to cut into their majority...
...As a result, Connecticut's Sam Gejdenson, the committee's number two Democrat, received much television time...
...Never mind that Chicago isn't among the Education Department's top five reform cities...
...The two men and their families are close: The Gores have been known to fly off on the spur of the moment to spend weekends with the Daleys...
...People like King and McHugh and Johnson told him he should be ashamed of -•°' himself for jumping to the < Clinton camp," says a D'Amato confidant...
...Kasich has since learned he's not on the same page with Hastert, either...
...Friends Clinton loyalists in the White House have told friends that some White House staffers aren't merely helping media outlets dig up Republican skeletons...
...He's polling and looking to run again for the Senate in z000...
...Keeping Score Congressional Budget Office director June O'Neill is not seeking a second term...
...Hamilton," he informed them, "can speak knowledgeably and eloquently about the current events unfolding over Iraq...
...It makes calling for tax cuts or budget cuts that much easier when we can show the American people just how much money is pouring into the Treasury's coffers," says a House member who opposed O'Neill...
...To attract D'Amato's support, according to a knowledgeable State Depaitinent source, Podesta promised him the ambassadorship to Italy...
...Jack Quinn, Peter King, Sherwood Boehlert, Michael Forbes, Benjamin Gilman, Rick Lazio, John McHugh, Connecticut's Nancy Johnson, and New Jersey's Bob Franks...
...Hillary never showed, while Bill made only a brief appearance...
...Without an office, he couldn't be reached...
...Some White House people are extremely displeased with what some former Clinton friends are saying publicly and privately to the press about the president...
...Vice President Al Gore refused to cross the picket line, and many Clinton administration spokesmen have used the labor difficulty as an excuse for refusing to comment for ABC News stories...
...That's the good news to conservatives on Capitol Hill who hired her four years ago hoping against hope that she would apply "dynamic scoring" to CBO's tax and revenue analysis...
...Desert Fax As American missiles rained down on Iraq in mid-December, many television news shows looked for high-profile Democrats who might comment...
...Right now, they are some of the only friends we have," says a White House press aide...
...Recently he was invited to meet with the House GOP leadership to discuss the upcoming Congress...
...Foster of the Tax Foundation...
...Pete Domenici's choice, and the more conservative J.D...
...They're going after some former friends too," says a former White House employee now with another Cabinet-level staff...
...Hamilton, from a single machine in a cubby hole in the basement of the Rayburn office building, began furiously faxing Washington media outlets—to let them know he was still in town and was technically still "ranking member of the House International Relations Committee...
...So it's understandable that Gore wants to make his buddy look good...
...Conservatives love dynamic scoring because it tends to estimate tax revenue more accurately than traditional static methods...
...As he arrived a woman standing along a roped barricade fainted in front of him, apparently from standing under one of the heating units...
...He's asked Gephardt to leap-frog someone else over Gejdenson, but Gephardt hasn't done anything about it...
...He's not making plans for a free trip to Italy," says D'Amato's friend...
...ON THE PROWL Arrivederci, Roma New York ex-Senator Alfonse D'Amato probably won't be going overseas on the Clinton administration's lira after failing to stop a single moderate Republican from voting for impeachment...
...As it happens, Hamilton was also motivated by something else...
...William V. Roth, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has gone off the Republican reservation to announce his committee will introduce large tax-cut legislation during the first part of 1999...
...What warmth there was was provided by several large, overhead heaters...
...In the end, Quinn, Boehlert, Johnson, Oilman, and the Newt-hating Forbes wound up supporting at least one impeachment article...
...House and Senate conservatives failed to draw former Federal Reserve Board member Lawrence Lindsey out of the private sector...
...He's been so isolated that when he's around people, he just acts the way he does when he's alone...
...What, House Republicans asked, should they be pressing for...
...Roth has already outlined his ideas to his House counterpart, Bill Archer...
...Tom Foglietta, sworn in less than a year earlier...
...I Can't Feel Your Pain To punish the press for covering Lewinsky and impeachment, the first couple nixed the usual glitzy White House Christmas party for reporters in favor of a modest event under a tent on the South Lawn...
...At n p.m...
...More welfare reform...
...Out of the Loop Vice President Al Gore is considering Chicago Mayor Richard Daley as a possible running mate...
...And "Nightline" wanted the interview...
...Meanwhile, Roth's former tax-cutting partner Jack Kemp has other priorities these days...
...Again he said no...
...Kemp said no...
...The president sometimes doesn't think of other people around him," says a White House source...
...But his chances aren't likely to be better this time...
...Roth wants to cut taxes, and he knows he can get the same kind of bill through the House with Archer," says a Senate Finance aide...
...14 February 1999 • The American Spectator One person he hasn't consulted is majority leader Trent Lott, who remains nervous as ever about Republicans pushing through a big tax cut that could be used against them in the 2000 election cycle...
Vol. 32 • February 1999 • No. 2
