Newt's Foley
Killian, Linda
Newt's Foley by Linda Killian West Palm Beach, Florida House Speaker Newt Gingrich did everything for congressional Republicans in 1995-strategy, management of issues, drafting of legislation,...
...He's the chairman of a computer network company from Del Ray Beach...
...Even those GOP freshmen who groused about Gingrich's overbearing leadership style last year are thrilled with his fund-raising prowess...
...The speech is a hit...
...They have to counter Dan Rather on the evening news...
...He doesn't look awake yet, and he doesn't look very happy...
...Less clear is whether Newt Gingrich-inevitably overshadowed this year by the presidential ticket-can be happy relegated to the role of fund-raiser extraordinaire...
...He lays out the accomplishments of the 104th Congress and explains: "The things we haven't gotten done are almost entirely due to one person-Bill Clinton...
...He has netted $170,000, by far the most he's ever raised at a single event...
...Gingrich seems to draw energy from the crowd...
...In a few cases, they're due to the Senate...
...This is a business meeting...
...Asked whether the party's position on abortion can be toned down, Gingrich doesn't mince words...
...He said 'Uh-uh,' and so I guess that was 'Hello, how are you doing?'" In less than 15 minutes, Gingrich is ushered through the kitchen and back corridors to another room, for a local news conference with Foley...
...About 25 members of Team 100-who have given $100,000 or more to the Republican party-are gathered in one of the Fanjul living rooms...
...We need seven more Senate seats and one president...
...Foley introduces him, and he receives a standing ovation from an audience of 700, who have paid either $250 to sit in the front of the hall or $150 for seats near the back...
...Before the applause has even crested, Gingrich is slipping out a back door, headed to a small private gathering at the Palm Beach home of Jose "Pepe" Fanjul...
...Mark Foley considers the morning a smash...
...He arrives around 8:00...
...What about medical savings accounts...
...However, he says, the party can "allow pro-choice people to speak in prime time" and deny Pat Buchanan a prime-time stage...
...He says the reason Republicans have to raise so much money is to offset the "liberal media...
...For the first time this morning, he looks like he's enjoying himself...
...It takes less than 10 seconds, and Vanarnem seems underwhelmed by the speaker: "I got a couple of grunts from him...
...We need to reelect Mark, we need to carry Florida, and with your help we are going to give our children a safer, a more prosperous, and a healthier America...
...Pepe Fanjul is pleased...
...There is "zero likelihood" that he and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole will sell out on a budget deal, Gingrich asserts...
...The speaker concludes by telling the donors that they must "give more" and get a friend to join...
...Can Bill Weld beat John Kerry in Massachusetts...
...Here's what Gingrich did for him in less than four hours on March 25: It's 7:45 in the morning, and about 70 people who have donated $1,000 apiece to Foley's reelection campaign are gathered in a meeting room at the PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens...
...By 9:00 he is seated at the head table in the resort's banquet hall...
...He stands next to Foley while a small line forms...
...The platform's call for a constitutional amendment banning abortion cannot be altered, because this would upset the party's right-to-lifers...
...Foley is nervous...
...A few handshakes and he's gone...
...The Fanjuls once owned one of the largest sugar companies in Cuba (and the house where Castro now lives...
...Reporters want to know about a tax on sugar producers, whether the GOP will carry Florida, the Republican freshmen, the government shutdown, the budget...
...Mark Foley of Florida once sniffed that he owed the speaker no special allegiance because "Newt Gingrich didn't elect me to anything...
...Newt's Foley by Linda Killian West Palm Beach, Florida House Speaker Newt Gingrich did everything for congressional Republicans in 1995-strategy, management of issues, drafting of legislation, communications...
...Gingrich tells them that Dole will have to use his time in the Midwest and the West...
...Just days before, the House has passed a farm bill maintaining price supports for sugar and providing $200 million for restoring the Everglades...
...He touches on taxes, regulation, welfare, crime, and wraps things up...
...An hour has been scheduled for this event, but Gingrich knows it won't take that long...
...He stands between Gingrich and Foley...
...He's not exactly making news...
...Probably a midwestern governor...
...It's a 25-minute speech, vintage Gingrich...
...It's Harold Vanarnem's turn...
...Gingrich isn't smiling, but Foley has a grin so broad you'd think this was the happiest moment of his life...
...the South must be won locally...
...This year, after botching budget negotiations with President Clinton, he has taken a back seat...
...So the marching orders for us this fall are pretty simple: It's seven plus one...
...A picture is snapped...
...Gingrich replies that Republicans will "make Clinton veto them" to prove a point, then remove the idea from legislation since they lack the votes to override...
...Gingrich says maybe...
...Lucky for him, Gingrich didn't hold a grudge...
...Team members want to know what the strategy is for winning the White House and who Dole's running mate will be...
...His brother Alfonso, formerly a major giver to the Democrats, has broken with the Clinton administration over its attempt to force land out of production and to tax sugar to finance environmental improvements...
...Two of Foley's staffers serve as "pusher" and "puller," moving people through...
...The event was scheduled to begin at 7:30 but the speaker still hasn't shown up...
...Linda Killian, the former editor of National Public Radio's "All Things Considered," is writing a book on the House freshmen...
...He'll do an average of six fund-raisers a week between now and November, dropping into 175 House districts...
...Their Flo-Sun, Inc., is among the major sugar producers in Florida...
...For vice president...
...He may not like it, but his most important role is fund-raising...
...Jeb Bush is working the room...
Vol. 1 • April 1996 • No. 30
