Speaker-in-waiting Boehner balances GOP factions

WASHINGTON – John Boehner could walk down most American streets without turning a head.

But the perpetually tanned, chain-smoking Ohioan might be the next House speaker and a huge force in national politics, trying to manage an increasingly libertarian-leaning Republican caucus while leading the opposition to President Barack Obama's policies.

For those who know Boehner (pronounced BAY'-nur), the question is which version of the House Republican leader will emerge as speaker if the GOP takes at least 40 seats from Democrats in November.

Will it be the policy-minded lawmaker who sometimes shows bipartisan tendencies, such as when he worked with the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., on major education bills?

Or will it be the fiery partisan of recent months who shouted "hell no" to Obama's health care bill and who threw the Democrats' massive economic stimulus bill to the House floor in a theatrical rebuke?

Boehner left little doubt that the president and other Democrats will face fierce resistance in the House if he is speaker, starting with a push to dismantle Obama's hard-fought health care law.

"We're going to do everything we can to prevent this law from being implemented, and I mean everything," Boehner said in a recent interview. "I think it will ruin health care and bankrupt the country."

In truth, Obama's veto powers will make it virtually impossible to repeal the law. Still, Boehner said, he would use every parliamentary and appropriations trick available, including making sure "they don't get the funds to hire employees to implement the law."

Boehner, 60, has been raising his profile in recent days, giving well-publicized speeches in Cleveland and Milwaukee criticizing Obama's economic and military policies.

Still, he knows he won't become a household name overnight. His ramped-up schedule is mainly a signal to GOP colleagues and political insiders that he's ready to assume leadership of the House — and in some respects, the entire party — if voters end four years of Democratic House control and Rep. Nancy Pelosi's speakership.

For Boehner, leading a full-throated Republican opposition to Obama and congressional Democrats might be the easy part. His bigger challenge looms on his right. Restless and uncompromisingly conservative Republicans probably will expand their ranks after tea party loyalists win some races Nov. 2.

Boehner already has a somewhat wary alliance with several younger and more dogmatic GOP members. They include Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the party's second-ranking House leader.

Cantor and two colleagues — Reps. Kevin McCarthy of California and Paul Ryan of Wisconsin — are publishing a Republican manifesto, "Young Guns: A New Generation of Conservative Leaders," which is promoted by a flashy video.

There's one glaring omission in the hoopla over the book: any reference to Boehner.

Republicans say there's little chance of a coup attempt if the GOP takes control of the House. But expectations have soared so high that every leadership post, including Cantor's, could be in play if they fall short.

House members elect their respective party leaders. The majority party's top leader becomes the speaker, who wields enormous influence over legislation and follows the vice president in the line of presidential succession.

Boehner scoffs at suggestions that the "young guns" might undermine his leadership.

"They are some of our brightest, most energetic members," he said in a telephone interview between campaign stops for House candidates in the Dakotas. He praised, without fully endorsing, Ryan's much-debated proposals to replace the corporate income tax with a consumption tax and to transform Medicare over time into a voucher program that wouldn't keep pace with rising health care costs.

Ryan's road map "is very good work," Boehner said. He added that he doesn't agree with everything Ryan proposes.

Republican strategist and lobbyist John Feehery, who worked for former Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said Boehner will have to cope with "a bunch of rambunctious new members." He predicts partisan gridlock, but he said Boehner can effectively lead his party and its young cadre of firebreathers.

"He provides adult leadership," Feehery said.

On the surface, Boehner is a Washington throwback. He loves golf and cocktails. He is genial and courteous to almost everyone, including reporters and Democratic staffers. He constantly smokes Barclay cigarettes, even during meetings in his Capitol office. And he maintains a remarkably deep tan, which Obama and others have gently mocked.

The second of 12 children in a Catholic family from Cincinnati, Boehner played high school football and helped at his father's bar and restaurant. He worked his way through college, sometimes as a janitor, graduating from Xavier University at age 27. He rose to the top of a plastics distribution company, and entered Republican politics in his hometown.

While clearly a conservative, Boehner has sometimes worked with Democrats to enact major legislation. Notable examples include his 2001 collaboration with Kennedy and Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., now a top Pelosi ally, to pass President George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind education bill.

In 2008, Boehner was embarrassed when he failed to corral enough GOP votes to help the Democratic majority pass an early version of the financial bailout bill. The Dow plunged 780 points that day.

The often-emotional GOP leader seemed to choke back tears when he asked colleagues to search their souls for the nation's best interests.

The episode might suggest that Boehner is a bit less rigidly partisan than some of his fellow GOP leaders. Most House Republicans opposed the bailout bill that he backed.

Hastert, as speaker, had a "majority of the majority" rule. He would not push major legislation unless most of his GOP caucus supported it, rendering the Democratic minority almost superfluous.

Boehner says he would want to "make sure our team is supportive" of big bills, but he stopped short of embracing Hastert's rule. "All members should have a role in the legislative process," Boehner said.

Even a whiff of bipartisan cooperation angers some tea party supporters, and Boehner might clash with the newest and most ideological House Republicans. But in other respects, they might be kindred souls.

Boehner entered the House in 1991 as a windows-rattling reformer. He joined the "Gang of Seven" that insisted on naming all 355 members with overdrafts at the House Bank, a damaging scandal.

And he has long opposed earmark spending, which some lawmakers use to steer pet projects to their districts. It's a favorite conservative target this year.

Boehner was a key ally of Rep. Newt Gingrich when the firebrand Georgia lawmaker led the 1994 Republican revolution that ended four decades of Democratic House control. But Boehner lost his leadership post in the turmoil that followed the speaker's downfall in 1998. Boehner spent years quietly cultivating friendships with colleagues and planning his return to power, which came in 2005.

Now possibly on the cusp of nationwide recognition and clout, Boehner is a solid choice for a Republican Party that must harness and direct its emotions if it is to regain the ground it lost in the last two elections, said Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga.

Kingston, an 18-year House veteran who has had his own turns in the GOP leadership, said Boehner "is a known quantity. He's not going to be saying anything stupid or doing anything stupid."

Boehner may lack Gingrich's revolutionary zeal and intellectual bent, Kingston said, but he has a steadier grasp of intramural politics.

"He'd be better able to manage that new, hard-energy reform crowd than Newt," Kingston said, adding that the House "is a political body, not an ideological body."

Velvet gloves in debate by California's GOP candidates in governor's race

Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman skip lightly over solutions to state's finances.

Steve Poizner waves as Meg Whitman shakes hands with the moderator before the first GOP gubernatorial candidates' debate in Costa Mesa. (Bret Hartman/For The Times / March 15, 2010)

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By Cathleen Decker and Seema Mehta

March 16, 2010 | 11:54 a.m.

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Reporting from Costa Mesa

Republican candidates for governor Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner met in a generally genteel debate Monday evening that skipped lightly over detailed solutions to California's grievous fiscal mess in favor of the familiar arguments that each has made for months as they drive toward the June 8 primary.

Whitman argued that she would bring an outsider's perspective to Sacramento and present the sharpest possible contrast to the presumptive Democratic nominee, former governor and current Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown. Brown, she said, brought to the race a "record of failure."

"I have met a payroll. I have balanced budgets, I have been on the receiving end of all kinds of burdensome regulations," she said. "I know what it's like to run a business in California, and I know how hard it is."

Poizner, who is trailing Whitman in pre-primary polls, sought again and again to define her as too liberal for the party's core voters, an argument he has forwarded more sharply in recent weeks.

"I want to fix the state of California by implementing some bold, sweeping reforms that include tax cuts across the board, where Meg and I disagree," he said. "I want to stop illegal immigration by cutting off taxpayer-funded benefits. . . . Meg doesn't want to go that far.

"We even disagree on abortion. The fact is I want to drive the number of abortions down . . . stop government funding of abortions. Meg and I disagree on that."

The debate broke ground not because of its content but for the fact that it occurred. Sponsored by the New Majority Foundation, a GOP group, it was the first between the two remaining major candidates and came after months in which Whitman had declined to take part in such sessions.

A few times, Whitman offered what she called a "fact check" on Poizner, saying, for example, that his position on immigration is more restrictive than it once was. She also criticized him for donating $200,000 to a ballot measure that reduced the proportion of voters who must approve tax hikes for schools.

But by and large Poizner was the more pointed in drawing a contrast between the two. He even offered an oblique criticism of Whitman's media preferences after she recounted an interview she had heard on National Public Radio.

"Another major difference between Meg and me -- I don't listen to NPR," he said, alluding to its reputation as catering to liberals.

Poizner entered the debate hoping to change the momentum in the race, which has largely been defined by Whitman's spending. By the beginning of the year, she had put $39 million of her own money into the contest, setting the record for personal spending in a California race. Poizner has donated $19 million of his money, but has yet to spend much of it on ads.

If he expected Monday to change the trajectory, he may be disappointed: No television station aired the debate in its entirety. It was streamed live over the Web, but complications prevented some viewers from seeing the event.

The faceoff took place amid constant concern in Sacramento about the state's deficit, which totals at least $20 billion over the next 15 months. And it occurred on the same day that state education officials announced that 22,000 teachers, librarians and counselors received notices of possible layoffs.

On the deficit, Poizner called for across-the-board spending cuts, while Whitman declared that cuts tailored to increasing jobs were her preference. But neither offered a detailed plan. Neither mentioned the layoffs and both said problems in the public school system are not caused by lack of funds.

"I actually think we are spending about the right amount of money," Whitman said. "I think it is how we spend that money. The overhead and administration is too big here. Imagine spending 40% on overhead and administration."

Poizner referred repeatedly to his year of teaching at Mount Pleasant High School in San Jose, where, he said, he learned about state control on his first day in the classroom as the roof began leaking. Although school maintenance is the responsibility of local school districts, Poizner inexplicably blamed the leaky roof on the state Legislature.

"How come they can't fix a roof at Mount Pleasant High School? Who runs the place?" Poizner said he thought that day. "Unfortunately the Legislature does."

Poizner's attempts to define Whitman as too liberal for Republican primary voters rested largely on two issues that regularly flare in tough economic times -- taxes and immigration. But she batted back any suggestion that she would weaken in the face of efforts to cut the requirement for a two-thirds legislative vote to approve tax increases and the state budget. Essentially, their disagreement pivoted on whether wholesale cuts or targeted ones were more appropriate.

Whitman called for eliminating several taxes that she said harm business growth.

"Meg just said it, she thinks we can't afford across-the-board tax cuts. In a Republican primary? Wow," Poizner said.

The candidates similarly tussled over whose position was best on immigration and global warming. In both cases, Poizner tacked rightward and Whitman allowed for some nuance.

Poizner blamed the state's anti-global-warming measure (AB 32) for escalating California's jobless rate -- even though much of the law was not in effect when the unemployment rate took off. He said he would take the measure off the table until joblessness eased dramatically and for an extended time. He said he would impose a "dedicated dispute resolution system" to push through manufacturing projects in one year or less.

Whitman countered that she wanted a one-year moratorium on all new regulations, not just AB 32, and said regulations should be streamlined so approvals could be had in two months.

"Let's stop the madness and streamline the regulations we have," she said, asserting that California needed to control the market in green technology.

Poizner has been sharply conservative on the issue of immigration lately, and Monday was no exception. Drawing a distinction between legal and illegal immigration, he blamed the latter for crowded emergency rooms and schools in which teachers are "overwhelmed."

"The fact is we have to stop illegal immigration. The only way to do it is turn the magnets off," he said, referring to allowing undocumented children to attend school and receive benefits.

"Steve's done a complete about-face from where he was in 2004," Whitman responded, referring to his support then for a path to legal status for undocumented workers.

cathleen.decker@latimes.com

seema.mehta@latimes.com

Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times

Republicans take aim at Ore. congressman over SUV

SALEM, Ore. – Republican campaign officials took aim on Thursday at an Oregon congressman who has pushed for tougher vehicle emission standards, touting a YouTube video of the environmentally friendly Democrat driving what they called a gas-guzzling SUV in Washington, D.C.

The video, recorded by a GOP staffer assigned to track Rep. David Wu and distributed by the National Republican Congressional Committee, was an early political fusillade against a six-term Democrat the Republicans believe will finally be vulnerable in next year's midterm elections.

NRCC spokeswoman Joanna Burgos acknowledged that Republicans and Democrats alike drive SUVs. But Wu has boasted of his advocacy of green legislation and has urged stricter emission standards, she said.

"What it shows is that David Wu tries to be one person when he's back in Oregon, and a different one when he's in Washington, D.C.," Burgos said.

Wu has been a durable political figure since first getting elected from his Portland-based district in 1998 — Republicans didn't even put a challenger on last year's ballot.

But Wu won't get a free ride in 2010, Burgos said. Rob Cornilles, a sports business consultant and community leader from suburban Tualatin, recently announced his candidacy and will focus on congressional overspending supported by Wu and other Democrats, she said.

Wu, who is married and has two children, bought the black GMC Yukon eight years ago so that it could carry his dog, a couple of strollers and his family, spokeswoman Julia Louise Krahe said. The congressman and his family regularly practice recycling in their household, she added.

"He demonstrates his commitment to the environment in a number of ways, both personal and professional," Krahe said.

Republicans will have their work cut out for them in trying to knock off Wu, who is very popular with constituents, political analyst Jim Moore said. Criticism over his SUV driving habits might be fun way to hit at Wu, but it won't make a difference in the 2010 election, he said.

"He's only had one tough election campaign, and that was his first one," said Moore, who teaches political science at Pacific University in Forest Grove. "Since then he's built good name familiarity in the district."

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On the Net:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v-ZtdknzpcZM