An Attack Dog, Not a Lapdog

By Jacob V. Lamar

One view is that Newt Gingrich is a bomb thrower. A fire-breathing Republican Congressman from Georgia, he is more interested in right-wing grandstanding than in fostering bipartisanship in the House of Representatives.

Another view is that Newt Gingrich is a visionary. An impassioned reformer, the six-term lawmaker from Jonesboro, Ga., brings innovative thinking and a respect for deeply felt American values to the House.

Whether his congressional colleagues regard him as a hero or a hothead -- there seem to be few opinions in between -- Newt Gingrich, 45, accomplished a feat last week that not many of them would ever have ever predicted. By a vote of 87 to 85, he was elected minority whip, the G.O.P.'s second-ranking leadership post, by House Republicans. Gingrich succeeds Wyoming's Richard Cheney, who left the House to become Secretary of Defense.

The choice of Gingrich, a former history professor, may mean an era of confrontational politics in the House, where Democrats outnumber Republicans 258 to 174. By selecting the aggressive Gingrich over his mild-mannered rival, Illinois' Edward Madigan, House Republicans signaled that they want more lash in their whip. "We had a choice of being attack dogs or lapdogs," said a G.O.P. lawmaker. "We decided attack dogs are more useful."

Gingrich's victory was a rebuke to the House's Old Guard Republicans, a breed typified by the congenial minority leader, Bob Michel of Illinois. The chunky, blow-dried Gingrich represents the party's Young Turks, ultra- conservative Republicans, many of them elected in the '80s, who are fed up with their elders' deference to the majority. The Old Guard, Gingrich said, "tends to say, 'Oh, gee, ((the Democrats)) are in charge. How can we be nice enough to them that they'll let us pretend we're part of the game?' " In contrast, he declared, "I represent the wing of the party that says, 'Fine, we'll take up that challenge.' " Michel, who slipped and referred to Gingrich as "Nit" during a press conference, seemed resigned to the Young Turks' triumph. "There's such a frustration on our side at being mired down in the minority," said Michel.

While the whip's basic job is to count votes, getting a sense of where lawmakers stand on an issue, Gingrich is more likely to use the post as a bully pulpit for his legendary Democrat bashing. In 1984 Gingrich enraged then Speaker Tip O'Neill by vehemently accusing Democratic lawmakers of blindness to the Communist threat. It was Gingrich who fomented the House Ethics Committee's investigation of O'Neill's successor, Jim Wright of Texas. In a characteristically antagonistic oratorical flourish, Gingrich accused Wright, as well as other Democratic leaders, of having a "Mussolini-like ego."

But Gingrich may find himself caught in an ethics scandal similar to Wright's. One of the main charges against Wright is that he used an unusual royalty arrangement for his book, Reflections of a Public Man, to get around limitations on campaign contributions. The book was sold primarily in bulk to such political supporters as the Teamsters Union and Washington lobbyist John White. The Speaker pocketed a 55% royalty. The Ethics Committee is expected to release next week a potentially damning report on Wright's activities.

Gingrich employed a different device. According to the Washington Post, he persuaded 21 supporters to contribute $105,000 to promote Window of Opportunity, a book on the "American future" that the Georgian co-authored in 1984 with his wife Marianne and a science fiction writer, David Drake. Though the book sold only 12,000 hard-cover copies and failed to make a profit for its publisher, the investors reaped tax benefits for their contributions. They also paid Marianne Gingrich nearly $10,000 for her efforts. Gingrich admitted last week that his book deal was "as weird as Wright's." But unlike the Speaker, said Gingrich, "we wrote a real book for a real company that was sold in real bookstores."

Democratic lawmakers plan to ask the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to investigate Gingrich's book arrangement. After Gingrich's election last week, Wright sent the new whip a copy of Reflections of a Public Man with a pungent inscription: "For Newt, who likes books too." When asked how Gingrich, in his new leadership role, would deal with Wright, Gingrich replied, "Politely."

Most Democrats expect anything but courtesy from Gingrich. In fact, they view his combativeness as a potential plus. "Newt probably unites the Democratic Party more than any other single Republican," said House Majority Whip Tony Coelho of California. If Gingrich lives up to his loose-cannon reputation, he could further hinder the President's crusade for congressional bipartisanship. Of course, if Gingrich has his way, there will not be a Democratic majority in the House for long. "Newt wakes up in the morning, and < the first thing he thinks about is how to become the majority party," says Charles Black, a Republican political consultant. Gingrich is hoping the G.O.P. will win a strategic edge from the redrawing of congressional districts in 1991, an unlikely outcome since Democrats control a majority of the state legislatures that will be redefining the districts.

Moreover, there has not been a G.O.P. majority in the House since Dwight Eisenhower's first term in office. Despite victories in the past three presidential elections, the Republicans have actually lost 18 House seats since Ronald Reagan was first sworn in. Because roughly 98% of congressional incumbents can count on re-election, the Democrats have a tremendous advantage. Bomb thrower or visionary, Newt Gingrich can probably plan on being in the minority party for a long time to come.

With reporting by Hays Gorey/Washington