Unlikely Center of Latest Political Storm

When House Republican leaders gathered for a news conference on the steps of the Capitol last week, it was supposed to be a Memorial Day salute to veterans.

But the event quickly deteriorated as reporters crowded around a beleaguered House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). They shouted questions about whether he was under investigation as part of a lobbying scandal and whether he would sue the television network that had reported he was.

“That’s something my lawyers are taking care of right now,” answered Hastert, who was so pressured by the media swarm that he had difficulty shaking hands with the veterans being honored.

It was a telling moment in a week that saw Hastert, who for years has been a loyal Bush lieutenant and a calming influence in his party, turn into a vocal critic of the administration and become the center of controversy himself.

Hastert threatened to sue ABC for libel after the network aired its report -- later denied by the Justice Department -- that he was under investigation in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal. And Hastert angrily accused department officials of trying to “intimidate” him by leaking a false accusation to ABC.

The speaker had earlier taken the lead in challenging the FBI’s authority to raid the congressional office of Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.), who is being investigated in a corruption probe. Hastert pressured President Bush to agree Thursday to seal records seized from Jefferson’s office and to negotiate with Congress on how to handle them. That happened even as top law enforcement officials implied they would resign before they would give back the records.

The dispute and Hastert’s defiance were just the latest, and perhaps the most vivid, evidence of a far broader political problem for Bush: It has become increasingly difficult for the president to keep his party in line as his support among voters has plummeted.

In the debate over immigration, House Republicans are in open revolt against Bush’s proposal to allow many illegal immigrants to become citizens. They angrily lectured Karl Rove, Bush’s top political aide, when he came to defend the plan behind closed doors Wednesday. Earlier this year, House Republicans forced the administration to drop plans to let an Arab company manage several American ports.

Republican candidates and incumbents around the country are keeping their distance from Bush as they attempt to weather the 2006 midterm elections.

“The lug bolts had gotten loose on the Republicans’ wheels,” said Ross K. Baker, a Rutgers University political scientist and an expert on Congress. “Now they are off completely.”

House Republicans cheered Bush’s decision to seal the records seized from Jefferson’s office, because they believed the raid violated Congress’ prerogatives.

But some worried that the constitutional victory for Hastert would be a public relations problem for the rest of them. They fear that the nuances of constitutional principle will mean little to voters who conclude that the GOP -- which aims to be the “law-and-order” party -- is now on the wrong side of the law by challenging law enforcement officials pursuing a bribery investigation.

Some Republicans were cringing as they headed home for a Memorial Day recess to face a surly electorate. “Unfortunately, our constituents have a bad attitude toward all incumbent officeholders,” said Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.).

“It’s a challenge” to explain the dispute to constituents, said Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas). “People are painting this as members of Congress being above the law.”

The proliferation of dissent among House Republicans stands in striking contrast to the unshakeable party unity that Republicans showed during Bush’s first term. In addition to the president’s rock-solid popularity among Republicans, there was the iron-fisted party discipline enforced by then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas).

And working with DeLay was Hastert, a steady and well-liked leader who could bring party factions together with the team-building skills he honed as a high school wrestling coach. Hastert, 64, was viewed as so important to Bush’s second term that the White House urged him to set aside thoughts of retiring before 2008.

In Bush’s second term, all that has changed.

Public support for Bush and his policies has dropped precipitously, even among conservatives.

DeLay stepped down as leader last year after being indicted on money-laundering charges, and he is about to quit Congress.

House Republicans -- including Hastert -- increasingly see their political interest as distinct from Bush’s, since he will never again stand for election. At a time his support is more important than ever in maintaining party unity, Hastert has been increasingly willing to defy the White House.

He was a leading critic of the Arab company’s port deal. He criticized the administration’s choice of Gen. Michael V. Hayden to replace Porter J. Goss -- a Hastert friend and former congressman -- as director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Hastert also opposes the administration’s plan to allow illegal immigrants to become citizens -- a view shared by most House Republicans, who gave Rove a mostly hostile reception when he met with them last week.

The session was so confrontational that one Republican who supports the administration plan, Rep. Bob Inglis of South Carolina, felt obliged to hang back afterward and tell Rove, “You do have some friends here.”

Hastert surprised many when he criticized the FBI raid on Jefferson’s office, because in doing so, he seemed to be siding with a Democrat accused of corruption. Hastert argued that it was his job to defend Congress’ institutional prerogatives, and said that the search violated the constitutional separation of powers for the executive branch to be rifling through legislative files. He took his case directly to Bush in at least two conversations last week, according to a Hastert aide.

The issue prompted Hastert’s staff to make a rare effort to reach out to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), with whom Republicans have been locked in partisan combat for years. The adversaries worked together in Hastert’s Capitol office Wednesday to craft a joint statement asking the FBI to return the materials seized from Jefferson’s office.

But Hastert’s drama for the day did not end with his rare appearance, almost hand-in-hand, with Pelosi as they announced their joint statement.

That evening, ABC reported that Hastert was under investigation as part of the Abramoff inquiry because of a letter he had signed urging the Interior Department to block an Indian casino opposed by one of Abramoff’s clients.

The usually unflappable speaker became furious. He flatly denied the report, and soon the Justice Department issued a statement backing him up. By Thursday morning, he suggested to Chicago radio listeners that the report was based on a leak intended to intimidate him as he was challenging the raid.

The episode sent a wave of anxiety through some lawmakers who thought Hastert was coming under scrutiny for what they saw as a routine comment letter. Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.) said the letter Hastert signed was one he would have signed “in a heartbeat.”

“There but for the grace of God go I,” Boehlert said.