Budget Panel Head Known as a Moderate

In his half-dozen years in the House, Rep. William H. Gray III (D-Pa.) has been mostly a behind-the-scenes operator in the Budget Committee and the Congressional Black Caucus, a soft-spoken, erudite sort who never commanded much attention from the news media.

Now, by dint of an astute bit of political maneuvering, Gray has been catapulted into the chairmanship of the House Budget Committee, a position in these deficit-ridden times that will cast him as a major policy-maker and a spokesman for Democratic alternatives to GOP spending-cut proposals.

On Sundays, Gray can be found preaching at the Bright Hope Baptist Church in north Philadelphia, the 3,000-member church where his father and grandfather also served as chief minister.

The rest of the week, the 42-year-old Democrat actively ministers to a broader constituency--the 515,000 persons who live in the 2nd Congressional District of Pennsylvania. Gray--who calls himself liberal but has a reputation as a pragmatic moderate--has been their congressman since 1978.

“Gray’s obvious strength is that he’s a political organizer,” said an aide to a House member who had hoped to take over the Budget post himself.

But his weakness, according to one colleague, is that “he has never impressed anyone with his knowledge of the budget process. He has not been a real mover and shaker. There are those who wonder exactly how he is going to be able to operate in what will be a very hot political position.”

While others were trying to change Democratic caucus rules to permit Reps. James R. Jones (D-Okla.) and Leon E. Panetta (D-Carmel Valley) to run for the committee chairmanship, Gray was lining up support for himself.

“Gray lined up a formidable coalition--liberals, conservative Southerners, leadership people,” said an aide who asked not to be identified.

Indeed, Gray was betting that the rules would not be changed--they were not--and that he would emerge as a leading candidate. As a result of his assiduous campaigning, his election by fellow Democrats was no contest.