Pentagon Critic Picked to Lead House Military Panel

House Democrats battered the congressional seniority system Friday, installing 46-year-old Pentagon critic Les Aspin as chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and ousting 80-year-old Melvin Price.

In selecting the Wisconsin congressman on a 125-103 vote, the House Democratic Caucus also bypassed another House veteran, 74-year-old Rep. Charles E. Bennett (D-Fla.).

“It was not a reaction against the personalities of the other candidates,” Aspin said after his triumph. “It was a sign that we ought to be taking a serious look at defense . . . trying to balance the (federal budget) deficit and national security interests.”

Later, in a news release, he said the vote showed “that the party wants to take a clear direction on the issues of arms control and defense spending.”

In replacing Price, an Illinois Democrat, with Aspin, younger House veterans ignored an emotional appeal from House Speaker Thomas P. O’Neill Jr., who had urged them to uphold the seniority system and keep Price in power despite his obvious health problems.

Aspin’s selection was the only surprise in a closed caucus of House Democrats, which also saw Rep. William H. Gray III, a black Baptist minister from Philadelphia, unanimously elected chairman of the powerful Budget Committee. He succeeds the more conservative Rep. Jim Jones (D-Okla.), who was forced to give up the seat after four years because of a length-of-service rule.

The changing of the guard in the key committee occurred in two back-to-back votes, both taken by secret ballot inside the closed caucus.

The first vote, 121 to 118, removed Price.

Then by a vote of 125 to 103, the majority party in the House chose Aspin over Bennett, the most senior member on the committee except for Price and the choice of those backing the seniority system.

“I think there was a sense that Mel (Price), because of his physical debilities, does give the impression of not being in command of the situation,” said House Majority Leader Jim Wright of Texas.

“His mind is clear but his speech is halting and he is physically ravaged by rheumatism or arthritis,” Wright added.

Bennett, leaning on a cane, appeared saddened by the vote that denied him a committee chairmanship after a 36-year House career.

“I’m a guy 74-years of age, in good health, and my peers turned me down,” he said.

“I have the appearance of being a very old man,” he said. “I think a lot of people think that age is looking at yesterday only.”

Bennett blamed his defeat on “my own imperfections as a politician.”

“And since it’s my career, just like being a doctor, it’s not nice to fail at it, particularly at age 74. There are not many chances to recoup.

“But 10 or 15 years from now I’ll be knocking at the pearly gates and St. Peter won’t ask me if I was ever chairman of the House Armed Services Committee,” he said.

But he added, “I really thought I would be elected.”

Price turned 80 on New Year’s Day. He has been criticized by some members of the Armed Services Committee as too old to provide vigorous and effective leadership.

One of them, Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.), said after the vote that over the next two years the chairman of the Armed Services Committee will be the highest elected Democrat in the nation dealing with defense issues.

Moving to the Right

“We need someone who is vigorous and can present these issues,” she said.

She said the vote to remove Price from the chairmanship was “painful for all of us.”

“I think all of us respect him,” she said. “He’s done a very good job and served the nation well.”

But she said there has been a sense among Democrats that under Price the committee has been moving toward the right on defense issues.

“As he’s gotten older and a little frailer it’s been much easier for the minority party to really control it,” she said. “That’s been the great problem.”

Rep. Samuel S. Stratton (D-N.Y.), who supported Bennett in the vote, said Aspin won “because there were more anti-defense liberals in the Democratic caucus than people who support an adequate defense.”

And he said of Aspin: “I think it’s unfortunate that we have a person who doesn’t support an adequate defense in the face of the Soviet threat. . . . We have elected the representative of those Democrats in the House who don’t think that defense is necessary, and don’t support it.”

Aspin was the seventh-ranking Democrat on the committee in terms of seniority.

A former Pentagon official, Aspin is regarded as an expert on defense and has played a key role in putting together compromises to save the beleaguered MX missile during the past two years.

Price became a committee chairman in 1975 when F. Edward Hebert was ousted as leader of the panel. Hebert was one of three chairmen thrown out that year in a revolt by younger Democrats against senior leadership.