Angry GOP Ties Up House Over Indiana Recount

House Republicans Thursday vented their bitterness over the outcome of a disputed election in Indiana’s 8th Congressional District with a series of parliamentary maneuvers and delaying tactics that knotted the House and finally forced Democratic leaders to adjourn the session.

“It is as bad a scene as I’ve seen up here in my 16 years,” House Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-Miss.) said.

“It’s clear to me that further effort to proceed . . . is not going to be possible,” said House Majority Whip Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.), in halting the day’s proceedings. “The business of this day and this week has been ended for any constructive purpose.”

‘Sample Thursday’

The Republicans called it “sample Thursday,” saying it was an example of how they could disrupt the House if they tried. They promised more of the same next week if Democrats try to seat incumbent Frank McCloskey, declared a four-vote winner over Republican Richard McIntyre. Republicans are pushing for a new election.

McCloskey was declared the winner by a House task force that oversaw a recount conducted by the General Accounting Office. The task force voted, 2 to 1, on party lines not to count about 30 unnotarized, absentee ballots that the GOP said should have been counted.

“Next week has the potential to be a pretty awful week,” one Republican campaign official said.