‘Good Soldier’ Has Backed Reagan Even When It Hurt Politically : Rep. Michel an Unlikely, Unhappy Tax Revision Rebel

A few years ago, his campaign literature featured him mowing a lawn in a dress shirt and tie. The most vehement epithet anyone has ever heard him mutter is “Judas priest.” He once harbored notions of being a Broadway song-and-dance man and still loves to impress friends with his baritone rendition of “Some Enchanted Evening.”

Rep. Robert H. Michel, the unpretentious 62-year-old leader of House Republicans, is the genuine article, a folksy straight arrow from the quintessential all-American town of Peoria, Ill.

Fellow Republicans describe him as chivalrous, unselfish and old-fashioned. And they point to those qualities to explain the anguish Michel has endured as GOP displeasure over tax revision legislation forced him to be part of a Republican revolt against President Reagan’s No. 1 domestic policy initiative.

“He is the nicest man here,” gushes fellow Illinois Rep. Lynn Martin, whom Michel installed in the House GOP leadership. “He reminds me of one of those characters you’d find in a Dickens book if there was one about Washington--the decent man who seems to be out of time and place . . . . The White House ignores him because he doesn’t yell enough.”

Gut-Wrenching Decision

Indeed, colleagues say Michel’s old-fashioned sense of duty to his President turned the decision on opposing Reagan into a gut-wrenching one for the 29-year House veteran.

“This is the first major piece of legislation in the Reagan Administration where I have come at cross-purposes with my President,” Michel acknowledged recently. “For me, it’s a traumatic decision, because I’ve always felt I’m a good soldier to the President, no matter what.”

GOP Embarrassed Reagan

House Republicans, Michel included, embarrassed Reagan last week by overwhelmingly rejecting the President’s request to back a Democratic draft of tax overhaul legislation to keep the issue alive. Reagan eventually revived the legislation but was forced into the awkward position of having to lobby his own party for enough support to get it through the House.

Michel reportedly was instrumental in the turnaround, exacting a promise from the President that he eventually would veto the bill if it was not amended to satisfy GOP objections. But the brush with the White House clearly was unsettling for the normally reliable Reagan supporter.

Rep. Vin Weber (R-Minn.) recalled that, when Michel had to discuss the tax revolt against the President at a GOP caucus last week, “for a moment there he was so choked up he couldn’t go on.”

Home Area Hurt

Indeed, Michel’s reluctance to oppose the President has proved politically costly at times. Reagan’s economic policies have been disastrous for Midwestern industrial towns like Peoria, whose major employer--the Caterpillar tractor firm--was hit hard by the strong dollar, which hurt exports of farm machinery.

Furthermore, high unemployment in his district nearly cost Michel reelection in 1982 in the traditionally rock-ribbed Republican area.

Weber, the leader of a group of conservatives noted for their confrontational style, said that that faction on occasion faults Michel for working with House Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill Jr. (D-Mass.) and other Democrats, rather than fighting them.

“But I don’t ever hear anybody say he’s over the hill,” Weber quickly added. “He’s a decent human being, with a capital ‘D.’ ”