Lewis Selected by House GOP for Policy Post

House Republicans, voting 88 to 82 Thursday, chose Rep. Jerry Lewis of Redlands over Rep. Duncan L. Hunter of Coronado as chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee, the fourth-ranking spot in the GOP leadership.

Lewis’ election was a victory for the party’s established leadership over a mostly younger House group, which argues that the chamber’s Republicans should be more confrontational in their relations with the Democratic majority.

In an interview after his election, Lewis said that his first project will be to increase the influence that House Republicans have in shaping the party’s 1988 platform. Developing a unified Republican policy on AIDS and finding ways to increase public support for Reagan Administration policy in Central America will be among his priorities, he said.

Hunter was not available for comment. Earlier in the week, he had said that a majority of his colleagues were pledged to him and that he was “confident of my votes.”

Lewis, 52, replaces Rep. Dick Cheney of Wyoming. Cheney moved up one rung in the hierarchy to replace Rep. Jack Kemp of New York, who resigned as chairman of the House Republican Conference to run for President.