Gephardt Plans to Seek House Leadership Post

House Majority Whip Tony Coelho’s stunning decision to resign from Congress prompted Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) on Saturday to put aside another presidential bid and join a Democratic leadership scramble already set in motion by House Speaker Jim Wright’s expected resignation.

When the smoke clears from the tumultuous downfalls of Wright (D-Tex.) and Coelho (D-Merced) in scandals over their finances, two Democratic moderates with a reputation for bipartisan consensus-building may hold the top House posts--Rep. Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.) as Speaker and Gephardt as majority leader.

Race for Coelho’s Post

At least three other Democrats are seeking Coelho’s post, but the apparent front-runner is a Democratic campaign chieftain who has carried on Coelho’s tradition of getting business interests to contribute heavily to Democratic candidates--Rep. Beryl Anthony Jr. (D-Ark.).

Coelho had planned to run for majority leader on the assumption that Foley, the incumbent, would move up to replace Wright. Then on Friday, he suddenly put out the word that he was resigning on his 47th birthday next month to spare his family, his House colleagues and himself the turmoil of intense inquiries into his financial dealings.

In a formal statement released Saturday, Coelho said that his ability to work for social change, for wider acceptance of the disabled and for his constituents and party “has been diminished by needless and baseless charges about my investments or private life.”

He maintained that his decision to step down was not “motivated by weakness in my political standing or my legal position.”

Coelho, who had rapidly climbed the leadership ladder after winning election to the House in 1978, faced a preliminary criminal investigation by the Justice Department and an expected House ethics inquiry into the purchase of a $100,000 “junk bond” underwritten by Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. with the help of a $50,000 loan from Columbia Savings & Loan Assn.

Gephardt let it be known through associates that he had been “persuaded to run” for House majority leader in the expectation that Wright would resign, possibly by Wednesday, and that Foley would become Speaker, almost certainly without opposition.

Gephardt sought the Democratic presidential nomination last year, running largely on a trade protection plank. When he formally declares his candidacy, he will renounce any intention of making another bid for the White House in 1992, sources said.

In his only public comment, the St. Louis congressman said in a statement that he was “stunned and deeply saddened” by the decision of his “good friend,” Coelho. Gephardt had told Coelho that he would not run for majority leader if Coelho sought the job.

In the majority leader race, Gephardt will face opposition from Rep. Ed Jenkins (D-Ga.), a fellow member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee. Jenkins, a leading advocate of limits on textile imports, has a voting record substantially more conservative than Gephardt’s or Foley’s.

Gephardt, former head of the House Democratic Caucus, is regarded as the favorite.

“He is seen as extremely bright and likable, with a great deal of integrity,” said Rep. Robert T. Matsui (D-Sacramento). “His only potential negative would be that he is so consensus-oriented, sometimes it is hard to find the real Dick. That could be a problem in the leadership struggle because Foley also is not what you call clearly definable.”

In any case, Matsui added, reflecting a widespread view, “a Foley-Gephardt team would be centrist in outlook and appeal to suburban America. They have extremely clean images and certainly would be an antidote for the times.”

Contesting with Anthony for the majority whip position so far are Reps. David E. Bonior (D-Mich.) and William H. Gray III (D-Pa.). Anthony is chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (Coelho’s old post), Bonior is chief deputy whip and Gray is chairman of the House Democratic Caucus and former Budget Committee chairman.

If Foley, a Westerner, and Gephardt, a Midwesterner, are chosen as expected, the Democrats are likely to turn to Anthony, a Southerner, for regional balance, several lawmakers said.

Anthony said a big plus in his favor is “the fact I was able to take over a reinvigorated campaign committee from Tony Coelho, who supposedly set fund-raising records that could never be broken. I methodically went out and broke each one of them.”

If Coelho steps down on his birthday, June 15, Gov. George Deukmejian will have 14 days to proclaim a special election in the congressman’s district, which includes the rich agricultural lands west of Highway 99, from the suburban fringes of Fresno north to Modesto.

A general election there would be scheduled for the first Tuesday to fall 112 days or more after the date of Deukmejian’s proclamation. A single district primary election would be held eight Tuesdays before that, with all candidates entered regardless of party.

Any candidate who received more than 50% of the vote in the primary would win the seat outright. If none did, the general election race would be between the Democrat and the Republican who got the most primary votes. Voter registration in the district is 56% Democratic and 35% Republican.

Anthony predicted Saturday that Coelho’s “bold, dramatic move” to resign would “shift the ethics focus off the Democrats right square onto” House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.). Gingrich, who prompted the House Ethics Committee probe of Wright, now faces a similar inquiry into his own financial dealings.

Gingrich rejoined acidly: “For the first time in history, we’re faced with two of the top three leaders of the House’s majority party having to resign, and their campaign chairman says it is the other party that has a problem. This is like Richard Nixon’s press secretary announcing that the President’s resignation sure makes it tough on the Democrats.”