There’s a Mr. Fixit in the House

Around the U.S. House of Representatives they call him Mr. Goodwrench. A recent Washington Post story on him was headlined “The House’s Mr. Fixit” and described him as one of Congress’ most respected inside players. Rep. Vic Fazio (D-Sacramento) sees himself as a heat-seeking missile.

Fazio, 47, first elected to the House in 1978 after serving in the California Assembly and on the Assembly staff, has made a reputation for himself-- and developed considerable political power--by deftly doing Congress’ dirty work. For starters, he was the point man on both pay raise efforts this past year--the disastrous aborted one early in the session and the successful one, coupled with an effective ethics reform plan, that was approved late in the year.

As chairman of the House’s legislative appropriations subcommittee, Fazio is instrumental in putting together Congress’ own budget. He also spent a good deal of time this year serving on the ethics panel that heard conflict-of-interest charges against former Speaker Jim Wright (D-Texas). He is vice chairman of the House Democratic Caucus and will be a lead figure in the drafting of a California congressional reapportionment plan following the 1990 census.

So inside stuff is fine, but what does that do to serve California and his 4th Congressional District? Plenty. Grateful colleagues are only too happy to approve Fazio’s requests for military construction, flood control and the like for his constituents. His increasing influence helps fill the California power vacuum created when Rep. Tony L. Coelho (D-Merced), the House’s No. 3 leader, resigned in the face of a conflict-of-interest investigation.

Fazio may wheel and deal on behalf of his colleagues, but he is not known as a wheeler-dealer in the old pol sense. The Almanac of American Politics 1990 describes Fazio as “an open and thoughtful politician who understands his colleagues and the world beyond the Hill, who is honest and straightforward and easy to deal with, but also a committed partisan and an effective competitor.” That is not faint praise. Fazio is an important figure in a California congressional delegation that continues to grow in respect and clout in Washington.