O.C. Delegation in Middle of GOP Leadership Brawl : Politics: Conservative dissenters lead fight to dump Riverside’s Lewis over tax issue. But he might hit back.

Several conservative Orange County congressmen have plunged headlong into a high-stakes political battle that could change the shape of the House Republican leadership as well as their own standing in Congress.

The leadership fight, which will begin in earnest Monday, is attributable in part to a deep schism between the White House and GOP conservatives over tax hikes contained in the recently enacted deficit-reduction plan.

But the looming showdown also reflects a growing restiveness among Republican congressmen from California with the tight rein that House leaders have kept on key assignments within the state delegation.

Angered by GOP leadership arm-twisting on behalf of White House-sanctioned tax increases, two Orange County lawmakers are among those leading the fight to remove Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands) from his post as chairman of the House Republican Conference.

Reps. William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton) and Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) argue that Lewis not only bucked the will of most GOP members by supporting the budget package, he also sought to stifle dissent on the issue.

Earlier in the week, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Long Beach), whose district includes northwestern Orange County, said he too would oppose Lewis for the top conference post. But in an interview Friday, Rohrabacher said he was reconsidering his position.

Lewis is the third-highest-ranking Republican in the House, behind Minority Leader Robert H. Michel (R-Ill.), who is widely expected to retire in two years, and Minority Whip Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), who also is seeking Lewis’ ouster as conference chairman. Gingrich and Lewis are considered top contenders for Michel’s job.

Meanwhile, Rep. Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad), who represents southern Orange County, is challenging Lewis on another front. Although he wants Lewis to keep his job as conference chairman, Packard is campaigning to replace the San Bernardino County lawmaker as California’s representative on the powerful party panel that makes GOP congressional committee assignments.

Packard argues that Lewis and Rep. William M. Thomas (R-Bakersfield) for too long have tied up too many key leadership posts within the California Republican delegation, including Lewis’ post as the state’s representative on the Republican Committee on Committees.

Orange County’s fifth congressman, Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), is backing Lewis for the post of conference chairman and is still weighing how he will vote for the Committee on Committees post.

If the effort to unseat Lewis from either position fails, the county delegation could earn the lasting enmity of Lewis, a powerful member of the House Appropriations Committee who played a key role in securing federal funds to begin construction of the Santa Ana River flood-control project.

However, if Lewis is ousted as conference chairman or if Packard wins the seat on the Committee on Committees, the eventual rewards for Orange County could be significant.

In moving to oust Lewis as conference chairman, Dannemeyer and Dornan have allied themselves with Gingrich, who led the revolt against the White House-backed budget package in the House in October.

Gingrich is backing the candidacy of Rep. Carl D. Pursell (R-Mich.), who publicly opposed the budget package and admonished White House Chief of Staff John Sununu for attempting to browbeat Republican lawmakers into accepting the tax increases it contained.

Dannemeyer said he was less upset by Lewis’ support for the tax package than by what he described as Lewis’ efforts to tilt the debate among House Republicans toward the White House position.

“To me, someone in leadership . . . has to have an even hand in giving the different factions an opportunity to speak their mind, and on that point I think Jerry Lewis is faulted,” Dannemeyer said.

When he complained, Dannemeyer said, “Lewis’ offhand comment was, ‘If you don’t like what I’m doing, you can replace me as conference chairman.’ And so we are seeking to accommodate the gentleman.”

Early last week, Rohrabacher said he would oppose Lewis, explaining, “There’s widespread dissatisfaction with Jerry among conservatives.” On Friday, however, Rohrabacher said he was rethinking his position.

“I’m still just as upset about (Lewis’) budget position,” Rohrabacher said. “But I think I owe it to Jerry and myself to take a close look at all the issues that are being considered, and not just one vote.”

Lewis defended his role in the budget debate.

“If you’re going to have a role in the process,” he said, “you’ve got to be able to deal with the majority as well. I did not get elected simply to be a bomb thrower or to take on the majority at every turn, regardless. Obstructionism does not lead to the best public policy.”

He added, “The combative approach, the confrontation for the sake of confrontation, is a major factor for our dropping from 191 (House members) for Republicans to 167” since 1984.

Dannemeyer acknowledged that failure to oust Lewis after taking a public stand against him is a risky proposition that could come back to haunt Orange County lawmakers. “That’s always a possibility,” he said, “but I do not choose to live my political life on the premise of fear.”

Cox said he opposes the move to oust Lewis as conference chairman because it would be counterproductive. “It would be truly shooting ourselves in the foot,” he said, to remove a Californian as head of the conference and replace him with a representative from Michigan.

“It is very much in the interests of California to have a Californian at the head of the conference,” Cox said. He also noted that Pursell, whose district includes Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan, is far less conservative than Lewis.

“I like Carl Pursell,” Cox said. “But objectively, Carl’s challenge to Jerry has to be viewed as a challenge from the left, and I don’t think that is in the interest of the delegation.”

But geography and ideology appear to pale beside the issue of taxes.

“The biggest thing on the conservative agenda right now is the tax increase,” said Duane M. Higgins, director of congressional relations for the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

Conservatives “saw with fear when the Democrats started using the anti-tax issue across the country to defeat Republicans,” Higgins said. “These (conservative) Republicans are saying, “Our issue is gone. What do we do?”. . . The tax issue is the one thing they can’t stand to see taken away.”

As a result, Pursell’s stands on other issues apparently are of far less importance to many conservatives than his staunch opposition to the White House position on the budget package.

The five Orange County congressmen, and other conservatives, are scheduled to meet Sunday evening in Dannemeyer’s Capitol Hill office to plot a strategy that may include offering their own slate for offices to be filled by the state GOP delegation.

Dannemeyer would not comment directly on the meeting. “Let’s just say that I think there are jobs within the delegation that should be shared with other members, and I think there will be nominees for those slots.”