A Threatening Letter From GOP Draws Apology

The Republican National Committee has apologized to GOP members of Congress for generating a fund-raising letter threatening lawmakers if they vote for President Clinton’s economic plan.

“If you vote for President Clinton’s massive tax increases I will vote against you in 1994,” said a form letter that the Republican Party mailed as part of a nationwide fund-raising campaign.

Recipients of the April 15 letter were asked to mail it to their representatives in Congress, regardless of party affiliation. The result: Many congressional Republicans who have opposed the Clinton plan still received threatening letters from constituents.

The letter urged recipients to back up their opposition to the Clinton plan with “the largest contribution I have ever made to the Republican Party.”

Rep. Fred Grandy (R-Iowa) said he was “appalled” by the tactics of his own national party.

“What this is doing is raising money among registered Republicans in order to send . . . threatening letters to sitting Republican members of Congress. Good idea, right?,” Grandy told the Des Moines Register, which reported details of the letter Saturday.

After receiving complaints from GOP lawmakers, Committee Chairman Haley Barbour sent Republicans in Congress a letter in which he conceded the language in the form letter was “too harsh.”

Barbour’s signature appeared on the direct mail solicitation, part of the party’s effort to raise money based on its opposition to Clinton’s program.

B. J. Cooper, the communications director of the RNC, said Saturday that sending the letter into districts represented by a Republican was “a mistake.”

“Nobody in the chain handling that letter thought to exclude districts with Republican congressmen,” Cooper said. “As soon as several congressmen called the other day to complain about it, the chairman sent a letter apologizing.”