For a Freshman, a Few Hard Lessons

Howard P. (Buck) McKeon was one of many who ran for Congress two years ago as an outsider--pledging to trim the pork, transform politics as usual and reform an institution whose members are all too preoccupied with self-perpetuation.

At one point, drawing on his history as co-owner of a chain of Western clothing stores, former bank chairman and mayor of Santa Clarita, he even fashioned himself as a kind of low-level Republican Ross Perot in cowboy boots.

Fifteen months into his first term, McKeon still espouses such lofty aims. But the long, lean Californian has learned some hard lessons about why they’re so difficult to achieve.

“This year has been the biggest learning year of my life, other than the year I learned to walk and talk,” McKeon said during a recent reflective session.

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Lesson No. 1: Bringing home the bacon doesn’t necessarily make it pork.

Belying his aw-shucks, down-home manner, McKeon has shrewdly pursued his goals. He was elected Republican freshman class president. And he gained a slot on the Public Works and Transportation Committee--renowned as a source of largess for local highway, airport and water projects.

McKeon has made winning federal funds to upgrade freeways in his district a priority. Asked how this differed from pork-barrel spending, he pulled out a “Porkbusters’ Manual” by a group seeking to eliminate government waste.

In contrast to the no-nos--such as goodies of dubious value inserted in spending bills behind closed doors--McKeon said he would seek money for projects with broad regional impact on their merits through the normal legislative process. He said the projects “have real significance for our district but meet these criteria. So they wouldn’t be called pork.”

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Lesson No. 2: Be careful what you promise on the hustings--it may come back to haunt.

McKeon declared during his maiden campaign that he opposed the North American Free Trade Agreement. He later said he knew little about NAFTA at the time but had been told by a businessman that it would cost the district jobs. As the issue heated up last fall, McKeon stuck to his guns until shortly before he cast his vote-- for the controversial treaty.

In the end, he said, he saw the merits of the pact: NAFTA would create more jobs than it would cost and would help combat illegal immigration. But, as the Clinton Administration desperately scrambled for votes, McKeon also got Transportation Secretary Federico Pena on the horn to make a pitch for some of those highway funds.

Back home, Perot’s vociferous backers, who thought they had a commitment from McKeon to vote against the treaty, hit the roof. Some even cried: “Treason!”

“I was not a politician,” McKeon recalled, perhaps giving himself too little--or too much--credit. “I did not understand that if you made a statement you were bound (until) your death.”

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Lesson No. 3: When in doubt, vote the district, veto the principle.

McKeon recently found himself in a quandary after the Northridge earthquake. As Congressman Epicenter, he had as much at stake as any legislator when the Administration’s massive $8.6-billion relief package galloped through Congress.

The freshman’s dilemma arose when fellow fiscal conservatives--trying to prevent additional deficit spending--pushed broad budget cuts in other programs to offset the emergency aid. McKeon, a frequent critic of profligate spending, had already supported such a principle when a similar measure was passed for the Midwest floods last year.

But in the end, McKeon heeded the warning of a veteran Democrat from a neighboring district who argued that such a process would spark a protracted congressional debate over which programs to cut. This, in turn, might delay the urgently needed quake relief.

McKeon cast his ballot against two packages of cuts--one of which lost by only four votes. And he worked to persuade GOP colleagues to shoot down the reductions.

“We have to vote for the country, but we really have to represent our district,” McKeon said. “I have to be there fighting for (my constituents) because that’s my obligation.”

So he voted to boost a deficit he had vowed to reduce. But McKeon, a little older and more than a little wiser, still holds the majority Democrats primarily responsible for refusing to rein in spending and shrink government.

Still, he cites one other lesson: “I’ve learned it’s a lot easier to talk about than it is to do.”