Moorhead Bypassed for Top Committee Post : Congress: Seniority would have given the Glendale Republican either of two powerful chairmanships. But House Speaker-designate Newt Gingrich doesn’t feel he’s aggressive enough.

After waiting 22 years for the Republicans to control the House, Rep. Carlos J. Moorhead (R-Glendale) thought last week’s election results presented him with a congressman’s dream--a choice between two powerful committee chairmanships.

This week, however, the 72-year-old dean of California’s Republican congressional delegation received grim news: Despite the GOP’s good fortunes, Moorhead was being bypassed for both committee posts because House Speaker-designate Newt Gingrich did not consider him aggressive enough.

During his 11 terms in the House of Representatives, Moorhead became the ranking Republican on the Energy and Commerce Committee and was the second-ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, behind retiring Rep. Hamilton Fish (R-New York).

“For two years, we talked about his ranking position on these committees and how he might be chairman someday,” said Peter Musurlian, Moorhead’s district director. “On election night he was ecstatic. He was choosing between the two.”

And while other Republicans returned to Washington immediately after Election Day to press their cases with Gingrich, Moorhead relied on the seniority system and went on vacation.

“He never doubted the traditions of the House, that seniority is not bypassed,” Musurlian said. “You’ve been there, you’ve paid your dues and you get the chairmanship.”

Some of Moorhead’s colleagues apparently agree. Fearful that bypassing Moorhead damages California’s clout, some of the state’s House Republicans protested the move Thursday in a closed-door meeting with Gingrich on Capitol Hill.

It is style rather than ideology that divides Moorhead from the incoming Speaker.

Considered a loyal Republican, Moorhead has been rated the most conservative lawmaker in the House. Yet he is also considered a soft-spoken conciliator eager to reach compromise, a far cry from Gingrich’s more combative style.

During the election campaign this year, Democratic challenger Doug Kahn criticized Moorhead as a tool of the gun lobby, an abortion opponent and so ineffectual that only one of his measures has been passed by Congress in 10 years--a resolution to proclaim July 13-19 of 1987 “Snow White Week.”

Moorhead, a proven fund-raiser who easily outdistanced Kahn, responded that Republicans were lucky to push anything at all through the Democrat-controlled Congress.

Grappling with his lack of ascension this week, Moorhead did receive some consolation: He probably will be named chairman of a subcommittee handling copyright and trademark issues, which are essential to the state’s entertainment and high-tech industries.

Yet being bypassed for a top job means Moorhead--who represents Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena and Sunland-Tujunga--may end his long career in Washington without ever having reached his goal of chairing a committee. The perks that chairmanship brings will not come his way either--expanded office space, additional staffers and control over the agenda.

Moorhead, returning to Southern California on Thursday, could not be reached for comment. But he put the best possible spin on the events in discussions with his staff, telling them that he is discouraged but still intent on accomplishing important work on the subcommittee and working with the Republican leadership to push his party’s programs.

“Carlos is disappointed,” said Moorhead’s legislative assistant, David Joergenson. “I don’t think he feels it was the right thing to do, but he recognizes that the young Turks have taken over and they have certain criteria that apparently he doesn’t fit into. . . . He says, ‘I’m disappointed, but I’m still a chairman of an important subcommittee.’ ”

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After mulling over which post he preferred, Moorhead had decided on Energy and Commerce, a body that handles legislation affecting virtually every industry in America and one of the key House committees devising alternatives to President Clinton’s health reform package.

Moorhead’s appointment would have been an important plus for California, which has seen some of its senior Democratic lawmakers--including Reps. Howard Berman (D-Panorama City), Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles) and Anthony Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills)--stripped of their clout.

The Republican leadership tapped Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.) to chair the Judiciary Committee, a move Moorhead supported. Then Gingrich and his aides stunned Moorhead by bypassing him for Energy and Commerce, instead choosing the second-ranking Republican, Rep. Thomas J. Bliley (R-Virginia).

“Carlos decided not to fight the issue in either case because, with Gingrich calling the shots, he didn’t think he would win,” Joergenson said.