The Fun of Being a Maverick Democrat

He was off on his own again. Rep. Gary Condit, the noted party rebel from the city of Ceres in the Central Valley, was marching this way as his Democratic delegation colleagues were marching that way.

At issue was a recent GOP effort to rein in the grasp of the Environmental Protection Agency to limit air and water pollution.

Condit cast one of two California Democratic votes favoring the restrictions, joining 20 California Republicans.

“I think it would add a more common-sense balance to environmental laws,” opined Condit, who has also joined in the crusade to curb the Endangered Species Act, seen by many Republicans as an out-of-control bureaucratic intrusion into property rights.

So what else is new? In 1994 he voted the party line only 58% of the time.

“The American people don’t give two hoots if it’s a Democratic or Republican solution, or if it’s moderate, liberal or conservative, as long as it works on their behalf,” Condit said this week.

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This sort of independent rhetoric has long been Condit’s political bread and butter, befitting the most conservative Democrat in the California delegation and sitting well with his Central Valley constituents, who have got in the habit of sending him back to Congress with comfy vote margins.

Condit has proudly worn the maverick label since his California Assembly days in the late 1980s. As a member of the moderate-to-conservative “Gang of Five,” Condit challenged the dominion of super-liberal former Speaker Willie Brown--to predictable effect.

Brown stripped him of his leadership position and choice committee assignments, but Condit nimbly segued to Congress in 1989 after easily winning the House seat left vacant by former Rep. Tony Coelho, who resigned amid questions over his personal finances.

Since arriving on Capitol Hill, Condit has cheerfully driven party disciplinarians nuts with his votes--in favor of the Hyde amendment banning most publicly funded abortion, against the 1993 Clinton budget and economic stimulus plan.

For much of his congressional tenure, Condit has been on the bank of the Democratic mainstream, irking the party leadership with his out-of-step views.

Then came last November’s Democratic debacle, and guess who has emerged from the sidelines?

While the majority liberal wing of the Democratic Party remains in a stupor, Condit is now at the forefront of a group of 22 conservative Democrats who have been offering thoughtful alternatives to Republican budget cuts, welfare reforms and Medicare overhauls.

Dubbed “the Coalition,” its seven-year balanced budget plan attracted favorable reviews--from commentators outside of Congress at least--as sensible but less-Draconian than the GOP’s plan.

Democratic House leaders may find the pronouncements of Condit and his pals an affront to their authority and the party’s traditions, but the Coalition has only taken the ground ceded to them by the pouty liberals, Condit said.

“It’s a flawed strategy to always criticize without saying what you’re for,” Condit explained.

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For the three-term Condit, Congress’ lurch to the right has brought him a kind of low-grade, inside-the-Beltway fame.

Snubbed by his own party, the Republicans named him to a congressional conference committee on unfunded mandates, an issue Condit worked for years before it was politically fashionable.

His name now pops up regularly in stories about the Coalition, and Mary Matalin and Dee Dee Myers invited him to chatter on their television talk show.

He insists he is just “being representative of where I’m from.” His district encompasses the northern end of the Central Valley including the cities of Modesto and Merced and stretches south almost to Fresno.

“I am pretty much what my district is. It’s portrayed as conservative but it’s very moderate and open-minded. On social issues I’m pretty moderate, on financial issues I’ve become a little more conservative.

“I don’t wring my hands and spend a lot of time worrying whether I’m in sync with my district. I feel very close to my constituents.”

As testament to Condit’s greater visibility, dormant rumors of party-switching have once again flared up.

“I spend no time thinking or talking about it. I say--humorously--that I’ve been asked by both sides to switch, but I’m here to stay in the Democratic Party,” Condit said this week.

Back in the 1980s the Republicans tried to convert Condit. “But I think he got tired of my bugging him,” recalled Ernie Spokes, GOP chairman of Stanislaus County.

“I don’t anticipate Gary ever changing over to the Republican Party,” Spokes said. “If you look at all the votes that Gary casts--not just the high-profile ones--you are talking about a middle-of-the-road Democrat, not a Republican.”

These days, middle-of-the-road Democrats are the only ones having any fun.