Power Shifted, but California Kept Clout

Rep. Jerry Lewis was purring. Winding up his 18th year in the House of Representatives, the cheery, silver-haired former insurance salesman has never had so much fun on Capitol Hill.

“This was a very enjoyable Congress,” he said in his mellifluous baritone. “It’s been more exciting and more productive, and I’ve had a much bigger impact on my state.”

Lewis can be forgiven if his present effusiveness contrasts with an initial wariness after his fellow Republicans stormed the gates and swept to power in both houses of Congress nearly two years ago.

Then the Redlands lawmaker wondered whether the GOP takeover might dilute the state’s formidable clout by disassembling a Democratic power structure that had provided the state a whopping five full committee chairmanships and more than a dozen subcommittee chairs.

Lewis, a veteran appropriator whose seniority lifted him to a chairmanship of his own important spending subcommittee, swiftly adjusted his thinking.

“Never being in the majority, it was tough to make a judgment,” Lewis recalled. “I didn’t expect to be a chairman myself. But being one puts you in a position to affect the whole thing in a different way.”

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Been there, done that, Rep. Vic Fazio’s voice seemed to say. “I don’t think anyone enjoys going from the majority to the minority,” the West Sacramento Democrat said.

And his read on the Republican’s stewardship of Congress? Intense partisanship skewed the legislating, and California suffered for it, Fazio groused. “Ideology overrode the service-to-state ethic.”

Such differing views are not surprising, given the profound political shift that occurred two years ago. Sweeping reform of the federal welfare system and a get-tough immigration law were two of many highly contentious congressional battles, and the effects of the measures in California, while huge, may not be known for years.

But despite considerable policy differences, few members in either party suggest that California underwent a diminution of clout in the 104th Congress, just ended.

That would be akin to overlooking a 900-pound gorilla soaking in your hot tub.

The state has long been a political gold mine with its haul of 54 electoral votes, the nation’s largest. With California essential to President Clinton’s election strategy, the state’s importance, if anything, rose to new heights.

Clinton showered the state with visits and federal largess, and the Republicans responded in kind. When the five Democratic committee chairmen gave way to only one (Republican Rep. Bill Thomas’ chairmanship of the House Oversight Committee), House Speaker Newt Gingrich quickly appointed a GOP California Task Force, the first ever to focus on the interests of a single state.

“There was this talk about how the absence of five powerful committee chairmen would diminish, if not eliminate, California’s presence in Washington,” said Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas), the task force chairman. “I have yet to hear anyone say that since.”

Democrats have always chafed under Dreier’s paeans to the task force, arguing that the group takes too much credit for measures enacted with Democratic support.

While both sides may disagree over the usefulness of the task force, Rep. George E. Brown Jr. of Colton, the dean of the California Democrats, conceded that the fretting over the vanished Democratic committee chairmen was premature:

“I don’t think that the loss of the chairmanships was any more than a temporary kick in the ego for the chairmen who had to become ranking minority members.” Brown ought to know. He was one of the five chairmen who lost their gavels.

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In another important area--appropriations--California also seems to have held its own.

Before the 1994 GOP takeover, Fazio was regarded as one of the “go-to” members in the California delegation. A member of the House Democratic leadership, Fazio was also an appropriations subcommittee chairman (as Lewis is now). Fazio was able to broker the deals that helped bring money and projects to California--for members of both parties.

Lewis, one of seven Californians on the committee, has largely taken over Fazio’s role as the member to see to get things done. And even Fazio agrees that the state has not suffered because of the change.

“It’s always been a more bipartisan group, and it’s nice to have Jerry Lewis calling some of the shots. We were able to maintain our influence.”

On balance, members of Congress seem to be saying, the 104th Congress did just fine by California.

“It was an above-average session for California--and Congress,” said Rep. Gary Condit, the maverick conservative Democrat from the Central Valley. “To be fair, the Republicans pushed issues--immigration, welfare reform . . . the line-item veto--that had been put on the back burner by the Democratic leadership. They should get credit for forcing us to debate and vote on those issues instead of going home knowing we would not be held accountable.”