Gingrich Deputy Quits After Failed Ouster

Beginning what could be the tumultuous aftermath of a failed effort to oust him, House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) Thursday accepted the resignation of a top lieutenant who allegedly helped encourage the aborted coup.

Rep. Bill Paxon (R-N.Y.), who had been handpicked by Gingrich to be chairman of the Republican leadership, denied he was part of a bid by conservatives to dump Gingrich, but acknowledged doubts about his loyalty.

“It is clear that I can no longer be an asset to your team in this appointed capacity,” Paxon said in a letter to Gingrich resigning from his post.

Paxon, whose wife, Susan Molinari, recently gave up her congressional seat for a television news job, had been identified by many of the conservative rebels as their favored candidate to succeed Gingrich as speaker. Although Paxon disavows any such ambition, some rebels said his departure from the leadership could make him even more attractive as an alternative to Gingrich.

Meanwhile, some Republicans were worried that Paxon’s resignation would not be the end of the matter, and that more heads would roll. “I don’t know what’s next,” said Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas). “But I don’t think it’s completely over.”

Such protracted turmoil would raise the prospect of a change in the direction of the House’s Republican majority--perhaps to the detriment of the conservatives who have dominated the House almost unchallenged for the last two years. Recently, House Republicans have seemed far more likely to elect more-moderate leaders, in part because of the political price the GOP paid after the budget showdowns and government shutdowns of 1995-96.

As one conservative said, “there is a continued fear of being portrayed as radical,” a trend that would favor the moderates should more leadership posts come open.

The imbroglio also threatens to overshadow GOP efforts to promote the party’s legislative agenda and claim credit for such likely congressional accomplishments as a massive tax-cut bill. When Gingrich and other GOP leaders--minus Paxon--scheduled a press conference to discuss the tax-cut measure Thursday, the only questions reporters had were about the leadership turmoil. Gingrich ignored them all.

Meanwhile, negotiations on the tax cut and other budget legislation have slowed to a snail’s pace, dashing GOP leaders’ hopes that deals on those bills would be reached by the end of this week.

“The turmoil has undermined the ability for House Republicans to be able to articulate just where they want to go in these negotiations,” said Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.).

Democrats in the House quickly made plain how easy it will be for them to exploit GOP disarray and gum up the works. On Thursday, they managed to tie up the House with procedural votes all day, forcing the Republicans to adjourn early without completing any substantive legislative work.

It was an appropriate backdrop for a day in which Republicans continued to reel from Wednesday’s revelations that a rump group of conservatives tried to oust Gingrich last week. According to GOP sources, the abortive coup had the encouragement of Paxon, House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas), House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and House GOP Conference Chairman John A. Boehner (R-Ohio). Publicly, however, all of these leaders vehemently deny any support for removing Gingrich.

Paxon offered his resignation to Gingrich Wednesday night. Gingrich accepted it Thursday. Sources close to Gingrich said the speaker did not demand the resignation, but that, in the words of one top aide, “the writing was on the wall.”

Members of the dissident group said Paxon encouraged their rebellion against Gingrich, although not as explicitly as other leaders.

Rep. Joe Scarborough (R-Fla.), one of the dissidents, said it is ironic that Paxon paid the initial price for the failed coup. “He was one of the few guys who always seemed to be defending the speaker,” Scarborough said.

Paxon was, for many rebels, the favored candidate to succeed Gingrich. He is a young, media-savvy politician who piled up a lot of chits with fellow Republicans by serving four years as chairman of the House GOP fund-raising arm, the National Congressional Campaign Committee.

Rep. John B. Shadegg (R-Ariz.) faulted the speaker for accepting Paxon’s resignation, saying it made him into a “scapegoat” and would have the effect of prolonging the turmoil rather than containing it.

“Now people say, ‘Paxon has to resign, then maybe DeLay should resign,’ ” said Shadegg. “Where does it end?”

Indeed, many members speculated that DeLay would be the next to go, since he was the leader most directly implicated in the coup attempt. So intense was the speculation that DeLay felt compelled to issue a statement Thursday denying he was going to resign his leadership job.

Not all Republicans are longing for an end to the turmoil. At a meeting Thursday of the large group of Republicans who first won election in 1994 and gave the party control of the House, there was broad support for far-reaching leadership change.

“People from all sides of the ideological spectrum were saying it was time to clean house,” said one Republican at the meeting.