House Democrats Aren’t in Mood for Hershey Kisses

It is, perhaps, the ultimate testament to the depth of the wounds of impeachment: To try to patch things up, the House is calling in a man who helped bring peace to Northern Ireland.

A hearty band of optimists among lawmakers is organizing a bipartisan retreat to teach House members how to bury the hatchet and be civil to each other. The invited experts include John Hume, an Irish politician who pushed for the 1998 peace accord in his homeland.

But it appears that some of those who need the lessons the most do not want to go.

Democratic leaders are having a hard time recruiting their colleagues to attend the mid-March retreat, meeting stiff resistance from those badly scarred by the partisan swordplay of impeachment and other battles with Republicans over the last few months.

Organizers of the retreat in Hershey, Pa.--a sequel to a 1997 “civility” conclave--remain hopeful that they will get more than half of the 435 House members to attend, and called a news conference Wednesday to refute rumors that the effort was falling apart.

But they acknowledged that it will not be easy to turn the House into a demilitarized zone in the post-impeachment era. “It is not going to be the same as in 1997,” said Rep. Thomas C. Sawyer (D-Ohio). “It is a far more difficult political environment.”

Indeed, when House Minority Whip David E. Bonior (D-Mich.) on Wednesday urged fellow Democrats at a closed-door party meeting to attend the retreat, he was showered with boos and hisses.

The first retreat was an effort to diffuse the partisan rancor that had increasingly poisoned the House. Lawmakers and their families traveled to the popular chocolate-making tourist spot for informal hobnobbing and earnest discussions about where the institution of Congress was headed.

Everyone returned ballyhooing the “spirit of Hershey.” But 21 months later, Congress adjourned last December awash in bitterness surrounding the GOP-led drive to oust President Clinton from office.

“I went to Hershey last time . . . and the result was impeachment,” Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose) said Wednesday. “For people who were skeptical, their skepticism was rational.”

She is one of those inclined not to go to this year’s retreat.

Added a Democratic leadership aide: “It’s a real stretch for our folks. People have years of real grievances.”

Still, Democratic leaders are urging their rank-and-file to go, lest the party be seen as an impediment to the more bipartisan tone new Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) is attempting to set. Both Bonior and House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.), made the pitch at Wednesday’s meeting of the Democratic Caucus.

Rep. Sam Gejdenson (D-Conn.) was not moved. “We are in a period where [Republicans] have raised the level of hostility almost to a jihad,” he said.

Organizers hope that about 220 members will attend--roughly the same number as in 1997. So far, Sawyer said, about 100 have signed up, which exceeds the pace of registrations before the last retreat. In fact, organizers said, the appetite for Hershey may be whetted by the ill will caused by impeachment.

“This weekend is about community,” said Debbie Dingell, wife of Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.). “We aren’t two armed camps.”

Others are hopeful that hanging out at a resort with spouses and children will undercut the tendency to portray political adversaries as demons.

Said Rebecca Cox, wife of Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) and mother of three: “It’s hard to get angry at John Dingell when the last time you saw him, he was holding your baby.”

The formal program, such as it is, features only a handful of outsiders. Hume, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in Northern Ireland, will kick off the three-day conference.