California’s Dreier to Lead GOP Action Committee

Moving into a job once held by Newt Gingrich, Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas) has been named general chairman of GOPAC, a leading grass-roots Republican political organization.

The appointment, to be announced today, testifies to Dreier’s rising profile in GOP circles. Already chairman of the influential House Rules Committee, Dreier also is taking a leading role in organizing support among California Republicans for the likely presidential campaign of Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the front-runner for the party’s nomination.

This new appointment could offer Dreier another power base. Founded by then-Delaware Gov. Pierre S. “Pete” du Pont IV in 1979, the GOP Action Committee recruits and trains Republican candidates to run for state and local offices around the country. In the 1998 election cycle, the group spent about $3.5 million.

Asked why he had accepted the position, Dreier said: “I believe very, very strongly that the need to build our farm team and expand it at the state and local level is paramount to our success.”

GOPAC reached its greatest prominence--but also encountered its greatest controversies--during Gingrich’s decade-long tenure as its chairman. Gingrich, the Georgia Republican who rose to House speaker but resigned from Congress late last year after surprise GOP election losses, faced criticism for entangling GOPAC with other entities in his far-flung political network. These included a charity meant to increase opportunity for inner-city youths.

After Gingrich resigned as GOPAC chairman in 1995, he was replaced by Rep. John B. Shadegg (R-Ariz.). Dreier will replace Shadegg.

Dreier said that his two priorities for the group reflect his perspective as a Californian. One is to increase the group’s use of computer and Internet technology in campaigns. The other is more far-reaching: to increase the recruitment of minority Republican candidates for local office. “That’s one of the things I plan to use GOPAC for,” he said.

Rich Galen, GOPAC’s executive director, said that, while Gingrich served as speaker, he still provided “the intellectual energy” for the group even after he stepped down as chairman. But now that Gingrich has left Congress, Galen said, “it will be Dreier” who takes the lead in setting the group’s course.

Meanwhile, another GOP grass-roots organization Thursday announced plans for an ambitious effort to mobilize Christian conservatives. Televangelist Pat Robertson said that the Christian Coalition, which he founded, will seek to raise and spend an unprecedented $20 million to spur an additional 15 million religious conservatives to the polls in November 2000.

“There’s been . . . a hollowing out of the moral center of America,” Robertson said at a Washington news conference. “I really believe there’s going to be a backlash against the Democrats who have joined lock-step to defend the president.”

Also Thursday, Vice President Al Gore said that heading his primary campaign in New Hampshire will be attorney Bill Shaheen, husband of the state’s popular Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen.

Bill Shaheen is a veteran Democratic activist in the state that traditionally is site of the nation’s first primary. Gov. Shaheen has not yet formally endorsed a candidate for the 2000 race.

Times political writer Mark Z. Barabak contributed to this story.