The intensifying fight for the No. 2 Democratic leadership job in the House is evolving into an early test of the power of the incoming House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, after her decision to throw her public support behind Representative John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania.
Stephen Crowley
Representative John P. Murtha is incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s choice for majority leader over Representative Steny H. Hoyer, above, who says he has enough pledges of support to win the position.
Mr. Murtha, widely considered an underdog to Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the current second-ranking Democrat, sought on Monday to use a new letter of support from Ms. Pelosi to gain ground, asking for new pledges from Democrats who converged on Washington after their decisive midterm election victory.
Mr. Murtha and his allies said the role he had played in questioning the war in Iraq helped legitimize Democratic opposition to the war and turn it into a winning campaign issue, making him the natural choice for majority leader at a time when Iraq policy will dominate the Congress.
“When the public speaks, things are going to change,” Mr. Murtha, a decorated Vietnam veteran, said on Monday.
Mr. Hoyer and Mr. Murtha are similar in some respects, both veterans of the byzantine appropriations process and skilled in winning money for local projects in the annual spending bills. While Mr. Murtha has been closely allied with Ms. Pelosi against the war, he is well to the right of her on many social issues like abortion and gun control and is known for his ability to work with conservatives in both parties. Mr. Hoyer is more liberal over all on social issues but is considered a pro-business Democrat.
While Mr. Hoyer has been a fixture in the party leadership, Mr. Murtha eschewed the spotlight and seemed content to wield his considerable influence well behind the scenes until he took a highly publicized stand against the war.
But Mr. Murtha is also coming under the spotlight on another subject that dominated the campaign: Congressional ethics. He helped block changes in ethics policies that Democrats proposed last year. He has also been an astute backroom-deal maker known for trading votes for the pet projects known as earmarks. He has had family members who lobbied on issues under his control, and he was caught up in the Abscam corruption scandal more than 25 years ago, though he was never charged.
The leader of one watchdog group said Monday that Mr. Murtha’s record should disqualify him for the No. 2 job, particularly since Democrats campaigned so hard against Republican corruption and have promised to make new ethics and lobbying rules a priority.
“How can Americans believe that the Democrats will return integrity to the House when future Speaker Pelosi has endorsed an ethically challenged member for a leadership position?” asked Melanie Sloan, the head of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, a Democratic-leaning group that focuses on government integrity in Washington. “Representative Murtha is the wrong choice for this job.”
Mr. Murtha dismissed the attack and promised that, if elected majority leader, he would help formulate a strict ethics policy. “Wait until you see the ethics package we support and we pass,” he said. “No meals, no trips, nothing. I support it 100 percent.”
Mr. Hoyer, who learned of Ms. Pelosi’s letter of support for Mr. Murtha while he was courting new Democratic members at a reception on Sunday, said he did not anticipate much of a shift in votes as the result of what he described as her low-key endorsement.
“We have seen no sign of that,” Mr. Hoyer said.
He and other allies say he has well more than a majority of Democrats pledged to back him in Thursday’s election, providing a cushion to account for any lawmakers who might stray in the secret ballot.
Mr. Hoyer said Ms. Pelosi, with whom he has had an occasionally tense relationship since he unsuccessfully challenged her for party whip in 2001, had already told him she would vote for Mr. Murtha. But Mr. Hoyer said many of their colleagues believed that he and Ms. Pelosi had demonstrated a strong ability to work together over the past four years.
“We got the victory,” he said. “Why change?”
Ms. Pelosi’s preference for Mr. Murtha was well known since he ran her campaign for House whip against Mr. Hoyer. In the past year, she has come to believe that Mr. Murtha did the party — and her — a service by putting his own military credentials behind a call to begin removing troops from Iraq.
But the letter of support she provided Mr. Murtha was surprising, since it meant that Ms. Pelosi could be perceived as being weakened before she even takes her new office if Mr. Murtha falls short.
Ms. Pelosi’s allies said she was willing to take the risk because of her deep loyalty to Mr. Murtha and since it was already assumed by many that she was working to advance his candidacy.
She and her allies have also taken the view that Mr. Murtha’s scrapes regarding ethics should not be an impediment to his election. And some of his backers say the Abscam scandal in 1980 is ancient history.
In that case, Mr. Murtha was among lawmakers caught on film being offered bribes by F.B.I. agents posing as Arab businessmen. Mr. Murtha, a protégé of Speaker Thomas P. O’Neill Jr., refused a bribe, saying he was not interested “at this point.” He went on to testify against some of those sent to prison, and the federal government chose not to indict him. He was cleared by the House ethics committee, but the committee counsel quit after the case was dropped.
“It was 26 years ago,” said Representative Kendrick B. Meek, Democrat of Florida and a former Florida state trooper who is supporting Mr. Murtha.
Mr. Meek said he and others believed that Democrats needed a close-knit leadership team at this critical point, avoiding conflict in the crucial positions. “We need a united top shelf,” he said.
But Mr. Hoyer has won support from respected veterans who are in line to take over top committees, including Representatives Henry A. Waxman of California, John D. Dingell of Michigan, Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Ike Skelton of Missouri, along with Representative John Lewis of Georgia, a veteran of the civil rights struggle. He also won public support from leading Democratic progressives and more than 20 of the incoming freshmen.
Democrats on both sides of the leadership fight say they wished the battle could have been avoided in the interests of starting out together, but they say such contests are a fact of life, particularly with the lure of new power.
“They happen, and we will deal with them and see what happens,” said Representative George Miller, Democrat of California. (NY Times)
