Afflicted with a terminal case of attention deficit disorder, it’s no surprise that the press forgot about George Nethercutt Jr.
The name should ring a bell as we prepare to ring in a new year.
“George, The Giant Killer,” declared The Washington Post headline Jan. 5, 1995, as the Republican flood washed ashore and brought to Congress an odd assortment of political wannabes.
There was, of course, Michael Flanagan of Chicago, the $7,000-a-year-attorney and conqueror of Dan Rostenkowski. Restaurateur Sonny Bono, Esq., of Palm Springs. Football hero Steve Largent of Oklahoma. And relentless Enid Waldholtz, the pride of Salt Lake City whose November 1994 victory reflected Mormon inspiration and a late-campaign infusion of $1.7 million engineered by her beloved, apparently check-kiting husband, Joe.
But, most of all, there was Nethercutt.
Blond, broad-shouldered and strong-jawed, he had a rugged but soft-spoken air about him. You could figure him for a Coors ad or L.L. Bean advertisement.
More relevant, he was a moderate Republican attorney and all-around good citizen in his native Spokane, doing lots of adoption work, founding a crisis nursery for abused children, and heading the local Diabetes Foundation.
And, in a historical event, he defeated Thomas Foley, speaker of the House of Representatives. The GOP major domos displayed their gratitude by giving him a plum assignment on the Appropriations Committee. That’s where the big bucks get doled out.
Not since 1860 had an incumbent speaker been vanquished in an election in his home district. But Nethercutt pulled the biggest of upsets by toppling a Democrat who, along with Rostenkowski and several others, had become a symbol for an established order deemed unseemly by the electorate.
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Indeed, the Washington delegation, which had been majority Democratic by a 7-2 margin, in one day became majority Republican, by an 8-1 count. The only Democrat who survived was Seattle’s Jim McDermott, a Chicago native.
“I watched the Foley-Nethercutt debates on C-Span,” recalls Rep. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.). “In fact, I followed that race closer than any except my own. . .
“Having defeated Foley, he has a heavy burden. He is `The Man Who Defeated the Speaker.’ But he seems to be developing his own sea legs. He doesn’t fall into the category of other freshmen, he’s not a fire breather.”
Yet, even Capitol Hill reporters may resemble a deer caught in headlights when asked about Nethercutt. And since there’s no systematic coverage by Spokane media, there’s been scant attention paid to the giant slayer’s first year.
In part, that reflects the tack he’s taken. He has not made the mark that at least two dozen of the 73 freshmen Republicans have during their first year. If you inquire about merely the freshmen in the Washington delegation, others are mentioned first, notably Ross Perot acolyte Linda Smith of Vancouver and Indiana-bred, Ivy League-educated Rick White of Bainbridge Island.
Unlike them, Nethercutt, 51, was no stranger to Capitol Hill, having once served as a staff aide to Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska.).
“I’ve been low-key by design,” said Nethercutt, who unlike many freshmen moved his family (wife and two young children) to the capital. He noted that many newcomers were searching for an identity and “a place as freshmen. I didn’t want to be part of that. I’d rather be known as a work horse than a show horse. I thought it best to work behind the scenes rather than play to the cameras.
“Are there more ideological members? Yes. Some people clearly strive to be the biggest budget-cutters or the hardest negotiators. I haven’t.”
The manner is modest, but the voting record suggests distinct fidelity to the Republican leadership and, in some cases, notably agriculture, no obvious zest to alter the status quo.
He’s voted with Speaker Newt Gingrich more than 90 percent of the time, as is the case with the GOP freshmen as a group. Thus, when it comes to deregulation, increasing defense spending, slashing an array of social programs, and both downsizing government and moving resources and power to the states, Nethercutt has been right there with Gingrich.
“The tail isn’t wagging the dog. The dog is one unit,” he told a Rotary Club meeting back in Spokane by phone the other day. He thus chided the popular notion in political environs that the true-believer freshmen were pushing Gingrich and deal-cutting consiglieres toward a purity they’d resist otherwise.
“We’re on the same ideological plain,” he’d told me earlier. Thus, while he concedes the Republicans have gained a reputation for lacking compassion and sensitivity, especially toward the poor, he usually has voted for the same tough-minded measures, like yanking welfare benefits from moms who have another kid, as has the House majority.
And he’s been protective of the same agricultural interests as was Foley. His predecessor as 5th District representative was a staunch defender of the area’s big wheat, dairy, fishing and logging interests and had served as chairman of the House Agriculture Committee.
While conscious that the traditional farm subsidy system must change, Nethercutt did not sign on as co-sponsor for a plan devised by the committee’s current chairman, Pat Roberts of Kansas, to dramatically revise the system in ways that please critics of “corporate welfare.”
As for Gingrich himself, he’s had about a dozen meetings with him over the past year and, “I respect him more than I did before I was elected.” He calls the speaker a caring, deep thinker “not afraid to admit he’s made a mistake and more self-effacing than I expected.” (He’s not actually seen Foley, who’s remained in town as a private attorney, but exchanged notes.)
Like many of the freshmen Republicans, he has not turned his back on some of system’s vestiges reviled on the way to Washington, like contributions from special interests.
In his case, there has been a healthy array of funds from, among others, the American Bakers Association, National Electrical Contractors Association, Unocal Corp., Washington Water Power Co., SeaFirst Bank, Prudential Securities, National Association of Life Underwriters, Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, American Medical Association, United Parcel Service and National Rifle Association.
Of course, it’s the way the game still gets played, even by a giant slayer who insists he’ll make good on his term limits promise and not serve more than six years.
“There is life after Washington,” said a decidedly centered fellow. “There are other ways to do public service.”
Dixon does the job
Kudos for former Sen. Alan Dixon.
On Friday, the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission, formed to give a gutless Congress political cover in closing lots of needless military bases, died.
In five years of operation, most recently under the Illinois Democrat’s chairmanship, it closed 243 bases, saved many billions of dollars and was lauded by outside analysts for tough, fair decisionmaking, some of which infuriated President Clinton.
And, would you believe, officials said Friday, that it literally came in 3 cents under its $13 million budget.
Departing staffers partied Friday. Dixon called at 9 a.m. and asked when most would arrive so he could say thanks by speaker phone. He was told 11 a.m.
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Alas, he’d be on a Florida golf course by then, so no call.
Farewell, commission.