Republican Revenge A Dish Best Served Cold

Top Senate Republicans fussed in unison on Monday as President Clinton installed Bill Lann Lee as the nation’s acting civil rights boss despite their opposition. But retaliation is something else again.

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott steered well clear of the subject, as did the GOP whip, Don Nickles of Oklahoma. Orrin Hatch, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said only that “retribution against Mr. Lee” would serve neither the victims of racial discrimination nor public policy.

“No group of senators is sitting here at this moment calculating revenge. That is not how the Senate works,” said Larry Craig of Idaho.

Still, it seems unlikely the GOP high command intends to let the issue go completely unnoticed.

Craig noted that Clinton becomes “more of a lame duck” the deeper he goes into his second term in office. “What I’m suggesting is that in an environment where he’s going to need the support of a majority in the Senate he seems to oftentimes pick areas of confrontation.”

Said one Republican official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “There will come a time when the administration wants certain things and those things will be weighed in the balance.”