Lawmakers Spared The Wrath Of Gingrich Memo Detailed Sanctions For 3 Congressmen On Farm Bill Vote

A piece of computer mail, circulated widely in the Capitol, quotes House Speaker Newt Gingrich as considering punishment for three GOP lawmakers blocking passage of a farm bill the leadership supports.

Rep. Larry Combest of Texas could be stripped of his chairmanship of the Intelligence Committee. Rep. Bill Emerson of Missouri could be denied a chairman’s post when his turn comes. And Rep. Richard Baker of Louisiana could simply be moved off the Agriculture Committee.

Gingrich sketched these options, alongside other, less punitive strategies, at a closed-door meeting last week at which the GOP high command reviewed efforts to win approval of a $13.4 billion package of savings from farm programs.

Republican Reps. Combest, Emerson, Baker and Saxby Chambliss of Georgia all voted against a proposal backed by the Agriculture Committee chairman, Rep. Pat Roberts of Kansas, joining with Democrats to defeat the measure.

The discussions were disclosed in a memorandum summarizing the meeting that a GOP aide inadvertently sent via e-mail to a Democratic aide - an ironic mistake in the reign of a speaker enthralled by cyberspace. Democrats swiftly made sure the Capitol was flooded with copies.

“He listed those options, none of them are going to be used,” Gingrich’s spokesman, Tony Blankley, said Thursday.

The speaker moved swiftly to smooth over any hard feelings, although Baker, at least, sounded an unhappy note.

“I would not have expected our leadership to have responded that way to independent voting necessities,” he said. “As Republicans in the minority, we often longed for days when you could say your piece, vote the way you wanted and let the majority will prevail.”

Gingrich said the memo shows that “we consider every option.”

“He just tries to put every possible option on the table … ,” said one GOP aide, speaking on condition of anonymity. “I’ve heard him at these meetings say, ‘What is it you would want to try that you don’t think the leadership has the nerve to do?’ He’s clearly trying to elicit new ideas.”

Said Emerson: “He’s the best listener in politics.”

At the same time, he’s not afraid to use the power of his office.

Last winter, for example, he by-passed the seniority system in installing three key committee chairmen. He had GOP members on the Appropriations Committee - a panel more known for spending money than cutting it - submit written pledges that they would uphold GOP plans for a balanced budget.

And two Democrats who switched parties this year were rewarded with coveted committee seats when they moved to the GOP.