Gop Finds A Rising Star In Rep. Dunn Party Values Bellevue Lawmaker’s Ability To Get The Message Out And Back It With Fund-Raising

In the gray-business-suit world of the House of Representatives, the Republican congresswoman from Bellevue, Wash., has been noticeable. From the beginning, and by design.

From her clothes, which run to stylish dresses often splashed with big, colorful flowers, to her early embrace of Newt Gingrich’s GOP crusade, to her ability to relieve bankers, small-business owners and corporate executives of their money, U.S. Rep. Jennifer Dunn has declined to be a quiet cog in the political machine.

Now in her second term, her conservative politics, poise and ability to raise money have made her a favorite of Republican congressional leaders.

“She’s been willing to put her shoulder to the wheel,” said House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas. “Whatever’s needed, you don’t have to ask twice. She makes a good presentation, and she does it with style and grace. Her success doesn’t have anything to do with her gender. It’s the quality of her work.”

Said Tony Williams, Republican Sen. Slade Gorton’s chief of staff: “People are talking about her as someone who should be out front, conveying our principles.”

Dunn is bidding to get out front.

When it was announced the leadership position of secretary to the Republican Conference would be vacant at the end of this year, Dunn quickly lined up support to discourage competition.

A big tool is more than $509,000 in campaign money she has raised and will be able to funnel to other Republicans through a political-action committee - The Washington Fund - she is forming.

She declares herself flattered by Republican House members who think she belongs on Sen. Bob Dole’s long list of potential running mates - and she doesn’t say no.

Dunn’s supporters don’t rule out that or much else, including a 1998 challenge to Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington.

“If we do our job right, she will have as many opportunities as possible,” says chief of staff Phil Bond. “Her name will be bounced around (for a Cabinet post) if there’s a Republican in the White House. What’s certain, she will be settling into a role of leadership in the House and helping to craft the 1997 political agenda.”

A Democratic colleague likens Dunn to her political hero, former President Ronald Reagan, in surrounding herself with capable people to do the nuts-and-bolts legislative work while she delivers the message out front.

She is one of the few nationally recognized women - along with New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman and Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison - trying to put a feminine spin on a Republican message that so far hasn’t played well with women.

Her positions, aside from supporting women’s choice in abortion, have been staunchly conservative.

One of her first votes here was against the Family and Medical Leave Act, calling it anti-business and anti-women. Dunn has voted against gun control and for more B-2 bombers, supported cuts in social programs and Medicare growth, voted to weaken drinking-water standards and to restrict the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to enforce environmental laws and inspect food for pesticides.

Unlike her delegation mate, Rep. Linda Smith, R-Wash., whose politics include a conservative Christian agenda, Dunn comes from the Republican tradition of looking out for the interests of corporate America.

Dunn’s commitment to a balanced budget, and the joy she seems to take in delivering that message to a room full of contributors, has made her something of a legend.

“She is a prodigious fund-raiser,” said Karen Marchioro, who was Washington state Democratic chairwoman during the 1980s, when Dunn headed the state Republican Party. “She kept lists of contributors, preparing for the day when she would run for something herself.”

Dunn made it in 1992 - a year Republicans lost virtually everywhere but in Washington’s 8th District. Winning gave her a two-year head start on the GOP revolution of 1994.

Dunn helped to write the GOP’s “Contract With America,” which became the centerpiece of many 1994 campaigns and the first 100 days of this Congress. But what really caught Gingrich’s attention was her ability to raise money. Toward the end of 1993, Gingrich asked Republican incumbents to raise $148,000 each to the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee’s efforts to unseat Democrats. Dunn delivered $250,000.

“Coming in with that amount of money was a very significant happening,” says Dunn’s former district director, Richard Larsen. “That might have been the first signal of her interests. She has all the equipment for a very effective leadership role.

Dunn makes no secret of wanting that leadership role. She’s convinced the Republican message of smaller government and a balanced budget would be more palatable to women coming from her. Looming on the horizon is a possible showdown with Smith and supporters of campaign-finance reform. Smith’s legislation banning PAC contributions strikes at the heart of what Dunn has spent the past 15 years doing.

In an attempt at compromise, Dunn is drafting her own bill. It wouldn’t ban PAC contributions but would limit how much candidates could raise from interests outside their states and districts.