Scandals distracting for Bush, GOP
WASHINGTON – A string of scandals involving some of the most powerful Republicans in Washington have converged to disrupt President Bush’s agenda, distract aides and allies, and exacerbate political problems for an already weakened administration, according to party strategists and White House advisers.
With Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove returning to a grand jury as early as today, associates said the architect of Bush’s presidency has been preoccupied with his legal troubles, a diversion some say contributed to the troubled handling of Harriet Miers’ nomination to the Supreme Court. White House officials are privately bracing for the possibility that Rove or other officials could be indicted within two weeks.
Bush’s main partners on Capitol Hill likewise are spending time defending themselves as the president’s legislative initiatives start to founder. The indictment of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, for alleged campaign funding illegalities has thrown Republicans into one of the most tumultuous periods of their 10-year reign and created the prospect of a looming leadership battle. And while Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., deals with a subpoena in an insider trading investigation, a bipartisan majority rebuked Bush over torture policies.
Most of the scandals have little direct connection with one another, but their accumulation in a compressed period has challenged a White House already beset by political problems stemming from the Iraq war, Hurricane Katrina and high gasoline prices, according to Republican advisers close to the Bush team, several of whom said they could speak candidly only if they were not identified by name.
“The Rove thing has gotten to be enormously distracting,” said one outside adviser to the White House. “Knowing the way the White House works, being under subpoena like this, your mind is not on your work, it’s on that.”
“It looks like a perfect storm,” said Joseph diGenova, a Republican and former independent counsel, who noted that so many investigations can weigh on an administration. “People have no idea what happens when an investigation gets under way. It’s debilitating. It’s not just distracting. It’s debilitating. It’s like getting punched in the stomach.”
Beyond the short-term problems, Republicans are particularly anxious about the sprawling investigations into conservative lobbyist Jack Abramoff, whose business and political dealings brought him regularly into contact with dozens of lawmakers and top White House officials. Among insiders, he was one of the most familiar faces among the generation of party operatives who came of age when Republicans took control of Congress 11 years ago.
“The one that people are most worried about is Abramoff because it seems to have such long tentacles,” said former Representative Vin Weber, R-Minn., a lobbyist with close ties to the White House. “This seems to be something that could spread almost anywhere … and that has a lot of people worried.”
The Abramoff scandal has already resulted in two unanticipated casualties: David H. Safavian, a former Rove business partner serving as the top White House procurement official, recently resigned and was arrested on charges that he lied about and impeded an investigation into his dealings with Abramoff. And Timothy E. Flanigan, Bush’s nominee for deputy attorney general, the No. 2 job at the Justice Department, withdrew last week after questions were raised about his interactions with the lobbyist.
The current atmosphere is not what Bush envisioned as a candidate in 2000. Coming off the Clinton years, which were dominated by seven independent counsel investigations and the impeachment of the president, Bush vowed to run a cleaner and more ethical Washington. “In my administration,” Bush told voters in Pittsburgh in October 2000, “we will ask not only what is legal but what is right; not what the lawyers allow, but what the public deserves.”
In the end, some Republicans argue, it will not add up to much or turn off voters. “I don’t think people feel there is a sleaze factor at all,” said Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., adding that most voters are more aggrieved over excessive spending and gas prices.
Several Republicans close to Bush said they believe the CIA leak investigation has taken a particular toll, reducing Rove’s role in key decisions and prompting Bush to rely on other, less sure-footed advisers.
Two Republicans close to the White House said officials are nervous that Rove and Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the two most powerful staffers in the federal government, could be indicted by special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald within two weeks. While the idea struck many on the Bush team as unfathomable a few months ago, now the common assumption is that both men could be in trouble.