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The Thomas-crowd Affair
Friday July 25, 2003
Yesterday, the California Secretary of State certified that enough signatures had been
gathered to place the recall of Governor Gray Davis on the ballot this October. One of the leaders of that effort
(as detailed in Mullings of February 21, 2003) is Mark Abernathy, a close political ally of the chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, Bill Thomas (R-CA).
Bill Thomas, is not the most lovable individual who ever strolled into the Well of the House. He is, however, one of the smartest.
Last week a shouting match in the Ways & Means Committee hearing room during the mark-up of a pension bill ended up with threats, cursing, sexual innuendo, and the calling of the Capitol cops to sort it all out. While Thomas took the blame, the language used by Democrat Pete Stark (D-CA) was so outrageous that the San Francisco Chronicle called for someone - ANYONE - to run against him next year.
On Wednesday of this week, Chairman Thomas went to the Well of the House and apologized for his "poor judgment" in the affair. That Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi was ungracious in accepting the apology was a surprise to no one.
BACKSTORY:
In the Southwest corner of Indiana - in the Eighth District - a very close election in 1984 ended with
the Republican challenger defeating the Democratic incumbent by 34 votes
The Democrats in the US House held an enormous 71 seat majority, 253-182. Despite that margin, Majority Leader Jim Wright decided that losing even one seat was more then he could bear.
The result was certified by the Indiana secretary of state, but under Article I, Section 5 of the U.S. Constitution the U.S. House has authority to "be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members," and on opening day the Democrats objected to the winner being sworn in.
This led to the controversy which became known as "The Indiana-Eight Affair - or, simply, Indiana-8.
After a series of brutal political, legislative, and court battles which lasted eight months, the House appointed a three-person panel to conduct the recount - two Democrats and one Republican.
Majority Leader Wright ordered the two Democrats on the panel to - literally - stop counting when the Democrat in the race finally broke into the lead, so the official result shows the Democrat winning the election by four votes.
Indiana-8 is the poster child for the phrase "A Pyrrhic victory."
First, it gave moral credence to the complaints of a small, but very vocal group of Conservative Republicans in the House who had been attempting to convince their GOP elders that the Democrats were nothing more than thugs who wielded power without any regard to the rights of the minority.
The leader of that group was a back-bencher from suburban Atlanta, Georgia - Newt Gingrich.
Republicans in the House were - to use a '60s term - radicalized by Indiana-8 which led, in a more-or-less straight line, to Gingrich being elected Republican Whip in 1989, and then leading the takeover of the House in the elections of 1994.
Second, the GOP learned important lessons in Indiana-8:
Understanding that recounts are as much a political and public relations process as they are a legal process;
Realizing that defining things like whether two corners or three make a "hanging chad" a legal vote are crucial;
The vital importance of "voter intent;"; and
Preserving the integrity of the physical ballots is essential in determining the outcome;
All came into play in the Florida recount of 2000.
The sole Republican member of the recount panel in Indiana-8 was Bill Thomas.
END BACKSTORY.
The Republicans in the US House have been moving perilously close to giving Democrats the kind of radicalizing ammunition that Indiana-8 gave Republicans nearly two decades ago.
Bill Thomas apologized to his colleagues - not an easy thing for a Member of the House or Senate to do under any circumstances. Apologizing in public, with his remarks in the Congressional Record is almost unheard of.
But Bill Thomas - who remembers what it felt like to be treated as if he didn't matter in the Southwest corner
of Indiana - did the right thing, taking what might well have been a powerful political issue, off the floor of the U.S. House.
Today, on the Secret Decoder Ring page: A link to the MULLLINGS which described (in a remarkably prescient manner) the recall effort; a link to the SF Chronicle editorial; a link to Rep. Thomas' statement in the Congressional Record; the definition of a "Pyrrhic Victory;" and the usual things.
--END --
Copyright © 2003 Richard A. Galen
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