Pelosi Calls For Summit
Urges Party to Move Past Nov. 5
By Ethan Wallison
In her first major step since being elected last week, incoming House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will ask Democrats to return to Capitol Hill in early December for two days of special meetings to review the party's election debacle and lay a foundation for revival.
But while the Democrats, after five consecutive defeats, have transformed the airing of grievances into a post-election ritual, Pelosi indicated that she won't let the Caucus be consumed with nursing its latest wounds.
"We all have an enormous responsibility to the American people to articulate and fight for issues of concern to our great country," Pelosi says in letter that will be sent to Members today. "We must begin immediately to build consensus within our Caucus and develop a strategy for success."
Indeed, aides involved in planning the meetings on Dec. 9 and 10 say the entire second day is tentatively being devoted to the development of an economic plan - a signal from Pelosi that she expects there to be a limit to the election post-mortems.
The economic policy talks carry significant risks for the new leader, some insiders suggest. If no plan or direction emerges from the meetings, it could heighten the sense of disarray that has taken hold among Democrats in the wake of the elections, and make it more difficult to forge a unified agenda once Congress is in session.
"There are 80 different views about the economy out there," one senior leadership aide said, referring to the Caucus. "It's hopeless to try to get these people to agree in one day."
But Pelosi's office is hewing doggedly to a message of "moving forward," and stressing that the Caucus elected a leadership with "different strengths" than the last - that it didn't just reshuffle the old crew, as some Members have complained.
"Members are ready to have a plan of action," Pelosi spokeswoman Cindy Jimenez said.
Jimenez said Democrats need an opportunity to "express their thoughts" about the last election.
"But," she added, "the new leadership is definitely focused on putting together a vision and a plan for the 108th Congress. And the sooner we do it, the better."
Even as the top House Democrats cast their gazes forward to January, the party is facing the first top-to-bottom reshuffling of its leadership in eight years - a development that is forcing Democrats to contend with matters that haven't been broached in as much time.
Leadership committees such as the House's Rules panel, where erstwhile Pelosi leadership opponent Martin Frost (Texas) serves as the top Democrat, are expected to remain status quo.
But Pelosi has a range of other appointments to consider in critical areas such as the Steering Committee, which makes all committee appointments, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which needs a new chairman as Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) prepares to step down.
Against this burden, Pelosi has been meeting virtually nonstop with Members since her election as leader in order to get acquainted with their individual concerns going into the next Congress.
Jimenez said the California lawmaker scheduled one-on-one sessions with Members to run back-to-back every half hour. No staff is permitted in the room during the meetings.
Filling the DCCC chairmanship would appear to be a monumental task for the new leader. For the job, Pelosi needs someone who can not only raise money to compete with the National Republican Congressional Committee, which has a far broader donor base, but can do so without the aid of soft money, which had been the party's chief means of reaching semi-parity with the opposition. Laws prohibiting the party committees from collecting unlimited soft-money gifts kicked in Nov. 6.
Pelosi also needs someone who would be willing to take on one of the more thankless jobs in Washington. A spokesman for Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) confirmed Wednesday that the lawmaker, considered the most likely candidate for the DCCC post, had declined Pelosi's request to "consider it."
Markey spokesman, Israel Klein, cited "personal reasons" for the Massachusetts lawmaker's decision, and said the senior Democrat feels a "need to work on issues in this Congress that will take up most of his time."
Elsewhere, though, Pelosi took a major stride this week toward shoring up her political operation inside the House, hiring George Kundanis, a senior adviser to outgoing Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.), to stay on for the new regime.
Kundanis, a 26-year House veteran, has been a fixture in the party's leadership suite since former Rep. Thomas Foley (D-Wash.) became Speaker in 1989. As Gephardt's eyes and ears in the Caucus, Kundanis emerged as a trusted counsel and intermediary for Members seeking favors or feedback from the leader.
Kundanis is so far the only holdover from Gephardt's leadership operation.
rollcall.com |
