Losing Newt in Congress wasn't good and it marked the beginning of the slide of Republicans away from the "Contract with America."
Is no Newt good news? - effects that Newt Gingrich's resignation will have on Congress
Dec 8, 1998
findarticles.com
The Tyrannosaurus rex skull that hangs in the office of House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) took on new symbolism November 6, when the shell-shocked speaker decided to resign from Congress rather than watch his party go the way of the extinct reptiles he loves so much.
But the demise of Gingrich, who had doubtless come to embody a party that has sponsored a slew of antigay legislation since taking over the House and Senate in 1995, doesn't necessarily mean a kinder, gentler Congress--at least not yet.
"Will the party read the election results ... as a rejection of extremism and move to the mainstream ... or will they read the elections as they lost their base and therefore need to appeal to conservative religious extremists?" asked Winnie Stachelberg, political director of the Human Rights Campaign, a Washington, D.C.-based gay lobbying group.
GOP pundits were predicting both scenarios as Republicans looked for new leaders. At press time conservatives and moderates were clashing over secondary posts, but Rep. Bob Livingston (R-La.), the chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, had emerged as a shoo-in to succeed Gingrich. Livingston is considered a middle-of-the-road Republican who many think can bridge the gaps in his party and forge alliances with Democrats to get bills through the 106th Congress. "[Gingrich] is a revolutionary; I am a manager," Livingston told ABC News.
On gay issues, while Livingston has signed a nondiscrimination pledge with HRC for his personal office, he has failed to endorse either the Employment Non-Discrimination Act or the Hate Crimes Prevention Act. But that doesn't mean he would prevent passage if the support were there. Over the past several years, for instance, Livingston publicly voted for several antigay measures but then worked behind the scenes to see that they were killed because he knew Democrats and the White House wouldn't go along with them. But Stachelberg and others say it is too early to know whether the GOP, under a more pragmatic and less ideological leader such as Livingston, will be receptive to gay initiatives. "That's the choice the entire GOP will have to make at some point, and I'm not sure that different people in the leadership will affect the decision," Stachelberg said.
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