G.O.P. Chief Says He'll Quit Lobbying
"After he was selected, Mr. Racicot, (pronounced ROS-coe)
who is 53, had said he would no longer represent Enron.
His clients include the American Forest and Paper
Association and the National Electric Reliability
Coordinating Council, an alliance of electric companies
ADVOCATING CHANGES IN THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE CLEAN
AIR ACT"
The New York Times
January 10, 2002
By RICHARD L. BERKE
WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 - Stung by an unexpected
firestorm over his work as a lobbyist, Marc Racicot,
the newly selected head of the Republican Party, said
today that he would halt his lobbying when he assumes
the post next week.
But several prominent Republicans said in interviews that
they still had deep concerns that Mr. Racicot, the former
governor of Montana, intended to draw his salary from his
law firm and not from the party. They said the
arrangement could create lingering conflicts between his
party position and the Washington agendas of his law
firm's clients.
Others expressed worries that Mr. Racicot would have to
continue to contend with questions about his lobbying
work as Congressional and Justice Department
investigators pick over why one of his former clients,
Enron, went bankrupt.
Robert T. Bennett, the Republican chairman in Ohio,
asserted that he would be more comfortable if Mr. Racicot
took his only salary from the Republican Party. The
chairman's job draws a $150,000 annual salary. Mr.
Racicot's compensation from his law firm, Bracewell &
Patterson, is believed to be much higher.
"We should pay the party chairman what he's worth so he
doesn't have to go out and lobby," Mr. Bennett said.
"There's a question raised any time a chairman is out
lobbying. I've had some opportunities to do it and I figured
it would be off base."
Other party officials, including Ronald H. Brown, the late
Democratic National Committee chairman, have
maintained affiliations and received compensation from
law and lobbying firms while serving in party posts. In Mr.
Racicot's case, concerns were not only voiced about ethical
appearances but also about whether he would have time
to run the party in a crucial midterm election year while
holding another job. Mr. Racicot said he would still be
paid by Bracewell & Patterson, but for giving strategic
advice to clients and other duties, not lobbying.
"There's always going to be people who take shots," said
Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., a chairman of the Republican
Party during the Reagan administration. "The way to do it
would be for the R.N.C. to pay Marc whatever he needs
and say, `Put your law practice on hold.' That's a better
way to go. What you do then is you avoid even the
appearance of doing anything wrong."
Since Mr. Racicot's selection last month, White House
officials said they have been surprised by the degree to
which Senator John McCain of Arizona and other
Republicans have criticized him.
After he was selected, Mr. Racicot, (pronounced ROS-coe)
who is 53, had said he would no longer represent Enron.
His clients include the American Forest and Paper
Association and the National Electric Reliability
Coordinating Council, an alliance of electric companies
ADVOCATING CHANGES IN THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE
CLEAN AIR ACT.
"No one really anticipated the reaction and I think he
acted promptly and quickly to redress what was going to
be an ongoing perception problem," said an adviser to Mr.
Bush. "The Enron debate may have fed the frenzy a little
bit because everyone thinks Enron had such a special
relationship with the administration."
For weeks, the usually accessible Mr. Racicot has refused
interview requests. Seeking to staunch the negative
publicity, he announced his intentions in an interview
today with The Associated Press.
Speaking of Mr. Bush, who is a close friend, Mr. Racicot
said, "I just know his expectations in terms of ethical
behavior and performance of duty and I wanted him to
know that there was just not going to be any possibility of
compromising those beliefs that he holds."
Mindy Tucker, spokeswoman for the Republican Party,
said she did not know how much Mr. Racicot would be
paid by his firm. She explained his initial decision to
lobby was made by an incoming chairman "with not a lot
of exposure in Washington in the way things operate
here." She added, "He looked at it as a learning
experience."
White House officials said that when they first talked to
Mr. Racicot about taking over the Republican National
Committee from Gov. James S. Gilmore III of Virginia, they
suggested that he stop lobbying and offered a much larger
salary than the $150,000 normally given to the chairman.
But, the officials said, Mr. Racicot balked at that offer.
One White House official said the party could have paid
Mr. Racicot as much as $500,000. He speculated that Mr.
Racicot had figured he could make far more as a lobbyist.
Mr. Racicot is scheduled to be formally elected at the
party's meeting in Austin, Tex., next week.
Advisers to Mr. Bush said they did not pressure Mr.
Racicot to make the announcement today. One of them
said he was surprised that Mr. Racicot had not recognized
that "the president thinks the whole lobbying thing is
insidious and worries about the perception of it all."
Jennifer Palmieri, a Democratic Party spokeswoman, said
of Mr. Racicot: "He is a Republican national chairman who
is getting paid by a lobbying firm. This is very suspicious.
What is he getting paid for?"
Not everyone was exercised about Mr. Racicot. Marty
Connors, chairman of the Alabama Republican Party, said
all that mattered was how he performs on cable television
programs like "The O'Reilly Factor" and "Hardball."
Dismissing questions about Mr. Racicot as
"inside-the-Beltway stuff," Mr. Connors said, "The
question is, Will he do good on the "Factor"? Will he do
good on "Hardball"? That's what we'll see."
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