Inside Politics

Payback time

The American Conservative Union filed suit yesterday, demanding that Rep. Richard A. Gephardt, Missouri Democrat and presidential candidate, pay back 90 percent of his $157,000 salary.

Mr. Gephardt missed more than 90 percent of votes in the U.S. House during 2003, and the law requires the secretary of the Senate and the chief administrative officer of the House to dock a member’s pay for each absent day, the organization said in a prepared statement.

American Conservative Union Chairman David A. Keene called Mr. Gephardt’s absences, “a callow shrugging off of the responsibility every congressman has to his constituents, all to appease his desire for presidential power.”

The ACU also demanded that Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut repay 59 percent and 54 percent of their salaries, respectively. However Mr. Keene said that “no one has ever abused this law as badly as Dick Gephardt.”

The group cited a section of the U.S. Code: “The Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Administrative Officer of the House … shall deduct from the monthly payments (or other periodic payment authorized by law) of each Member or Delegate the amount of his salary for each day that he has been absent from the Senate or House, respectively, unless such Member or Delegate assigns as the reason for such absence the sickness of himself or of some member of his family.”

No endorsement

Former President Jimmy Carter said yesterday that he does not plan to endorse Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean when the two meet this weekend, the Associated Press reports.

Mr. Carter issued a statement, described as a clarification of news reports about the Dean visit Sunday to Mr. Carter’s hometown of Plains, Ga.

“This meeting is not an endorsement of his candidacy, but an opportunity for me to learn more about the candidate and his views,” Mr. Carter said. The former president has said he will not express any preference about who should be the nominee.

Beasley’s back

Get out those Confederate flags.

Former Gov. David Beasley of South Carolina announced yesterday that he would seek the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Ernest F. Hollings, citing the need to keep the slim 51-48 Republican majority in the U.S. Senate.

“If this election falls to a Democrat, Republicans could lose the majority next year. And the consequences of that loss would truly be catastrophic for America,” Mr. Beasley said in Columbia, according to the Associated Press.

Mr. Beasley faces an already crowded primary field, which includes former state Attorney General Charlie Condon, U.S. Rep. Jim DeMint, Myrtle Beach Mayor Mark McBride and Charleston real estate developer Thomas Ravenel.

In 1996, Mr. Beasley went back on a campaign promise and tried to remove the Confederate flag from the Capitol dome, alienating his base and his costing him his 1998 re-election bid against Democrat Jim Hodges.

Lindsey vs. O’Neill

Former Treasury Secretary Paul H. O’Neill is bitter and his criticism of President Bush unjust, former National Economic Council Director Lawrence Lindsey said yesterday in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal. The firing of Mr. O’Neill in December 2002 was “not handled well,” said Mr. Lindsey, who was forced out at the same time. “His bitterness, some would say, is quite understandable. But bitterness is a bad basis for objectivity, and any of Mr. O’Neill’s views regarding President Bush and the conduct of economic policy do not comport with my recollection or with the public record.”

In a new book, “The Price of Loyalty,” Mr. O’Neill said Mr. Bush ran his Cabinet meetings “like a blind man in a room full of deaf people.” Mr. O’Neill has since expressed regret for that remark.

But according to Mr. Lindsey, “Every night, the president goes home with a two-inch binder known as the Briefing Book. It contains the background material for each of the president’s numerous meetings the next day. Having been grilled on the details in those briefing memos, I can personally attest that Mr. Bush does his homework. Woe is any official who is not prepared, because the president will be.”

Stenholm’s choice

Rep. Charles W. Stenholm, a veteran Texas Democratic congressman, says he will challenge an incumbent Republican in one of the state’s new congressional districts.

Mr. Stenholm, who has served the 17th District for more than 20 years, announced Tuesday he would oppose Rep. Randy Neugebauer, a Republican, in the 19th District. Mr. Neugebauer, a Lubbock businessman, is serving his first term in the district that is now 60 percent Republican, United Press International reports.

A three-judge federal panel has approved the new Texas congressional districts, but Democrats are appealing to the Supreme Court. The new lines could give the Republicans up to seven new seats in the state’s 32-member delegation.

“I look forward to an energetic campaign,” Mr. Neugebauer said. “I want to show that I’m the congressman that can best represent our district.”

Top priority

Vice President Dick Cheney says Washington state will be a top priority for President Bush in the November election.

Concluding his second visit to Seattle in three weeks, Mr. Cheney on Tuesday promised continued support for U.S. Senate hopeful Rep. George Nethercutt, Washington Republican, and said Mr. Bush has not written off the state in his bid for re-election.

“We’ll be back,” Mr. Cheney said, concluding a half-hour speech at the downtown Westin Hotel.

Those words were sweet music to the approximately 150 people attending the $500-a-plate luncheon and added between $225,000 and $250,000 to the state Republican Party’s war chest, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. Mr. Cheney raised $320,000 for Mr. Nethercutt during a visit last month.

New Web site

The Republican National Committee says it will inaugurate a new Web site with a post-State of the Union discussion with party Chairman Ed Gillespie.

The RNC issued a press release yesterday saying the site would include voter-registration information and a Web log that would give the public access to party leaders. The site’s Internet address is www.gop.com. The current Republican Party Web address — www.rnc.org — will be linked directly to the new site.

In the release, Mr. Gillespie said: “We’ve put a lot of time and thought into developing and launching a highly interactive, multi-media site that gives people the tools to engage in the political debate.”

• Greg Pierce can be reached at 202/636-3285 or gpierce@washingtontimes.com.