Inside the Beltway

New establishment

It’s been exactly a decade since Republicans gained control of Congress for the first time in 40 years.

Elated conservative lawmakers quickly promised to change the way Congress did business, making government smaller and more accountable. Toward those ends, they drew up an unprecedented “Contract with America,” the likes of which Congress had never seen.

“I have read that there is one, but I have not read it,” reacted Sen. Robert C. Byrd, West Virginia Democrat. He refused, or so he said in this column, to read the opposition’s 10-point plan.

“Some would say: ’Why have you not read it?’ Well, I have never read the Democratic platform. Why? Because I did not have any part in writing that platform. I am going to be guided by my own conscience … not by some party platform. Why waste my time on a party platform?”

Particularly one drawn up by Republicans.

“The general theme of the Class of 1994 was to restrain ’government that is too big, too intrusive and too easy with the public’s money,’” notes the libertarian-minded Cato Institute, which has organized a Washington conference on May 20 to examine the successes and failures of the Republican revolution.

Presenting an overview of the revolution will be its leaders, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former House Majority Leader Dick Armey. The opening question: Do Americans have less government and more liberty after 10 years of Republican rule?

Enabling America

At least one Bush administration program works.

In the two weeks since Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao announced a work-force recruitment program, 206 college students with disabilities, including 49 in the Washington area, have been placed in federal government jobs.

A free database, which the secretary announced on March 30, identifies qualified college students and recent graduates with disabilities who seek summer and permanent jobs. The database is being made available to government and private employers.

“The Workforce Recruitment Program gives students with disabilities the opportunities they need to start successful careers,” Mrs. Chao says. “The program also fulfills President Bush’s New Freedom Initiative pledge to promote employment opportunities for people with disabilities throughout the nation.”

Pat’s counselor

This columnist had the honor of being in Kansas City, Kan., over the weekend to help recognize the 140th anniversary of the Kansas Press Association.

Among those saluting the several hundred scribes in attendance was the great-grandson of the founding editor of the Oskalooska Independent: Sen. Pat Roberts, Kansas Republican, a former newspaperman himself.

“I have been on both sides of the pen, … and I can tell you that today, just as it was in 1860 when John Wesley Roberts founded the Oskalooska Independent, newspapers are the heart of our communities. They are the purveyors of change, the spreaders of gossip and the voices of dissent,” says the senator.

“I have looked to these editors over my time in office as friends and counselors.”

Cal clipping

Time flies when you’re having fun, and by all appearances — he’s appearing just about everywhere these days — Cal Thomas is having fun.

So this Thursday evening, at the Red Sage restaurant in Washington, Tribune Media Services is hosting a 20-year anniversary party for Mr. Thomas, the nation’s most widely read columnist.

The event not only celebrates the longevity of Mr. Thomas’ column (which first appeared in The Washington Times), but his impressive position as the most widely syndicated columnist in America.

Mr. Thomas’ column appears in more than 570 newspapers, here to overseas; an achievement, says one admirer, “that is not a coincidence, but the result of Cal’s hands-on approach to building his distribution through personal contact with editors and publishers.

“It is also a testament to his ability to connect with both sides of the aisle.”

Mr. Thomas began his nearly 40-year journalism career as a copyboy for NBC News in his native Washington. Today, apart from his column, he hosts “After Hours With Cal Thomas,” seen Saturdays at 11 p.m. on the Fox News Channel.

He’s also the author of 10 books, the latest: “The Wit and Wisdom of Cal Thomas.”

Finally, we’d be remiss in not observing that Mr. Thomas is this Inside the Beltway column’s longest-serving and most productive news stringer.

• John McCaslin, whose column is nationally syndicated, can be reached at 202/636-3284 or jmccaslin@washingtontimes.com.