Posted on 06/03/2003 10:02:45 PM PDT by LdSentinal
While Congress hightailed it out of Washington during the Memorial Day recess, lobbyists and staff not only took long lunches, left early and showed up late. Some also were busy floating a rumor that Rep. Billy Tauzin was slated to retire to become Hollywood's lobbyist in Washington.
"That'd fiction," the Republican Louisiana lawmaker told The Hill. "It started last November -- and has not stopped since. Some of it is spread by people with other ambitions and intentions. They survive on these rumors. You can't pass the bill, you spread a rumor."
Ken Johnson, Tauzin's spokesman, added: "We were not in session, and people had nothing to talk about. If you could go to jail for spreading rumors, most lobbyists would be behind bars."
Johnson added that Tauzin intends to stay on the job until 2004 and run for reelection, although he would not publicly declare his intentions at this early point.
Tauzin, chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, has been rumored to replace Jack Valenti, a former top aide to Lyndon Johnson who has headed up the Motion Picture Association of America since 1966.
For his part, Valenti, 81, told The Hill in March that he has no plans to leave and that anyone who wanted his job had better be prepared to work 15-hour days.
"People think I spend all my time hobnobbing with movie stars," he said. "They have no idea."
Rich Taylor, Valenti's spokesman, said: "I just think who replaces Jack is a standing Washington parlor game. It heats up and it cools."
"The last time [rumors flew] was during Clinton's last year in office, and everybody said Clinton was going to replace [Valenti]."
Tauzin, who oversees the healthcare, energy, telecommunications and movie industries, said: "Jack will probably die in his job. I think I'm sick. I get up each morning after 23 years and still feel like it was yesterday. I came to serve six or eight years and then go on."
Some lobbyists cite Tauzin's need for a higher income. He has put five children through college; his youngest son is still attending Louisiana State University. He is also divorced and remarried.
Others have criticized his lack of fundraising this year. According to Federal Election Commission reports filed April 15, Tauzin has raised only $10,800 the first quarter of 2003.
However, Johnson said that Tauzin never engages in fundraising the first few months of an off-year and that in April he went on a fundraising spree, raking in $250,000.
His leadership political action committee, Bayou Leader PAC, changed its filing status to semiannual, so it has not reported its intake this year.
To further prove his commitment, Tauzin said he would have left long ago had he wanted to earn a higher income.
As further proof, Johnson said that Tauzin led a mini-revolt over an obscure Medicaid provision, known as FMAP. If it were not settled to his liking, Johnson said, Tauzin and 12 other Republicans on the Energy Committee would have voted against the entire tax package.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), Vice President Dick Cheney, Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), Tauzin and others spent three hours hashing out an agreement over the Medicaid provision the night the tax bill finally cleared the Congress.
So if Tauzin plans to stay on the job, what is it about the specter of his departure that raises gossip to Hollywood-like levels?
The fallout from his departure would be tantalizing, to be sure. Lobbyists, aides and journalists are all speculating about who would become the next chairman.
In 2000, Rep. Michael Oxley (R-Ohio) and Tauzin both sought to become chairman of the Energy Committee. Tauzin won the battle, and Oxley was handed the chairmanship of the Financial Services Committee as a consolation prize.
As he was leaving his beloved Energy Committee, Oxley split the Finance and Hazardous Materials subcommittee, colloquially known as "cash and trash," between Financial Services and Energy. So if Oxley wanted to return to Energy, he would deal with the ire of his colleagues, particularly in the minority, who resent him for having divided that subcommittee.
If Oxley moved over, observers speculate who would replace him at Financial Services. If he stayed, the next logical choice by seniority is Joe Barton (R-Texas). Still, at this point, the rumors all appear to be moot. His closest aide, Johnson, said: "If he had one foot out the door, I'd have both feet out the door."
Perhaps, though I haven't seen what his voting record looks like (I must admit, I'm not too partial to the name, I went to school with a Rodney Alexander, and he was an a$$hole). Alas, as long as he remains a 'Rat, he still puts Nancy D'Alesandro Pelosi one vote closer to the Speakership, and that's the problem.
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