Dems Criticize Gephardt

Angered by references they believe House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., was directing their way in a speech Tuesday at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, leaders of the 41-member New Democrat Coalition Wednesday wrote to Gephardt to object.

Reps. Calvin Dooley of California, James Moran of Virginia and Tim Roemer of Indiana chastised Gephardt that "to suggest that those who do not agree with you are without principle and are motivated solely by political calculation is beneath your role as leader, and contributes little to political debate within our party."

Leaders of the self-styled moderate group took exception to the portion of Gephardt's speech--which, ironically, was titled "What Unites Us: Our Core Democratic Values"--in which Gephardt declared his approach differs "from some who now call themselves New Democrats--but who set their compass only off the direction of others--who talk about the political center, but fail to understand that if it is only defined by others, it lacks core values. And who too often market a political strategy masquerading as policy."

The New Democrats also objected to a later passage in which Gephardt said Democrats "should also have the confidence to be who we genuinely are - not a slightly more compassionate version of the other side, or a constantly shifting combination of tactics and momentary calculation."

Dooley, Moran and Roemer further told Gephardt that "we find your characterization of our approach troubling and insulting." They reminded the minority leader that, on two notable issues on which he and the New Democrats had diverged, "over half of the entire Democratic Caucus voted for China MFN and three quarters of our caucus supported the balanced budget resolution. Do we all lack 'core values?'"

Gephardt and the New Democrats most recently parted ways on the issue of extending fast track trade negotiating authority to the president, with Gephardt leading the opposition and most Democratic fast track supporters coming from the New Democrat ranks.

Gephardt's office today strenuously denied Gephardt was specifically referring to the New Democrat Coalition--or to President Clinton and Vice President Gore, as some have speculated. A Gephardt aide said the speech was "much more an affirmation of who we are," adding that if Gephardt sought to distinguish himself from anyone, it was from the Democratic Leadership Council and former Clinton political adviser Dick Morris--who was much criticized by some in the White House for his reliance on polling data in arriving at policy positions.

The aide said Morris and the DLC, of which Gephardt was the first chairman and which Clinton later chaired as the governor of Arkansas, "have been relentlessly attacking and distorting our position on fast track for months."

The aide said he expects Gephardt "will try to call the three of them [Dooley, Roemer and Moran], as well as call the president" to tell them directly that his remarks were not directed at them, and said, "We'll see what happens after they talk."

Meanwhile, in an interview with The Boston Globe Wednesday, Gephardt said he did not intend his criticism of New Democrats in his Kennedy School speech to be an attack on Clinton and his administration. "The problem with that observation is, to me, it's trying to jam everything into a political context," Gephardt said.