50 GOP Rebels Take Gingrich to Task

WASHINGTON — In a direct challenge to the authority of House Speaker Newt Gingrich, 50 rebellious GOP House members expressed outrage Tuesday over the leadership’s drift away from their hard-line conservative approach and said that they plan to take their concerns today to the party’s full delegation.

Indicating the seriousness of the threat to Gingrich’s position, House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) appeared to break ranks with the speaker by offering support to the dissidents’ goal of pushing the leadership more to the right.

“I obviously applaud that kind of effort,” Armey told reporters hours before the dissidents gathered for a private meeting. “I’m encouraged by it.”

Armey, ostensibly Gingrich’s top lieutenant, carefully avoided offering any positive words about the Georgia speaker while championing the insurgent challenge.

He also left open the prospect of opposing the balanced-budget agreement reached last month between President Clinton and GOP leaders in both the House and Senate. Armey said that he does not feel bound by the deal because “I was not in the budget negotiations.”

Asked at the end of his news conference if his seeming reluctance to stand by Gingrich hinted at his own displeasure with the speaker, Armey smiled broadly and continued walking out of the door. “Have a nice day,” he said over his shoulder.

Later, Armey’s office released a statement saying that “the leadership continues to be a cohesive team.”

The intraparty discord comes in the wake of disappointment expressed by many conservatives about the budget deal. Some of them also were furious that the party last week capitulated to Clinton’s demand that it drop unrelated measures--including one designed to prevent future government shutdowns during budget deadlocks--attached to a bill providing disaster relief for flood-ravaged states, including California.

Additionally, the internal tensions surface at a critical juncture for the Republicans, who soon will attempt to win passage of two major bills drafted to implement the balanced-budget accord. One is a tax cut bill that already has come under attack from the White House as unfairly tilted toward the rich. The other is a sweeping package of budget cuts, including changes in Medicare, that also has drawn objections from the administration.

While none of the conservative dissidents has gone so far as to call for Gingrich’s ouster, many said they have doubts that he and some of his lieutenants can negotiate effectively with the White House on budget-related issues.

“We’ve run out of asphalt. We’re on a dirt road and there’s a swamp ahead,” said one GOP dissident. “I don’t see how this can go any further.”

Another party insider said that many GOP lawmakers are confused by the leadership’s seeming inability to set, coordinate and maintain a strategy to push a conservative agenda. Referring to the disaster bill contretemps, this source said: “Members once again were forced to walk the plank. None of us wanted to shy off a political confrontation” with the White House over the riders to the bill.

This isn’t the first time that GOP conservatives have taken aim at Gingrich. They were angered earlier this year when he suggested that he might be willing to postpone action on cutting taxes until after Congress approves enough spending cuts to balance the budget. They also were upset when Gingrich proposed increased budgets for House committee operations and 11 conservatives teamed up with Democrats to kill that proposal.

Gingrich began this year under the cloud of a protracted ethics investigation into his political affairs. He ultimately apologized for various miscues and was ordered to pay a $300,000 penalty. Since then, some conservative Republicans have complained that Gingrich seems more interested in a moderate course intended to help his political rehabilitation than in charting an aggressively conservative course.

Gingrich is “a substantial reason why we’re in the majority but he’s a substantial reason we’re in trouble,” said one GOP leader, who asked not to be named. “I do believe we’re off track.”

Times staff writer Janet Hook contributed to this story.