GOP Dissidents Plan to Challenge Gingrich

WASHINGTON — Bucking pressure from Republican leaders to support House Speaker Newt Gingrich despite his ethics problems, a small group of GOP dissidents plans to challenge his reelection to the top leadership post when it comes to a vote today.

But after an emotional, 3 1/2-hour meeting Monday night at which Gingrich explained his side of the ethics case to his GOP colleagues, House Republican leaders said that they remained confident there would not be enough defectors to deny him the speakership.

“It’s pretty clear that the speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, will be reelected tomorrow,” said House Republican Conference Chairman John A. Boehner (R-Ohio).

Gingrich’s reelection prospects were dealt its most serious blow so far with the defection of Banking and Finance Committee Chairman Jim Leach (R-Iowa). A member of the House leadership team, Leach surprised his colleagues by announcing Monday that he could not support Gingrich and calling on the Georgia Republican to resign the speakership.

“For the country’s sake, I have concluded that the most responsible course of action for the speaker is to step down and for the members to choose another leader for the House,” Leach said in a statement distributed to all House Republicans.

Leach was joined Monday by two other Republican members, Reps. Tom Campbell of San Jose and Linda Smith of Washington state, in opposing Gingrich. One other GOP House member, Rep. Michael P. Forbes of New York, already had declared his opposition. All four dissenters spoke in the closed-door party session.

After hearing Gingrich’s explanation of the ethics case in that meeting, Smith announced that she would nominate another Republican for speaker. She identified the most likely candidate as Leach, who, she said, had agreed to accept her nomination. Leach declined to comment, saying, “No decisions have been made.”

Although only four Republicans have said publicly that they would oppose Gingrich’s reelection as speaker, Smith said that 10 to 20 Republicans may join the cause. That many defections, although insufficient to elect Leach, could stall Gingrich’s reelection and force further balloting, because 218 votes are needed to ensure him of a majority if all 435 representatives vote.

“He is in the way of the [GOP] agenda,” Smith said of Gingrich.

Today’s leadership election is the first public test of GOP loyalty since the speaker admitted to ethical lapses last month.

Gingrich’s ethics problems promise to overshadow the pomp and ceremony of today’s opening of the 105th Congress, which convenes at 9 a.m. PST. The House vote on electing a speaker is traditionally on party lines. But Gingrich and his allies have been lobbying the rank and file intensively over the last two weeks to nail down GOP support in the wake of his Dec. 21 admission that he violated House rules in connection with the college course that he once taught with financial support from nonprofit foundations.

The ethics subcommittee that conducted the investigation found--and Gingrich admitted--that he gave the panel false information about the course’s relationship to GOPAC, his political action committee, and failed to ensure that he did not violate tax laws prohibiting the use of tax-exempt contributions for partisan purposes.

The Ethics Committee has not yet decided what punishment to recommend to the House, which ultimately will vote on formal sanctions that could range from reprimand to expulsion. That has put Republicans in the position of being asked to vote on whether to reelect Gingrich as speaker without knowing what the Ethics Committee will recommend.

“We’re all in the awkward position of trying to vote on an ethics issue before the Ethics Committee [has] finished its work, and I’m uncomfortable with that,” said Rep. Scott L. Klug (R-Wis.), who said that he might not decide until just before today’s vote whether he will support Gingrich.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), a member of the four-person subcommittee that conducted the investigation, said she thinks it is “inappropriate” for Republicans to be voting for Gingrich as speaker without awaiting the Ethics Committee’s verdict.

“It would have been more appropriate for the speaker to step aside temporarily,” Pelosi said, in one of her first public comments on the case. “At the same time the speaker is admitting to bringing discredit to the House, the Republicans would be preparing to give him our highest honor.”

In Monday night’s closed-door meeting with the House Republican Conference, Gingrich did not open with an impassioned plea for support but with a “matter-of-fact” explanation of the details of his ethics case, said Rep. Bill Goodling (R-Pa.). He reassured members that “nothing more damaging will come out,” Goodling said.

“He was not contrite,” said Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.). “He was not apologetic. He was sincere. He was persuasive.”

Members were allowed to ask Gingrich questions about the case and to comment. Among those supporting Gingrich was Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-San Diego), who sources said offered one of the most emotional defenses of the speaker. He recalled an incident from his days as a fighter pilot when he defended a fellow pilot during a firefight. With tears welling in his eyes, Cunningham urged his colleagues not to turn their backs on Gingrich.

Campbell was said to be nervous when he stood to announce that he would not support Gingrich for a second term as speaker, accusing him of intentionally attempting to mislead the Ethics Committee.

“If I am the first to do so, I would hope other Republicans of like mind would do the same,” he said, predicting that Gingrich would not be elected today.

“This is a difficult action for me,” said Campbell, a staunch moderate with a track record of standing alone against the political tides. “I knew that I had to speak my mind. I knew that I had to share my reasons with my colleagues.”

Leach’s defection is considered especially significant because he is a senior member with more institutional power and stature than the other, more junior dissidents.

Gingrich allies tried to minimize the importance of Leach’s defection, citing his voting record as one of the House’s more liberal Republicans.

“I don’t know if he will take many votes with him,” said Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.). “Historically, Jim has not been a vote-getter.”

In his statement, Leach said that Gingrich’s defense against the ethics charges--that he did not seek adequate legal counsel and did not examine his lawyers’ submissions to the ethics panel--is “inadequate for a maker of laws.”

Leach has led the House GOP investigation of President Clinton’s involvement in the Whitewater real estate development and related subjects, and has been a leading critic of the president on ethics matters. He suggested that Gingrich’s problems undermine the GOP’s case against Clinton.

“It is self-evident that a critical way for the Republican Party to contrast itself with this administration is to set uncompromising ethical standards and insist on appropriate and timely accountability for its members,” he said.

Smith and other dissidents are hoping to block Gingrich’s nomination under House rules, which provide that the speaker must be elected by a majority of members who vote for a named candidate. Members who abstain or vote “present” do not count toward determining the threshold.

Following the tradition of members voting for their party leaders, Republicans would be expected to vote for Gingrich and Democrats for House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri.

Gingrich’s party controls the House by a 227-207 margin, with one independent who usually votes with the Democrats. If 10 Republicans voted for another candidate, that would bring Gingrich’s apparent vote total to 217--below the 218 needed for a majority if all members vote for a named person.

Times staff writers Faye Fiore and D’Jamila Salem-Fitzgerald contributed to this story.