If Illinois congressmen seem to be flaunting their support for ethanol, it may be because they know this high-wire act has a safety net.
U.S. Reps. Ray LaHood, a Peoria Republican, and Tom Ewing, a Pontiac Republican, were at it again last week, proposing another extension of the corn-based fuel’s tax break a little more than a month after the credit was preserved through 2000 in the balanced-budget agreement.
Surely, a proposal to extend the tax credit through 2007 must have stuck in the craw of vociferous ethanol critic U.S. Rep. Bill Archer (R-Texas), who chairs the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee and strongly objected to ethanol’s recent budget boost.
But Archer’s opposition has largely been kept in check by the firm hand of House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), who doesn’t want his slim House majority threatened in the Midwest by the party’s ethanol spoilers.
This influence became apparent in a recent GOP meeting, where Gingrich drove a stake through Archer’s suggestion that lawmakers eliminate the tax break to make way for more highway funds sought by Transportation Committee Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.), another foe of the fuel.
“(Gingrich has) always seen the political advantage for those of us who come from agricultural or ethanol-producing districts,” LaHood said. “In my opinion, he’s the one who’s brought ethanol to where it is today.”
Snake eyes: Former U.S. Rep. Tom Corcoran (R.Ill.) just found out that lobbying on the high-stakes issue of casino gambling can be risky business.
Corcoran was named in a defamation suit filed last week by an American Indian tribe that lost out on a bid to convert a dog-racing track into a casino.
Wisconsin-based Croixland Properties Ltd. alleges that Corcoran and two partners, who were lobbying on behalf of another tribe competing for the deal, had told a key lawmaker that Croixland’s proposed casino was linked with a company that has Mafia ties, killing their bid.
The casino plan was ultimately rejected by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Corcoran said he “absolutely” denies making the statements but would not talk about the suit.
Split ticket: Looks as if Rep. Danny Davis could have a busy political convention season ahead.
The Chicago Democrat isn’t just one of the most left-leaning members of the party caucus. He’s also the only congressman listed as a member on the Web page of the New Party, a grass-roots enterprise that borrows heavily from urban socialism.
Davis says he likes the alternative party’s “freshness, its openness, its willingness to keep dreaming.” Indeed, in the era of welfare reform, an active imagination may be in order for the party’s platform. Among other things, the platform calls for a guaranteed minimum income and a shortened workweek.
“They’ve got what I would call a progressive agenda,” Davis said, adding that he has no plans to become a third-party congressman like Socialist Rep. Bernard Sanders of Vermont. “If you are what we call a progressive Democrat or an independent Democrat, that puts you very close to where the New Party already is.”
Hyde hopes: Some measure of the desperation Illinois Republicans are feeling in their search for an appealing candidate to face U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun may be the latest rumor floating around Capitol Hill, that U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde of Wood Dale is mulling over a challenge for the Democratic incumbent’s seat.
That would be the same Henry Hyde who routinely turned down such entreaties from his party before battling cancer and gaining the prestigious chairmanship of the House Judiciary Committee.
Told that his name had surfaced once again, Hyde just laughed. “For God’s sake, don’t tell the paparazzi,” he quipped.
