The conservatives are rumbling up on the Hill. The most recent complaint has to do with House speaker Newt Gingrich’s decision to punish two prolife House Republicans, Chris Smith and Bob Dornan. Their offense: lending support to a pro-life Republican, former representative Joseph DioGuardi, who is waging a primary campaign against an incumbent prochoice House Republican, Sue Kelly. Gingrich removed Smith and Dornan from a committee negotiating House-Senate differences in the military budget, and also revoked their overseas travel privileges for congressional delegations. Newt, conservatives say, favors moderates over them.
In the Senate, there have also been continued grumbles about Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, last month’s surprise selection to head a forum for conservative senators called the Steering Committee. Last week Hutchison endorsed Sheila Frahm, the moderate Kansas Republican who was appointed to Bob Dole’s seat, in her primary race against conservative representative Sam Brownback. Hutchison didn’t just endorse Frahm either; she also traveled to Kansas and participated in a Frahm fund-raiser — hardly behavior expected of the supposed leader of Senate conservatives.
