Tom Foley: The Price of Pork

Foley brings home the bacon, but voters wonder which Washington he really represents

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    People everywhere say they're disgusted with Congress, but in eastern Washington, voters enjoy the unique ability to fire the guy who runs the place. No House Speaker has lost an election since the eve of the Civil War, and the parade of national-news reporters trooping around from Walla Walla to Spokane has helped awaken voters to the scent of history in the offing. Having suffered the second-worst showing of his 16 congressional campaigns during the September primary voting, Foley finds himself in the toughest race of his career. Yet only recently has he begun to campaign in earnest, mounting an uncharacteristically aggressive attack that has reduced his opponent's double- digit lead.

    The Republican nominee is Foley's strongest adversary in recent memory: not for his political credentials, but for his lack of them. George Nethercutt, an affable, politically moderate 49-year-old adoption and estate lawyer from Spokane, comes across like Ward Cleaver and punctuates his campaign speeches with such cardigan-elbowed jibes as, "I don't want to be the Speaker. I want to be the listener." And while he respectfully and boyishly refers to the Speaker as "Mr. Foley," his hard-edged campaign ads paint the incumbent as the symbol of everything that is wrong with Washington. As Nethercutt spokesman Terry Holt puts it, "Foley is running against a political environment."

    The Speaker is also running against his own record on national issues. His past two years of shepherding through Congress the programs of an unpopular Democratic President have taken their toll on Foley's standing in a district where most people generally vote Republican. Foley's efforts to pass an assault-weapons ban have provoked the National Rifle Association, which had once awarded him its Defender of Freedom award, to run TV ads against him. Also weighing in is Illinois-based Americans for Limited Terms, which is outraged over Foley's lawsuit to overturn his own state's term-limit initiative. All told, outside groups are spending an estimated $350,000 to defeat the Speaker.

    Foley has had to match that spending, in part to counter an impression that he has grown aloof from the lives of people who raise cattle and run hardware stores in towns like Dusty, Dishman and Spangle. It is hard for many in the district to identify with a Congressman whose fine dark suits come from Brooks Brothers and whose tastes in entertainment run to modern art and ballet. Foley's straight-arrow image also has suffered since the furor last year over $100,000 in gains that he pocketed during four years of buying initial public offerings of stock. These highly profitable deals were legal but not available to the average investor; Foley subsequently closed his account.

    Even with his job at great risk this year, Foley initially seemed reluctant to face the rigors of the campaign. While other lawmakers were rushing for the ! first flight home after the close of the congressional session, the Speaker lingered around Washington for five precious days. A prominent Democrat was startled to encounter Foley enjoying a leisurely workout at the exclusive, oak-paneled University Club in downtown Washington.

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