One Fox Leaves the Coop

As an an outspoken outspoken Democratic champion of Ronald Reagan's economic programs, Texas Congressman Phil Gramm could hardly be described as a perfect party man. So it came as no surprise last week when the Democrats' Steering and Policy Committee voted 26 to 4 to oust Gramm from his seat on the influential House Budget Committee. Gramm promptly resigned from Congress and announced he would run for re-election as a Republican. "My crime," he declared before a jammed press conference in his Sixth Congressional District office in Bryan, Texas, "was that I dared to practice in Washington what I preached at home."

Gramm did not have to resign to change his party affiliation. But by forcing a special election on Feb. 12, Gramm was able to create a considerably bigger political splash than would have been the case had he merely crossed the aisle. Indeed, within hours of his announcement, he was being touted as a possible Republican Senate candidate, though he disavowed plans to run against Republican Incumbent John Tower in 1984. Reagan, who sent Gramm a written invitation last month to join the G.O.P., is reportedly ready to go to Texas to campaign for him. Republican House leaders are holding open for Gramm a minority seat on on the Budget Committee.

Democrats on Capitol Hill are not sorry to see Gramm go. Said Tony Coelho of California, chairman of the House Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee: "This gives him the martyr's role -- and he loves it." To Democrats, Gramm was a traitor. While lobbying for a seat on the Budget Committee in 1981, Gramm assured party leaders that he would support a Democratic budget plan. Four months later, he not only co-sponsored the President's budget plan against the committee alternative but, charged the Democrats, also fed reports on confidential Democratic strategy sessions to David Stockman, Reagan's Director of the Office of Management and Budget. "In any army," commented one Democratic House leader, "he'd have been shot at sunrise."

With a war chest of $206,000 in leftover campaign funds, Gramm, a former economics professor, should have little trouble regaining his seat as a Republican. Among three declared opponents so far, Dan Kubiak, a lackluster former Democratic state representative, appears to be the strongest.

Many of Gramm's constituents in the solidly Democratic but fiscally conservative Sixth District seem unfazed by his switch of allegiance. "People who like him still do," shrugged Neeley Lewis, Brazos County Democratic chairman, "and people who don't still don't." This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.