Monday, November 15, 1999
Voinovich cuts own path from GOP line
BY PAUL BARTON
Enquirer Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — He's been in the Senate a year now but Republican George Voinovich is not picking up on some of the local customs, especially the one about falling in line when party leaders signal they support something.
A lot of the measures party leaders would like him to vote for are ones that Mr. Voinovich says he just can't stomach.
To the chagrin of his Senate Republican hierarchy, Mr. Voinovich has voted against five of the 13 appropriations bills used to fund the widely varied agencies and operations of the federal government. He also has opposed a $792 billion tax-cut package.
And just this week, he opposed a Republican bill that combines tax breaks for small business with a minimum-wage increase.
“There is no doubting that George Voinovich is his own man,” said John Green, political analyst at the University of Akron.
Mr. Voinovich, who had attracted attention earlier this year for his willingness to buck GOP leadership on issues such as Kosovo and gun control, has voted against the final forms of the spending bills that would fund the Defense Department, agriculture programs, foreign operations, veterans and housing programs and the departments of Labor and Health and Human Services.
They spent too much, had too many budgetary gimmicks and threatened to force the government to tap into the Social Security surplus, which has been used to cover government overspending for the last 30 years, Mr. Voinovich said.
News stories on Senate votes frequently depict him as among the few Republicans voting against a bill favored by Majority Leader Trent Lott and other GOP leaders. Sometimes he is mentioned as the lone Republican voting against such measures.
Mr. Voinovich likens federal spending habits to the budget messes he inherited as mayor of Cleveland in the early 1980s and as governor of Ohio when he took office in in 1991.
All this has added to what many see as a growing maverick reputation for Mr. Voinovich. He is showing in Washington, just as he did in Columbus, that he is not afraid to part company with his party when he feels he must, especially on issues related to the budget and taxes.
Washington congressional observ ers have taken notice.
“He is an interesting guy in terms of trying to classify him,” said Stephen Moore, director of fiscal policy studies at the Cato Institute, a con servative think tank.
Mr. Voinovich, analysts say, is more like a 1950s Republican than a modern-day supply-sider.
“He is a conservative, but he is not necessarily hostile to government if it is well-run,” Mr. Green said. “On both of (those) points, he can find a lot to be unhappy with in these spending bills.”
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