http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-harmanpelosi21nov21,1,5851501.story
Pelosi-Harman friction strains Democrats' unity
By Johanna Neuman and
Michael Finnegan
Times Staff Writers
November 21,
2006
WASHINGTON - When Jane Harman left Congress in 1998 to run for
governor of California, her colleague Nancy Pelosi threw her a party - a
chocolate-fudge sundae "social" in the House members' dining room.
Two
years later, Harman hosted a fundraiser in Los Angeles for Pelosi when she was
running for minority whip, raising $400,000.
These days the two rarely
talk, much less throw parties for each other.
Their relationship has
been deteriorating since Harman returned to the House in 2001, according to
those who know them, and the tension now threatens to complicate Pelosi's role
as House speaker when the 110th Congress convenes in January.
Pelosi
indicated as early as last year that she intended to oust Harman from the
Intelligence Committee - where Harman expected to become chairwoman if Democrats
won control of the House - in favor of someone more to Pelosi's liking.
The move has created dissension within the party. Some Democrats and
foreign policy experts argued that Harman, a centrist on national security, is
the most credible person for the job. The Congressional Black and Hispanic
caucuses countered that it was time for one of their members on the committee to
take the helm.
Fresh from Pelosi's fierce and unsuccessful lobbying
effort to install antiwar ally John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania as her No. 2, the
coming battle over the Intelligence Committee leadership is turning into a
showdown where the political has turned personal. And it could undermine the
unity that the Democratic Party has hoped to show as it prepares to take the
reins of power.
The falling-out between Pelosi and Harman offers a window
into how business gets done on Capitol Hill, where personal friendships are
often as important as policies and politics. Pelosi in particular is noted for
remembering who has been on her side and who hasn't, as evidenced by her support
of Murtha for House majority leader over her one-time rival Steny H. Hoyer of
Maryland, even though Hoyer was widely preferred by the party caucus.
The
prospect of conflict between two such powerful Democratic women is tantalizing
to gossipy Washington. But the split is so toxic that Democrats in California
and Washington won't go near it.
"I don't want to talk about it," said
Roz Wyman, the doyenne of California Democratic fundraising and a friend of
both.
Most people contacted for this article spoke only on condition of
anonymity, not wanting to get on the wrong side of two formidable
politicians.
Pelosi declined through her spokeswoman to comment. The only
statement issued from her office, by Press Secretary Jennifer Crider, was that
the committee decision "will be made before early January."
Harman said
in an interview that she did not wish to vent the matter in public. "I read
about this in the paper last year and I visited with her then," said Harman, who
would not disclose the nature of their conversation.
"It's so unfortunate
because they're both capable people," said William Coblentz, a San Francisco
lawyer who has contributed to both their careers and coffers. "I know them both
well, and I love them both, but I believe Nancy felt that Jane was abrasive and
aggressive, which she can be."
Pelosi's supporters say the dust-up over
Harman is not personal, noting that the Democratic leader spent an extra day in
California lobbying the state party to endorse Harman in her reelection
bid.
Although they may seem similar on the surface - two wealthy and
powerful Democrats from California - Pelosi and Harman are cut from different
cloth. Pelosi is a people person - she recently entered a raucous room of
reporters offering to shush them in her "mother-of-five voice." Harman has a
more cerebral personality and revels in the minutiae of policy.
Pelosi
grew up in Baltimore, where her father, Thomas D'Alesandro Jr., was mayor, and
got an early education in the art of machine politics. She met Paul Pelosi while
at Trinity College in Washington, and the couple moved to his hometown of San
Francisco. As Paul Pelosi grew the family's fortune through real estate and
stock investments, Nancy Pelosi raised their children, then worked her way up in
California Democratic Party politics from volunteer to chairwoman for Northern
California. She was elected to the U.S. House in 1987.
Harman grew up in
Los Angeles, the daughter of a Westside physician. She graduated from Smith
College and Harvard Law School at a time when few women went into law. Harman
began her career in Washington as a Capitol Hill staffer and later worked in the
Carter White House before going into private law practice. She is married to
Sidney Harman, founder and chairman of Harman Industries. She ran for the House
in 1992 and joined Pelosi in the California delegation, representing
Venice.
People who know both women say there was no single incident that
soured their relationship; rather it was a series of small irritations that
eventually led to estrangement.
Some California Democrats say tensions
began during the 2001 redistricting of the state's congressional seats.
As lawmakers from both parties cooperated in Sacramento to make
Democratic seats safer for Democrats and GOP seats safer for Republicans, Harman
reportedly complained that her district did not include Los Angeles
International Airport.
"She wanted to get the LAX asset in her district,"
said one Californian who was familiar with the process. "Jane thinks the airport
is power."
Party leaders were annoyed, given that the redistricting gave
Harman Ewho until then represented a swing district Ea safe seat.
A
Capitol Hill staffer suggested that Pelosi also was miffed that Harman had
higher visibility in the media.
Harman, using her platform as ranking
Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, landed on Sunday talk shows so regularly
that she all but eclipsed Pelosi's rising star as House minority leader. An
informal survey of the major talk shows over the last two years found that
Harman made 18 appearances to Pelosi's six.
Associates of Pelosi say she
was not troubled that Harman was on television frequently, only that Democrats'
message on Iraq wasn't being aired.
Some Democrats say Pelosi's choice
for intelligence chair is less about personal conflict than fixing a political
problem, which ironically began with Harman's return to the House in
2001.
After Harman lost her gubernatorial bid, Pelosi urged her to run
for Congress again. Harman's choice was made easier by the fact that
then-Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) had promised her in writing that she
could reclaim her seniority on the Intelligence Committee. That bumped a member
of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. Sanford D. Bishop Jr. (D-Ga.), off the
committee and jumped her over another African American, Rep. Alcee L. Hastings
(D-Fla.), in seniority.
Black members of Congress were upset by what they
saw as a slap by House Democratic leaders. Last year the black caucus asked for
a meeting, and according to one witness, Pelosi promised not to slight either
blacks or Latinos when plum slots came up on the Intelligence and Homeland
Security committees.
When news got out that Pelosi was not planning to
name Harman chairwoman, heavy hitters from the foreign policy establishment
besieged Pelosi to change her mind.
Those close to Harman say the
lobbying campaign came to life on its own. The Pelosi side doesn't buy
it.
"The biggest mistake Jane made was lining up people to lobby," said a
Hill staffer. "People went over the line lobbying for her. Now Nancy is very
angry."
Asked whether Pelosi held a grudge against Harman, Rep. Anna G.
Eshoo (D-Atherton) said: "People are going to do what they're going to do. But
anyone who underestimates Nancy Pelosi does so at her own
risk."
*
johanna.neuman@latimes.com
michael.finnegan@latimes.com
Neuman
reported from Washington and Finnegan from Los
Angeles.
*
(INFOBOX BELOW)
Jane
Harman
1945: Born in New York City; raised in Los
Angeles where father is a Westside physician
1966:
Graduates from Smith College, Northampton, Mass.
1969:
Graduates from Harvard Law School; later serves in Carter White House and as
Defense Department special counsel
1992-98: Elected by
California's 36th Congressional district
1998: Runs for
governor, spending more than $20 million, including $15 million of her own
money, but finishes third among Democrats
2000-present:
Reclaims her former House seat; joins Energy and Commerce Committee; joins
Intelligence Committee, becoming ranking Democrat of new Terrorism and Homeland
Security subcommittee
2003: After November 2002
election, chosen by Nancy Pelosi as her successor on Intelligence
2004: Works closely with new Intelligence chairman
Peter Hoekstra and Senate Governmental Affairs Chairman Susan Collins to get
Congress to pass intelligence reorganization bill
2005:
Calls for a ban on torture by U.S. interrogators and a prohibition on
transferring detainees to countries that torture
Sources: Almanac of
American Politics 2006; office of Jane Harman; Los Angeles
Times
**
Nancy Pelosi
1940: Born Nancy
D'Alesandro in Baltimore; her father served five terms in Congress ending in
1947, then 12 years as Baltimore mayor
1962: Graduates
from Trinity College (now called Trinity University), Washington,
D.C.
1977-1981: Northern chair, California Democratic
Party
1981-1983: State chair, California Democratic
Party
1985-1987: Finance chair, Democratic Senatorial
Campaign Committee
1987-present: Elected by California's
8th Congressional District, which includes most of San Francisco; serves for 10
years (until early 2003) on the Intelligence
Committee
2001: Elected minority whip by House
Democrats
Oct. 2002: Leads Democratic faction opposed to
authorizing military force in Iraq, bucking the House Democratic
leader
Nov. 2002: Elected minority leader by House
Democrats
Nov. 2006: Slated to become next House speaker
after midterm election gains
Sources: Almanac of American Politics 2006;
office of Nancy Pelosi; Los Angeles Times