The Austin American Statesman - Making a name in Congress

Making a name in Congress

Carter, McCaul assuming leadership roles in House.
By Tara Copp, as printed in the Austin American Statesman

WASHINGTON — Two years ago, Congressman-elect Michael McCaul sought out fellow Austin-area Republican Rep. John Carter for advice on how to make leadership waves from Day One.

Carter was just wrapping up his first term in the U.S. House and was already climbing up the ranks. He had been picked to serve as the freshman representative on the elite Republican Steering Committee, which hands out committee assignments.

Two years later, it's McCaul who is wrapping up his first term and appears to be on a fast track to Republican leadership. Carter seems to have taken a step back, gaining traction instead through his membership on the powerful Appropriations Committee.

If Republicans hold on to the House this fall, "McCaul may very well be in the next generation of Republican Party leaders," said University of Texas political analyst Sean Theriault. "Carter's path isn't as clear, but with majority status and seniority alone he will accrue some power."

Both men come from a legal and law enforcement background. Carter served as a judge in Williamson County for 20 years before being elected to the House in 2002. McCaul was a terrorism expert for the Department of Justice in Texas before his election in 2004.

Their legislative efforts so far reflect that background. A Carter bill to increase identity theft protection was signed by President Bush in 2004; in his second term, Carter has sponsored six bills and had three pieces of legislation pass the House, including an overhaul of crop insurance and a measure enforcing a death penalty for terrorists.

McCaul has jumped at each legislative opportunity afforded him. He has sponsored 11 bills or resolutions, many of which promote Austin's science and technology base. His first bill, changing the Federal Emergency Management Agency, passed Congress last month. McCaul has sought and been given leadership posts, including chairmanship of the House homeland security subcommittee on investigations; he was also named an assistant whip for the majority Republicans.

Carter and McCaul are keen on ferreting out wasteful government spending. Carter's crop insurance bill came from his teaming up with Tarleton State University on a data-mining project that found "$250 million worth of cheating" on crop insurance claims, he said.

"I am a true believer there are trillions of dollars we can find," Carter said. "With the modern technology that's available — data mining — I think we have great possibilities," Carter said.

After auditors reported back to McCaul that they had found that $1.4 billion meant for victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita was either wasted or awarded fraudulently, McCaul received national attention by exposing the wasteful FEMA spending, which included hotel rooms in Hawaii, "Girls Gone Wild" videos and five New Orleans Saints football tickets.

"It's one thing to play 'gotcha' politics up here — but I needed to expose the problem," McCaul said. "It's sort of like being a prosecutor, but in Congress, on the Hill."

Personally, Carter and McCaul are separated by perspective and personality.

Where McCaul handles the political discomforts of the pre- and post-Tom DeLay era in the House with the smoothness of a popular student body president, Carter can sometimes be gruff. Recent run-ins with the news media have prompted Carter to carry a digital recorder with him as a buffer against reporters who press him for answers.

"Within the members' circles, he's a very stable, very good mediator," said Heritage Foundation congressional expert Danielle Doane. "He sits back and listens, and lets people debate. Then he waits for the perfect moment to have his insight."

But, when pressed publicly, Carter's deliberation can give way to bluntness.

"He's no shrinking violet," Doane said.

In an interview this summer with the American-Statesman, Carter was asked whether the focus on English-only provisions for the Voting Rights Act, which was up for renewal, seemed out of step with what was going on globally. His response: "I am not interested at all in what's going on globally. I just read a book about what's going on in Europe. They are basically, almost, at the end of Western civilization in Europe. I am not interested in what they care about. I am interested in the United States of America."

Carter bristles at the thought of American policy becoming subject to international review.

"I am more than willing to listen to people . . . But if the rest of the world is out of step, they are out of step," he said.

Carter said despite criticism in the press and from his opponents, voters in his district, which includes Fort Hood, know him and where he stands, and they like what he stands for.

"I am conservative. And my district is conservative. The vast majority of most Texans are conservative," Carter said. "We are not ashamed to be patriotic. Our role up here is to create opportunity for Americans, not welfare."

Carter and McCaul made headlines recently over immigration. In comments this summer that Carter says were taken out of context by the Houston Chronicle and the American-Statesman, he was quoted suggesting there is no longer a racial bias in Texas, leading to sharp public criticism and his decision to record his interviews.

A hearing that McCaul held in Houston in August focused on the criminal activity some illegal immigrants commit, and included references to the emotionally charged Austin murder of 18-year-old Jenny Garcia Hayden at the hands of illegal immigrant David Diaz Morales, led to protests by immigrant rights groups that he was exploiting the issue.

McCaul said he's seen lapses in border security policy for years, which is why he pushes immigration legislation overhaul that is heavy on law enforcement.

"Having worked counterterrorism, I can tell you the threat is real," said McCaul.

McCaul conceded that the summer's focus on immigration reform and English-only provisions for voting alienates some Hispanics.

"I respond this way: Teddy Roosevelt had a great quote, 'We are a nation of immigrants,' " McCaul said. "But assimilation is very important to me."

http://www.house.gov/list/press/tx10_mccaul/morenews/10_9_06_EoC_AAS.html