Larson: I’m not afraid of Speaker

Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) is prepared to do something he’s never done in his 10 years in Congress: take on Nancy Pelosi.

Larson, one of Speaker Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) closest allies, is not spoiling for such a fight. But the incoming caucus chairman said Tuesday that he will speak for rank-and-file members — even when they disagree with leadership.

{mosads}“That’s what I was elected to do,” Larson said during an interview with The Hill in his new legislative office in the Cannon House Office Building.

For Larson, challenging the Speaker would, in and of itself, be a fairly dramatic break from his past.

Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), who is leaving the lower chamber to become White House chief of staff, wouldn’t hesitate to privately challenge Pelosi if he thought she was about to make a decision that would damage the caucus as a whole. Emanuel was especially sensitive to any leadership move that would endanger freshman Democrats, many of whom are centrists.

Emanuel’s fiery style infuriated some Democrats in the House, but no one doubted his effectiveness as a House leader.

Larson readily admits he is no Emanuel. In a recent interview on C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers” program, Larson likened his style to that of World War II Gen. Omar Bradley, who was known as the “soldier’s general.”

Emanuel, Larson said, is more like Gen. George Patton.

During his tenure as caucus vice chairman, Larson has developed a reputation as skilled in building good personal relationships across wide swaths of the caucus. He is also known for lavishly praising Pelosi to the press and behind closed doors.

Members privy to those closed-door leadership meetings have privately criticized Larson for being too quick to dole out such accolades. In fact, that tendency caused some of his colleagues to worry that he was not the right man to lead a caucus that will have many competing interests under a larger ideological umbrella, and at a time when Pelosi’s power is soaring.

But because he was Pelosi’s quiet pick for the caucus job, Larson was not challenged as Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) jumped into, and then out of, the race. Averting a divisive leadership contest, Pelosi persuaded Van Hollen to stay on at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for another cycle.

In 2006, most on Capitol Hill expected Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) or Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.) to win the vice chairman race, with Larson finishing a distant third. Larson, however, scored a huge upset in a triumph that some believe had Pelosi’s fingerprints on it.

Larson, meanwhile, is looking to dispel any notions that he is a Pelosi minion.

“My approach is going to be radically different from Rahm’s in this respect: I’m pretty much a bottom-up, member-intensive type of person,” Larson said. “That’s my stock and trade.

“Because what the caucus wants is what the American people want. They want candor, and they want you to level with them, and they want to feel as though you’re representing them at the leadership table, and also providing them, if they disagree with the leadership, the forum to express their views.”

And that means going to the mat for the caucus if it gets uncomfortable with Pelosi’s moves.

{mospagebreak}“That may, from time to time, put you at odds with your own leadership. But that’s what I was elected to do by my members.”

Larson said he is already putting together a “Council of Caucuses,” with which he will meet regularly to take the pulse of the various factions under the Democratic tent, solicit input and, hopefully, better integrate those points of view into the formal weekly policy discussions.

“The caucus really hasn’t done that in the past,” Larson said. “My goal, as I see it, is to shine the spotlight on them, so that members know that when they come to caucus meetings, they have a better chance of having their positions being integrated or at least better understood by leadership, or by a specific chairman on an issue.”

{mosads}The move has won Larson some early praise.

“I appreciate caucus Chairman John Larson’s efforts to reach out to and engage the various caucuses within the larger Democratic Caucus,” said Rep. Lois Capps (Calif.), the Democratic co-chairwoman of the Congressional Caucus on Women’s Issues and a member of the liberal Out of Iraq Caucus. “We have a number of serious challenges to meet in the 111th Congress and it’s important to have a forum through which the leadership and rank-and-file members can communicate quickly and effectively.”

Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.), a centrist who heads New Democrat Coalition, said, “John has always been very accessible and his vision as chair reflects that.”

Still, it’s far too soon to ascertain if Larson’s gestures will be enough to appease his skeptics.

“Rahm’s departure leaves a really high water mark,” said an aide to a centrist Democrat. “And it remains to be seen if Larson can do that fighting, if it’s necessary.”

Conservative and centrist Democrats sometimes were at odds with the Speaker, but felt adequately protected by Emanuel and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.).

Already, a number of centrists are contemplating, or have already committed to, running to be Larson’s vice chairman. There will be an opening should the incoming office holder, Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) — another close Pelosi ally — leave the House for a post in the Obama administration.

Larson, who is in his fifth term, said he would make whoever is chosen “a full partner in the process,” but would not say whether he thought it was best to have a ready deputy or someone who could complement his own leadership style.

“If you believe in a bottom-up process, you have got to get around to an awful lot of people, so you want the vice chairman to be an extension,” he said. “But I can’t imagine that any one of the candidates out there that may be running or has expressed an interest … wouldn’t be able to fulfill that role.”

The 60-year-old lawmaker said that, at the end of the day, any big caucus fights — and subsequent struggles with the ultimate decisionmakers — will be “few and far in between.”

“The desire — the thirst — that exists within the caucus for this give-and-take is extraordinary,” Larson said.

“Now, make no mistake, [Pelosi] will always lead. That’s her nature … But what I’ve mentioned about leading the caucus, I believe, is what she would prefer anyway.”