Predicting the new power of Lobbyists

I guess it's ok to claim a little prescience here. This letter to the New York Times is dated December 9, 1994 and was published under the title shown:

Lobbyists Will Rush to Fill House Caucus Void; Anger Creates Power

To the Editor:

It has been noted by others, but the point needs to be made again until the public gets it: Most of the overhaul, shrinking, committee disbanding and reorganization of the House of Representatives for the ostensible purpose of openness, streamlining and money-saving will lead inevitably and not coincidentally to one certain conclusion -- more power to Representative Newt Gingrich, the incoming House Speaker.

Your Dec. 7 front-page article reports, without any particular emphasis, that the $5 million "saved" by doing away with caucus-support financing will revert to the staffing allowances from which it came. Great. More funds will be available to Mr. Gingrich and his colleagues for maintaining their own support structure. And removal of support services from the designated caucuses will surely diminish their ability to operate effectively.

Dismantling committees and subcommittees to empty an office building will leave decision-maker gaps (guess who will fill them?) and remove potential safeguards against raging policy and draconian reforms. My guess is that any committee for which Mr. Gingrich did not have a hand-picked appointment ready was dismantled or moved under another with a Gingrich-approved chairman.

Mr. Gingrich refers again and again to the "angry electorate." I am reminded of the old truism that the one who worries the loudest about a dire event is probably secretly working to make it happen. With the cooperation of the print media and Sunday morning television pundits, Mr. Gingrich has made his career out of anger, and the sustenance of public anger will enhance the power he derives from it. What kind of country will we be if we go along with it?

NATHALIE GUYOL Waxahachie, Tex., Dec. 9, 1994