Mass. delegation in Pelosi's corner

WASHINGTON -- Massachusetts' 10 House members have emerged as key tacticians and advisers to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a factor that has led to a boost in clout for the state's delegation but also some grumbling from senior committee chairmen and rank-and-file members from other states.

Representative Barney Frank of Newton, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, has become Pelosi's biggest champion among the committee chairmen. He is battling to give the speaker more autonomy in setting the House agenda, and Pelosi has placed him in the speaker's chair at some pivotal moments, giving him the power to rule on Republican parliamentary challenges.

Helping control the legislative flow to the House floor is Representative James P. McGovern of Worcester, vice chairman of the powerful House Rules Committee. Behind the scenes, Representative Michael E. Capuano of Somerville has become a key Pelosi fixer and adviser, helping her to establish six-year term limits for committee chairmen and quietly extinguishing political brushfires on her behalf.

"The Massachusetts delegation is really the straw that stirs the drink," said Representative John B. Larson of Connecticut, vice chairman of the Democratic caucus.

Larson said Pelosi has turned to so many Massachusetts lawmakers because, after 12 years in the minority, she needs help from supportive House members who know how to wield power in the majority, a delicate skill of knowing when to push ahead with legislation and when to yield.

Nearly all members of the Massachusetts delegation learned the ropes under towering Democrats from another generation, including the late House Speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill of Cambridge and the late Representative J. Joseph Moakley of South Boston, who served as chairman of the House Rules Committee.

Representative Edward J. Markey of Malden, the longest-serving House member from Massachusetts, noted that Pelosi is a Catholic Democrat whose father mastered urban politics as mayor of Baltimore -- an upbringing many Massachusetts Democrats can relate to.

"There's a common view of what the role of government must be," Markey said. "She's a pragmatic progressive, just as Tip O'Neill was. So, she naturally reaches out to people within the caucus not only who are progressives, but who have shown an ability to reach across the aisle to get things done."

But Pelosi's reliance on a small circle of lawmakers from Massachusetts and her own San Francisco area has drawn some expressions of concern among conservative Democrats, who are encouraging Pelosi to reach out beyond the "bicoastal liberals."

Her decision earlier this month to appoint Markey, one of her closest allies, to lead a new, high-profile committee on global warming continues to rile senior committee chairmen, who fear that the speaker is trying to bypass their authority over issues related to climate change.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman, John D. Dingell, a Michigan Democrat who is the longest-serving member of the House, has indicated he is prepared to take his feud with Pelosi into the open by getting House members to vote down the new global warming committee.

"I reserve all options available under the rules of the House," Dingell wrote in a protest memo to his colleagues last week.

Dingell is getting support from chairmen of some of the House's most important committees, including Judiciary, Appropriations, and Government Reform. They fear any precedent that could lead to an erosion of their turf.

But one committee chairman is offering Pelosi his full support: Frank. He argues that Pelosi is right to lead with a firm hand, noting that he and other chairmen won their posts by "accidents of chronology," since chairmanships are awarded almost exclusively based on seniority.

"I'm not divinely ordained," Frank said. "Nancy is a good general. She's trying to make public policy, and we need to be moving in the same direction."

It is that strain of practicality that Pelosi values in members of the Massachusetts delegation, according to lawmakers and aides. Though most of the state's House members are proud liberals, few engage in quixotic fights.

"They have a commitment to liberalism, but at the same time they know how Washington works," said Julian Zelizer, a congressional historian at Boston University.

Part of the delegation's influence stems from seniority and the delegation's all-Democratic party affiliation. Not including Frank, who is chairman of a full committee, six House members from Massachusetts are subcommittee chairmen, posts that are doled out largely based on length of service.

Still, Pelosi's relationship with the delegation runs deeper than titles. She has long worked closely with Massachusetts lawmakers on areas of shared interest, including energy and technology initiatives as well as human-rights concerns in Africa and elsewhere.

She has forged a particularly close personal relationship with Markey and Capuano, both of whom have traveled abroad with Pelosi on congressional business. Capuano's five terms in office put him far back on House seniority lists, but Pelosi tapped him to lead her transition team.

Capuano has also taken on an informal role for the speaker that one Pelosi aide likened to that of an Army scout, identifying potential problems among the rank-and-file and helping Pelosi gauge how to respond.

Capuano said he's glad to work the "back row" for Pelosi, and said the speaker knows she has little margin for error; just 16 Democratic defections to the Republican side can mean defeat. That requires an emphasis on strong leadership from the speaker's office, even if it ruffles some committee chairmen, Capuano said.

"If allowed, chairmen -- any chairmen worth their salt -- will slowly take more influence, just like any president would, or like any mayor would," he said, defending Pelosi's efforts to limit the discretion of committee chairmen.

So far, most moderate and conservative Democrats say they're pleased with Pelosi's leadership. She started the year with fast action on a series of bills that have broad support in the Democratic Party.

Representative Ron Kind, a Wisconsin Democrat who cochairs the centrist New Democrat Coalition, said he appreciates the "gravitas" of the Massachusetts delegation, and said Pelosi appears to have surrounded herself with enough moderate allies to keep the agenda in balance. Still, Kind said, the speaker needs to continue to be vigilant to keep the party on a centrist course, or Democrats could lose the majority they worked so hard to win.

"She'll be the first to admit, if she deviates too far, things could unravel very quickly," he said. "If we're going to get anything accomplished, it's going to be done not from the extremes, but from the center of the caucus."