Lungren seeks No. 3 GOP spot in House

The Gold River Republican said it's essential that the Republican leadership adjust rapidly to the fact that the party was ousted from control of the House in the elections last week. He said he wants to see the assembly of House Republicans run more democratically, with members given more opportunities to shape positions on key policy issues.

"The next two years will determine whether we are a two-year minority or a generational minority," Lungren said in an interview Monday.

The conference chair will be the third-ranking leadership position for Republicans when Congress returns in January for the start of its 110th two-year session. Ahead of the conference chair will be the Republican leader and the minority whip.

Last week's elections giving Democrats a 35-seat majority, with 10 other races still undecided, have thrown the Republican leadership into turmoil. Six of the GOP leadership positions are contested, and the seventh would be, too, had Rep. John Doolittle, R-Roseville, not withdrawn his bid for another term as conference secretary. Doolittle withdrew last week, citing his narrow 49 percent to 46 percent victory over Democratic challenger Charlie Brown and the need to pay closer attention to his district.

Lungren is facing three others also vying for the conference chair position. They are Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Fla., Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga. The vote is Friday, and there is no immediate front-runner.

Lungren won a second term representing the 3rd Congressional District after defeating Democratic challenger Bill Durston last week, 59 percent to 38 percent. Lungren returns next year with 12 years of seniority because he had represented the Long Beach area for a decade before leaving Congress in 1988 for a 16-year hiatus that included two terms as California attorney general.

Earlier this year, after former Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay resigned his office because of campaign finance charges against him in Texas, Lungren was among a handful of Republicans calling for wide-open elections for all of the House leadership seats in order to remove any taint caused by the ongoing Abramoff lobbying investigation. The effort failed.

Lungren also campaigned unsuccessfully last year to become chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee after its former chairman, Rep. Christopher Cox of Newport Beach, left Congress to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. Lungren has been chairman of a Homeland Security subcommittee, but will lose that position with the arrival of the Democratic majority in January.

In the interview, Lungren said he thinks he can bring his own experience to the conference, having worked with a Democratic majority in the 1980s to pass bipartisan legislation, including a major crime bill in 1984 and immigration legislation in 1986.