Republican Campaign Committee

pepublica Emposyn Committed Pablett EW YORK TIMES NATIONAL TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1994 THE 1994 ELECTION: Laying the Groundwork for 1996 STRATEGIST Creating a Republican Wave, Then Riding It In Mr. Paxon's love life fits neatly By ROBERT PEAR with his political life. He proposed to Special to The New York Times Ms. Molinari on the floor of the WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 - Until House in August last year, while they last week, he was best known as the were sitting in a back row on the husband of Susan Molinari, the Re- Republican side during debate on a publican Representative from Stat- military spending bill - "a very en Island. But now Bill Paxon has an romantic time," he says. They were independent claim to fame. As chair- married on July 3, but delayed the man of the National Republican Con- honeymoon till after the election. gressional Committee, he was one of the chief architects of the political They campaigned together for House candidates in 84 districts in 35 coup that put Republicans in charge of the House of Representatives. states this year. "Susan is the brightest political With boundless energy and enthu- talent in the world," Mr. Paxon said, siasm, Mr. Paxon, a 40-year-old Rep- resentative from the Buffalo sub- "and I would be happy to trade in my urbs, recruited Republican candi- Congressional career as she ad- dates for the House, raised money vances along the line. I'm very hap- for them, trained them and cam- py to be known as Mr. Susan Molina- paigned for them all over the coun- ri. If she ran for governor, I would leave Congress and keep up the try. grounds of the executive mansion in "He took over a committee in dire Albany and raise the dog and the straits, deep in debt, and redefined kids." its role," said Eddie Mahe Jr., a Mr. Paxon is surrounded by peo- veteran political consultant for Re- ple who knew him in his early years. publicans. "He contributed greatly He lives across the street from his to our victory." Mr. Paxon is already thinking parents in Amherst, N.Y. His top aide at the Republican campaign about 1996, laying plans to expand Mike Groll for The New York Times committee, Maria Cino, has known the Republican majority. "We intend Among those who engineered the victories that gave the Republicans him since high school. Another high to build on this victory," he said. control of the House was Representative Bill Paxon of New York, school friend, Thomas M. Reynolds, "We do not see this as a ceiling. This chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. now the Erie County Republican is a floor. We are going to start by chairman, worked for him in local working to re-elect each and every incumbent that won this week, and government and has been chairman people in the world who think politics valley of the shadow of death." of all his Congressional campaigns. we're already recruiting candidates is a very noble profession," said The last chairman of the House for 1996." Patricia Paxon. "We were always Republican campaign committee, "If you can survive in Erie County Just as some children seem to involved in every campaign every Guy Vander Jagt of Michigan, lost politics, you can survive anywhere in inherit an aptitude for science or year in our little town." his own primary in August 1992. the country," Mr. Reynolds said. music, Mr. Paxon showed a preco- Mr. Paxon used those skills and When Mr. Paxon took over the com- "It's a tough, rumble-tumble ethnic cious interest in politics. "I was a experience in a nationwide effort to mitiee four months later, it had a poiitics. We have Polish and Irish political junkie from the day I was elect Republicans this year. debt of $4.5 million, and its list of and Italian groups, and blacks and born," he said in an interview. "We targeted every seat, from the potential donors had withered to the Hispanic people." His father, Leon, was a Newstead most inner-city Democratic districts point that it was nearly useless. The Amid the policy wonks of Wash- town supervisor in the 1940's and to yellow-dog Democrat rural South- committee is debt-free for the first ington, Mr. Paxon never forgets the later served as a Family Court judge ern districts," he said. The Republi- time in years, Mr. Paxon said. He political imperative to win elections. in Erie County, N.Y. His mother, cans conceded nothing, even in has rejuvenated the direct-mail Representative Louise M. Slaughter, Patricia, a member of the Republi- places where Democrats seemed fund-raising operation, and this year a Democrat from an adjoining Con- can State Committee in the 1960's, sure to win. This year, for the first the committee raised $18 million gressional district in upstate New said Bill did door-to-door political time, the Republicans fielded more through mail and other techniques. York, said tartly: "Legislation does work when he was in elementary candidates than the Democrats, run- One reason for the committee's not interest him. His interest is just school and then, as a college student, ning in all but 12 of the 435 Congres- success, Mr. Mahe said, is that Mr. to rid the world of Democrats. He managed his father's campaign for sional districts, and they picked up Paxon treated the election of Repub- puts politics above policy. I've al- Family Court. 52 seats, the largest gain for the licans as an end in itself. "He did not ways seen him as someone whose party since 1946. allow his ego to get in the way of the only goal was to raise money and Mr. Paxon was elected to the Erie Still, Mr. Paxon remembers the job that needed to be done," Mr. beat Democrats. He's extraordinari- County Legislature at the age of 23 desolation of defeat too well to be- Mahe said. "Everybody knew that if ly good at those things." and was in the New York Assembly come overconfident. "My dad lost they responded to Bill's request to by the time he was 28. Six years his job as a judge in the Watergate help the committee, it was not for Mr. Paxon insists that the two are later, in 1988, he was elected to the landslide," Mr. Paxon said. "I'was Bill's self-aggrandizement, but to integrally related. "You can't make House, taking the seat vacated by thinking a lot about that on election help the cause." policy unless you have the votes," he Jack F. Kemp, one of his political night this year. It was so devastat- Mr. Paxon persuaded House Re- said. "At the same time, if you focus mentors. ing, what happened in Watergate. publicans to contribute money to an just on elections without good policy, Many Republican candidates We were on a roll in the late 60's and "insurance fund," available to any you'll fail also. That's the problem of railed against career politicians this early 70's, but we lost it all, the incumbent who might need assist- the Democrats. For the last 20 years, year, but politics was seen as an county legislature, every judgeship, ance. The idea seems to have they have been running the House honorable calling in the Paxon everything there was to lose. We worked; no incumbent Republicans without much of a philosophical rud- household. "We are among the few were in the wilderness. It was the lost on Tuesday. der." THE NEW YORK TIMES, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1994