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Session One: February 14: TRENDS, TRUST, AND IMPLICATIONS

This Study Group will focus on the endangered moderates in the U.S. House
of Representatives: causes and consequences--past, present, and future.

In the past, moderates played critical roles in the passage of social
legislation including civil rights, the environment, housing, and education.
They also had global vision in foreign affairs. Today the moderate voices
are diminishing. Redistricting, the impact of special interest groups, PACs,
leadership tactics and strict party discipline will be examined as forces that
have driven the parties apart and caused polarizing distrust and gridlock.
Seats of moderates in the House have been lost or vacated as a result of
these forces. Independent voters who are critical to moderates in “otherparty
leaning” districts are abandoning the moderates because of the image
of party rigidity without openness to country.

As leader of this Study Group, I served in the House of Representatives as a
moderate Republican from a district with a 2 to 1 democratic registration for
16 years: 8 of which as a minority in a minority and 8 of which as a minority
in a majority.

My guest speakers include a distinguished teacher and scholar on Congress,
as well as four former senior members of the House of Representatives and
a current member of the House—moderates all—who will share their
experiences and insights on causes, consequences, and the future of
moderates in the House. We will explore what can and should be done—
how and when.

Session One: February 14: TRENDS, TRUST, AND IMPLICATIONS

We will define the moderate in Congress and look at their critical role in significant
legislation in the past. We will also explore why and how public trust and confidence in
Congress has changed over time as well as how the way the Institution does business has
changed.

Session Two: February 21: CAUSES, CHARACTERISTICS, AND CONSEQUENCES

Our special guest will be Dr. James Thurber , University Distinguished Professor of
Government and Director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies, author
and expert on Congress. He is frequently interviewed on major television, radio and print
media. He will lead a discussion on the causes, characteristics, and consequences of the
vanishing number of moderates in the House of Representatives.

Session Three: February 28: REDISTRICTING, PARTISANSHIP, AND POLARIZATION

Our guest is long serving (27 years) former Congressman Charlie Stenholm, who led the
Democratic “Blue Dog Coalition.” Along with three other Congressmen in Texas, he was
the victim of partisan redistricting. Such designing of voter districts has allowed
politicians to choose voters instead of voters choosing politicians. Congressman
Stenholm will share his experiences about redistricting as well as the
continuing role of the “ Blue Dogs.”

Session Four: March 6: FROM MINORITY TO MAJORITY PARTY

Congressman Jim Ramstad is serving his ninth term representing Minnesota’s Third
Congressional district. He was there when the “Contract With America” was crafted as a
strategic tool to oust the Majority Party. Party pressures, discipline, and the use of
political action committees by Party Leaders helped capture the majority. Congressman
Ramstad knows first hand the consequences of disagreement. He is planning to retire
from the House after this 110th Congress.

Session Five: March 13: BIPARTISANSHIP AND IMPEACHMENT

I was elected to the 100th Congress with our guest, former Congressman Amo Houghton,
who, during his eighteen years in the House from New York, did more than any other
member to foster bipartisanship and civility. From organizing the Members’ 25th
Anniversary March in Selma, Alabama, following the steps of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
over the Edmund Pettus Bridge--to establishing House Bipartisan Retreats, former
Congressman Houghton was respected on both sides of the aisle. He broke with his Party
on many social issues such as education and environment and was one of only six House
Republicans to vote against impeaching President Clinton and against the invasion of
Iraq. I did too.

Session Six: April 3: CONFESSIONS OF A CONSERVATIONIST

A Representative with a passion for science and the environment, former Congressman
Sherry Boehlert served 24 years in the House before retiring, the last six as Chairman of
the House Science Committee. He forged bipartisan support for America’s national
Nanotechnology Initiative and the first U.S. government funding for such research. He
worked with like-minded Democrats in adding the acid rain provisions in the Clean Air
Amendment Act and was known to vote against his Party Leadership on environmental
issues. He knows first hand the impact of rigid Party Leadership disciplines on moderate
members of both parties.

Session Seven: April 10: SPECIAL INTERESTS, SCANDALS, AND IRAQ

Knowing through personal experience the fallout on moderates of the influence of special
interest groups and political action committees in campaigns as well as being judged by
the Iraq War, former Congresswoman Sue Kelly, a moderate who chaired the Small
Business Committee, will discuss these elements—along with the scourge of scandals.

Session Eight: April 17: WILL THE PHOENIX RISE? LOOKING AHEAD

Where do we go from here? We will look to the future and offer solutions. What has
been done and what could and should be done? Discussion will include the work of
organizations, study groups, coalitions, committees, and advisory groups in bringing
about principled bipartisanship. Ethics and redistricting may be two areas of possible
solutions. Is the answer a third party?