Washington

Phil Crane: ambitions on the back, back burner

Phillip Crane

IT HAS BEEN 14 months since Phil Crane was reelected to Congress and 21 months since he withdrew from the presidential race and threw his support behind Ronald Reagan. Yet the Republican from Arlington Heights who was given a 100 percent rating by the American Conservative Union has been virtually — but politely — ignored by the conservative Reagan administration.

As a member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, Crane met with President Reagan on the tax cut legislation and he has been invited to social events at the White House where, as Crane put it, "there were tons of members present." But, despite being one of the most conservative members of Congress, Crane is not among the inner circle of administration advisers on Capitol Hill. Some of Reagan's people reportedly were upset with Crane for waiting too long to get out of the presidential race — until April 17, 1980 — and for what they believe was a portrayal of himself as a "young Ronald Reagan."

''I never attempted to pass myself off as a young Ronald Reagan," Crane said in a recent interview. "There were people who made those comparisons. Philosophically, Reagan and I were the closest in that race. But I never attempted once to make the comparison with myself and Reagan. I never said any such thing. In fact, some of the Reagan people had passed that [comparison] on. I think that probably rankled some.

"I don't think it's a fair assessment to say that I've been frozen out" of the White House, according to Crane. "My relations with Reagan himself have always been very cordial. I do feel there are some, and I couldn't even begin to tell you who they are, that still have some hard feelings in the Reagan entourage over the fact that I had the audacity to run."

Crane, careful not to further damage his relations with the White House, said — without being asked — that he expects Reagan to seek reelection and that he has put his own presidential ambitions on the "back, back, back burner."

"In the event Reagan were to decide not to run in '84. . . I don't think he would make it public until spring. And if he did that, you're past the earliest primaries and past the filing dates for a majority of the rest, so that would suggest that we would have an open convention. No one, anyway, can be perceived as trying to organize or shoot for the '84 nomination without creating the justifiable appearance of not being loyal to the administration. I haven't given any thought to it and wouldn't until, at the earliest, 1984."

Crane said he has had "pressure from a number of folks to consider" running for the Senate, but he believes his "better opportunity" is in the House, where he is a senior member of the influential Ways and Means Committee. His import would increase substantially if the Republicans gained control of the House in the 1982 elections. But that is not where Crane's ambitions end. He apparently feels he would be an appropriate successor to Reagan, more so than Vice President George Bush, who he would consider challenging in 1988.

"It's my hope Reagan is kind of in the position FDR was in in '32. FDR really changed the direction of the country and changed the orientation of people on some basic questions of the role of government, the degree to which government should expand, the services it provides. . . . Reagan can do it in eight years. He can get the country reoriented. But I think it is essential after that reorientation, that someone follow him who is committed to carrying on that reorientation, or pursuing it even further. And to me that means a decentralization of power out of Washington, increasing assumptions of responsibilities at the state and local level."

As for the 1980 race, Crane said he decided to get into it because he felt Reagan's support had dwindled since 1976 and that Reagan might not even run. There was little Reagan support, Crane said, "until we came out of New England. And a part of it at the time was the fear of George Bush possibly getting the nomination.

"Our people abandoned us coming out of Iowa [which Bush won], once we got to New England, and they abandoned us on the eve of the election because of the fear that Bush might win in New Hampshire. I had maximum contributors who came up to my state chairman afterwards with red facesa nd said, 'I got to confess I ended up running to Reagan for fear Bush might win it.' We had in New Hampshire, for example, 1,300 volunteers who worked that state for a year for me and had far away the best organization in the state, and we ended up getting 2,600 votes. They were barely able to hang on to a spouse. The Reagan people also were very effectively exploiting the line that a vote for Crane is a vote for Bush. As it turns out, Bush ended up scuttling me."

Crane undoubtedly hopes to be the lone conservative alternative to Bush in the next post-Reagan presidential campaign.

December 1981 | Illinois Issues | 35