The Fan With Subpoena Power
Hearings on Steroid Use in Baseball Put Political Spotlight on Davis
By Spencer S. Hsu and Michael D. Shear, Washington Post, Friday, March 11, 2005

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If it weren't for his love of baseball, Rep. Thomas M. Davis III once joked, he never would have entered politics. When the Washington Senators left the capital for Minneapolis in 1960, the jilted 11-year-old transformed his fascination with box scores into an obsession with campaigning.

These days, his critics from the major leagues charge, if it weren't for his love of politics, Davis (R-Va.) would not be driving Congress's investigation into baseball. The steroid investigation has thrust the usually cautious Davis -- known more for backroom compromises and an ability to please diverse constituencies -- into the national spotlight.

Davis, 56, chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, and the committee's ranking Democrat, Henry A. Waxman (Calif.), issued subpoenas this week to seven star ballplayers and four executives to testify Thursday and to produce documents and steroid-testing data.

Baseball's leaders have responded with unusually pointed attacks. Stanley Brand, an attorney for Commissioner Bud Selig, accused Davis and colleagues of trying "to satisfy their prurient interest" in drug use. Phillies pitcher and union representative Randy Wolf told Philadelphia area newspapers, "It's chemical McCarthyism."

In fact, the headline-grabbing inquest reflects a neat alignment of Davis's political, policy and personal interests. The issue fits the agenda of Davis's Democratic counterpart and signals a tough-on-drugs message to the GOP's socially conservative base while raising the national profile of the panel and its chairman, analysts said. Plus, Davis remains an avid sports fan.

Davis, former chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, declined to be interviewed yesterday. His spokesman, David Marin, said that Congress's interest was not driven by grandstanding or "gotcha" politics and that the embattled game of baseball should embrace the opportunity to set the record straight with the public.

Marin said Davis acted after receiving a letter from Waxman -- a health policy expert who has taken on dietary supplements, nicotine and the Food and Drug Administration -- and in the interests of U.S. children and baseball fans.

"Davis is concerned about the message that's being sent to children. These guys are heroes," Marin said. "Davis wants baseball to be pure again. He saw and continues to see this hearing as an opportunity for Major League Baseball to discuss the positive steps it's taken to get a handle on the steroid issue. It's unfortunate that [baseball] doesn't share that perspective."

Sluggers Sammy Sosa and Jason Giambi and former player Mark McGwire are among those called to testify.

A senior committee source, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of negotiations, said baseball representatives have been told that failure to testify or produce documents will lead to "350 to 375 votes" in the House for a citation of criminal contempt of Congress. The source said the issue is so sensitive that at least one player or former player is evading his subpoena.

University of Virginia political scientist Larry J. Sabato, who has watched Davis since his days as a Fairfax supervisor, called steroids a fat pitch down the middle of the plate of public opinion. Davis "likes to be a player," Sabato said. "He likes to believe he uses it for the right things, but he enjoys the political game every bit as much as he enjoys a baseball game."

At the same time, Davis is boosting his standing with his party's conservative base, which has been leery of his positions on gays, abortion, guns and labor unions, positions that reflect his moderate district in Fairfax and Prince William counties. "This will appeal to social and cultural conservatives," Sabato said. "This is a wedge with the dominant GOP group that nominates in primaries in Virginia."

Since succeeding firebrand Dan Burton (R-Ind.) as head of the House's chief investigative panel in 2003, Davis has walked a tightrope between hostile constituencies, all the while deftly boosting his political stock.

"I wish the Republicans who run the Congress would be much more aggressive in exercising our oversight responsibilities, which we have as an independent branch of the U.S. government under the Constitution, but Tom Davis as chairman has done more than any other chairman in the House," Waxman said, saying Davis "is doing a good job."

The praise is all the more notable because Waxman and Democrats blasted Davis last year for failing to investigate the administration's handling of intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war, prisoner abuse scandals, the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame and secret development of energy policy.

Still, Democrats and labor leaders said they will watch closely as the Bush administration presses Davis to restructure civil service rules this year along the lines of a personnel system overhaul adopted for the Department of Homeland Security -- something unions bitterly opposed.

In the House, Republicans speculate whether Davis would return for a third tour as head of the House GOP campaign committee, which he led in 2000 and 2002.

Closer to home, Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.) would be 81 when up for reelection in 2008, and Davis has long been considered interested in being his successor.

"Speculation about the future is never a bad thing politically," was all Marin would say for now about Davis's plans.

Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform and a leading conservative, professes to know little about baseball. But he called Davis "a team player" and said the veteran Virginia politician has managed to earn the respect of conservatives in Congress.

"Is he more moderate than some guys? Yeah," Norquist said. "But I wish the conservatives spent half as much time trying to maintain the Republican majority."

Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D), who represents a neighboring congressional district, said Davis's "only concern about going forward with this [steroids investigation] was that he was going to have trouble getting tickets for Major League Baseball now." But Davis, as usual, has covered his bases. He and Moran have four Washington Nationals season tickets behind home plate.



© 2005 The Washington Post Company