Edition: U.S. / Global

In Kansas and Elsewhere, G.O.P. Freshmen Face the Music, Sweet andShrill

Published: January 14, 1996

There were balloons and cake, speeches and a rendition of "God Bless America" at the 50th anniversary ceremony of the Colmery-O'Neil V.A. Medical Center here. But for one invitee, Representative Sam Brownback, a freshman Republican, there were also angry questions. All of the 1,200 workers had their paychecks held up when the budget impasse recently shut down parts of the Federal Government.

"What's going on up there?" said Jim Bunker, a 37-year-old veteran of the Persian Gulf war. "It seems like the Republicans have this my-way-or-no-way attitude, and I'm tired of it."

Said another: "Why did this thing get dumped on us? It's like you're in a bad marriage and you're taking it out on the kids. You guys are married to Clinton, and you should be able to work it out without hurting the kids."

But Mr. Brownback stopped short of an apology. Despite his placid, Plains-bred demeanor, this is a man who once described himself and his freshmen Republican colleagues in the House as "passionate, in-our-souls dedicated to balancing the budget." And even if the natives are getting restless here in his Second Congressional District in eastern Kansas, he continues to preach that a revolution is at hand in Washington.

"The only reason we're doing this is to get a balanced budget -- seven years, honest numbers," he said. "Otherwise, this is all stupidity."

Despite all the heady talk of a Republican revolution after the party's electoral triumph in 1994, the reality is that Mr. Brownback and the 72 other first-term Republicans in the House are still working within the confines of representative government.

As such, and with Congress in recess, most of them find themselves back home with a lot of explaining to do, particularly about why their constituents should bear the consequences of the party's hard-line stance. A look at four of these freshmen from around the nation shows the strategies they are using, with varying degrees of success, to cope with voter reaction to the budget showdown -- reaction that ranges from bewilderment to bemusement, with a great deal of anger mixed in.

For Mr. Brownback, who once noted approvingly that many of his constituents were assessing Congress with the phrase "blow it up," now encounters a different analogy.

"This shutdown is like the Oklahoma City bombing," said Leroy Wedeking, a 46-year-old housekeeping aide at the Veterans Affairs hospital who had to plead with the electric and gas companies not to turn off service while his $500 biweekly paycheck was held up in the shutdown. "You're hurting innocent Americans here."

But even as Mr. Brownback acknowledged that the Republicans had "lost the near-term public relations war" with President Clinton, a factor behind their decision to agree to reopen the Government temporarily, he insisted that he and his colleagues would never give in on the long-term goal.

"We're trying, we're really trying, to get this thing done for you," he told the veterans and hospital workers. "It's very difficult. We haven't balanced the budget in 29 years."

And as the 39-year-old Mr. Brownback made his way through the crowd after the ceremony, he held his ground in other areas. Mr. Bunker, the veteran, echoing a sentiment of many in the room, told him, "If you want my personal belief, you shouldn't even be talking about tax cuts until spending is under control."

The Congressman nodded to indicate he was listening, but replied: "You know, a capital-gains tax cut will stimulate revenue. Kennedy did it. Reagan did it."

To some degree, Mr. Brownback has inoculated himself against the anger -- indeed, as he made his way through Topeka the other day, many people urged him to run for the seat being vacated by Senator Nancy Landon Kassebaum. It is a move he said he was considering, though he quickly added that he loved his job in the House.

He clearly blunted some outrage by giving back his pay during the first shutdown and setting up an escrow account for it during the second. Though the freshmen Republicans have been cast in many news accounts as the prime instigators of the shutdown, many people here say they do not blame Mr. Brownback.

"He's a brand new guy; he's still trying to learn what's going, on and they throw this in his lap," said Carolyn Brady, a nurse at the Veterans Affairs hospital. "The freshmen are not the ones I'm angry at. I'm angry at Bob Dole and Newt Gingrich."

And many people, especially at the Topeka Farm Show at the Kansas Expocentre, urged Mr. Brownback to stay a never-give-an-inch course, even if they were a bit skeptical that his goal was reachable.

"I admire your guts, Sam," said Gerald Garrett, the 56-year-old owner of Garrett Ranch Supply in Auburn, Kan. "Everybody wants to balance the budget, but nobody wants to sacrifice."

Still, even Mr. Brownback acknowledged that he and his colleagues had given inches in agreeing to reopen the Government. And while resolute about a balanced budget, he is not politically suicidal.

"We must balance the budget," he said at the medical center ceremony. "But I'm going to do everything I can to see that it's not balanced on the backs of the veterans or veterans' workers." That line, at least, drew sustained applause.

In 1994 Mr. Brownback, a lawyer with a background in agriculture, swept into Congress in a 2-to-1 rout of a former Democratic Governor.

But if his election in 1994 seemed like a mandate, today it is much more difficult to get a sense of consensus among his constituents. Nearly everybody seems to agree there should be a balanced budget, though many are now questioning why it has to be in seven years.

Even many of the supportive comments were only obliquely so.

"Keep up the good work," said 78-year-old Clayton Hejtmanek, an insurance agent. A gleam of relief seemed to cross Mr. Brownback's face -- here, perhaps, was a true balanced-budget believer.

"Protect the veterans all that you can," Mr. Hejtmanek continued. "Do anything that you can to save Medicare."

Mr. Brownback seemed to blanch ever so slightly. "Yes, we can do all that within the context of a balanced budget," he said.

In an interview, Mr. Brownback said it was hard to make people understand how the shutdown could arise from a tussle over the budget. "It goes to the fundamental difference between a Democratic Party committed to providing more services," he said, "and a party that is all about limited government, decentralization, less taxes. Those are very tough things to negotiate through."

And in the short term, he said, the Republicans could "lose that P.R. battle." He added: "We've got every capacity to lose portions of the next election" -- including the Presidency. "But in the long term, the American people are moving our way. This is where we're trending, but that doesn't mean you win every election."

Photo: "Seven years, honest numbers" are the budget goals ofRepresentative Sam Brownback, right, in Topeka, Kan., with Scott Berry, a farmer. (David Hutson for The New York Times) Map of Kansas detailing 2d Congressional District.