Is shine from Cox’s star starting to fade?

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT BEACH -- Local Rep. Chris Cox’s name, over the past several

years, has often been connected with some of the most prestigious offices

in the land -- vice president, speaker of the House and U.S. Senate.

But this time, whispers of the congressman’s name have rarely been

heard in the Washington rumor mills.

As an attorney in the Reagan administration, Cox would seem to be a

natural to join George W. Bush’s White House staff.

Don’t count on it happening any time soon.

It’s not that Cox is being passed over. But in a Monday morning

meeting with congressional leaders, Bush said he wants high-ranking

Republicans to stay in their roles as policymakers, Cox said from his

Washington, D.C., office.

“He made it clear that the time for campaigning is long since over,”

Cox said Monday. “It’s time for governance and leadership.”

Bush met with other high-ranking legislators -- including several

prominent Democrats -- in an effort to build consensus for a bevy of

proposals, headed by a $1.3-trillion tax cut spread over a 10-year

period.

The Monday meeting “is part of President-elect Bush’s efforts to reach

across partisan lines and try to find common ground,” Bush spokesman

Scott McClellan said.

As the chairman of the influential Policy Committee, Cox is considered

the fifth highest ranking member in the U.S. House of Representatives. He

is expected to play a crucial role in building support for the Bush

agenda.

“It’s hard to find an administration post that allows policy

development more consequential than that,” Orange County Republican

Chairman Tom Fuentes said. “Chris Cox has served in the White House.”

In the weeks and months after Bush’s Jan. 20 swearing in, Bush will

begin introducing legislation that follows through on the prominent

issues raised during the former Texas governor’s campaign -- education

reform, a prescription drug benefit and the tax plan.

No timetable has been set for the introduction of the tax bill, but it

is expected to include restructuring the five traditional tax brackets, a

10% deduction for married couples and the elimination of the so-called

death tax.

In past legislative sessions, Cox has pushed for the latter proposal

without success.