WASHINGTON--By some reports, Rep. Beryl Anthony is in a tough re-election fight this year, leaving municipal lobbyists concerned they could lose the most vocal champion in Congress ever of tax-exempt bond issuers' concerns.
If the Arkansa Democrat is defeated in his May 26 primary contest, "it would be a big loss" to the municipal bond community, said a lobbyist for localities, who askes not to be identified.
Speculation about Rep. Anthony's future was sparked by an article in the March 23 edition of Roll Call, a newspaper that circulates on Capitol Hill. The article states that Rep. Anthony's challenged, Arkansas Secretary of State Bill McCuen, is running hard against the congressman and has "a solid base of name recognition in his state post."
An aide to Rep Athony said the Roll Call article had blown the situation out of proportion. The race "is not close" and Rep Anthony's polls show that the congressman "has a comfortable lead," the aide said Rep. Anthony, who represents Arkansa's fourth district, was first elected to Congress in 1978 and is in his seventh term.
But some municipal lobbyists said Rep. Anthony;s aides do appear concerned about his re-election chances. Mr McCuen, meanwhile, said in an interview that he feels "better about this race than any I have ever been in." He added that the last time he ran for re-election to his state position, he won all 26 counties in Rep. Anthony's district.
"I'm closer to the people than he is, so we'll see what happens," Mr. McCuen said.
Rep. Anthony, who is a memeber of the House Ways and Means Committee, first became prominent in municipal circles in 1988, when he formed the Anthony Public Finance Commission to study public finance issues. Members of the commission, who include Bill Clinton, the governor of Arkansas and a presidential hopeful, produced a report outlining those problems in 1989.
Latery that year, Congress passed legislation to give issuers of governmental bonds some relief from the arbitrage rebate requirement. The bill, which was patterned after a recommendation by Rep. Anthony's commission, allows governmental and 501(c)(3) issuers of construction bonds to avoid the rebate requirement if they spend their proceeds according to a two-year schedule.
In 1990, when Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan rostenkoski, D-III., called for suggestions to simplify the tax code, Rep. Anthony introduced legislation to ease the arbitrage rabate requirement and other bond resrictions. Several of Rep. Anthony's proposals found their way into Rep. Rostenkowski's own simplication bill, introduced last year.
Proposals to make bond law tax curbs more workable also were contained in the tax package passed by Congress and vetoed by President Bush earlier this month. Municipal lobbyists were particularly happy about the inclusion of a proposal Rep. Anthony had originally made in 1990 to ease limits on bank deductibility. Although the tax package died, lobbyists hope it will form the basis of another tax bill later this year.
Municipal lobbyists credit Rep. Anthony with making other members of Congress more aware of, and more willing to fix, legislative problems that create difficulties for municipal bond issuance and demand.
"The most important thing he has done is change the nature of the debate," said the lobbyist for localities. "He has put uppermost in people's minds bonds for public projects."
Losing Rep. Anthony "would be depressing. Depressing enough to make me find a new job," said another lobbyist. "It would mean starting from ground zero" to find another membr of Congress who would be as willing as Rep. Anthony to fight for issuers' concerns.
"I'd hate to wake up on May 27 to find out he's not [going to be] there," said a lobbyist for state concerns. "I don't think he's in any real trouble, but with the anti-incumbency mood, one can never tell."
Much of that anti-incumbency mood has centered on the House bank scandal, in which most members of Congress were found to have bounced checks at the bank over a three-year period.
Rep. Anthony said his records show he bounced 77 checks totaling $57,500. "For this I am embarrassed and truly sorry," Rep. Anthony said in a statement. He also noted that the House bank's records show his bounced checks total 109, and he has hired an independent accountant to determine what the proper number is.
"I never had any intention in using the bank in any special manner, nor do I think congressmen should be treated any differently than any person he or she represents," Rep. Anthony said in a statement acknowledging the bounced checks.
