Partisanship Tabled in Lunch for First Lady

By GEBE MARTINEZ

March 21, 1997 12 AM PT

WASHINGTON — For four nights, Janice Gallegly couldn’t sleep.

Her insomnia wasn’t about issues facing other political spouses, such as grand jury subpoenas or questionable campaign contributions. Heck, she probably didn’t even have this much anxiety during the last election campaign of her husband, Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley.

Instead, this very Republican wife was worried about how to stage a splendid luncheon in honor of her party’s Public Enemy No. 2: First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.

For Janice Gallegly, organizing a ballroom-sized event for the first lady is not about perpetuating the stereotype of a congressional spouse/hostess.

It is about continuing an honorable tradition in the spirit of bipartisanship--a political trait that Gallegly acknowledges is more often carried out by congressional spouses than by the politicians.

Usually, the role of congressional spouses is a thankless one.

Assigned to the background, they put on frozen smiles and hand out brochures at political rallies. They are supposed to quietly experience the highs and lows of biennial congressional campaigns.

The perks are few: speedy access through security checkpoints and into the members’ parking garages on Capitol Hill. Cocktail receptions are not parties, but boring job assignments.

Their own professional careers are sometimes uprooted, or at least altered, to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest with the partner’s political ambition.

And if the spouse is a woman--as most still are--she is probably worried about her own appearance, following the advice dispensed by the fashion police during freshman orientation: no flashy jewelry, handbags with chains, or colored hats.

Some are successful, like Rebecca Cox, a former White House lawyer and now an attorney for a major airline, who was well established in Washington social and political circles before marrying Orange County Republican Rep. Christopher Cox.

And some enter the judgmental world of Capitol Hill with controversy.

Stephen Brixey III, the husband of Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove), was recently ordered to pay $640 in fines, penalties and restitution for vandalizing two campaign signs of his wife’s opponent, former Rep. Robert K. Dornan.

The bride-to-be of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), Rhonda J. Carmony, will be tried next month in Orange County Superior Court on three felony charges for alleged election law violations.

Then there are those like Janice Gallegly, who has made “congressional spouse” her occupation.

Before her husband’s election to Congress, she was an escrow officer and he was a real estate broker. They lunched together every day. When her husband won his seat in 1986, Janice felt like a military spouse--suddenly forced to find new friends in a generally cold environment.

But her involvement in the Congressional Club changed her outlook.

“I found I had more in common with other congressional spouses than with my next-door neighbor of 20 years,” she said. “I truly see people as friends and not as Republicans or Democrats.”

(The club, formerly known as the Congressional Wives’ Club, was founded in 1908 to help establish nonpartisan friendships among the wives of the House and Senate members. The roster now has more than 700 members.)

And so Gallegly, i.e. congressional diplomat, set out to direct a Cecil B. DeMille-like production for the club’s first lady’s luncheon to be held in May. She chose “Hollywood”--what else?--as the theme.

She and about 50 volunteers are gathering corporate contributions to pay for the event, at a time when bitter partisan rivalry is questioning the collusion of money and politics.

Waverly fabrics is donating the tablecloth materials, the Wine Institute is supplying the wine, the Society of American Florists will provide flowers for table centerpieces, and movie studios are donating costumes and old film reels for decorating purposes. Sponsors will pay $1,500 a table, with the proceeds from the lunch going to a charity to be selected by the first lady.

Maj Hagman, wife of actor Larry Hagman, is contributing the painting that will be presented as a gift to Mrs. Clinton. And composer Burt Bacharach, who has won Oscars for film scores, will entertain the crowd. (He might want to skip “Wives and Lovers” and stick to “What the World Needs Now Is Love.”)

At this luncheon, Gallegly says, there will be no questions posed to the president’s wife about Whitewater, or Chinese influence in the White House, or other political controversies engulfing the White House and Capitol Hill.

“No, no, no, no,” she insists. “We work for nonpartisanship among spouses, and hopefully, it moves on to the members too.”

But so far, the message from home hasn’t reached the House.

And as Bacharach may sing that day, “A House Is Not a Home.”