McHenry Explains Shift From Rabble-Rouser to Policymaker | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: The author of this post is Barry Smith, who is an associate editor for the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.

Editor's note: Rep. McHenry visited Carolina Journal's office in Raleigh before House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, announced he would resign from Congress at the end of October.

Chief deputy GOP House whip says bridge-building is important

    RALEIGH     Republican U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry, who serves the 10th Congressional District, said the single term he served in the state House more than a decade ago - along with his first term in Washington - taught him what to do, and what not to do.

    McHenry, who now resides in Hickory, has risen through the ranks in his six terms in the U.S. House to become the chief deputy Republican whip.

    "I learned respect for the power of the speakership," McHenry said about his one term in the N.C. House during a recent visit to Raleigh. "I learned the power of knowing the rules."

    McHenry was in the state House during the 2003-04 session, when that body was divided evenly, with 60 Democrats and 60 Republicans. During that session, the House had two speakers, who presided over the chamber on alternating days. Jim Black was the Democratic speaker. Richard Morgan was the Republican speaker.

    McHenry said he now believes that Republicans should support the caucus nominee in procedural matters. Morgan wasn't the GOP caucus nominee for House speakership. And McHenry soon found himself in Morgan's doghouse.

    "I was a rabble-rouser in the state House to a certain degree," McHenry acknowledged.

    Causing trouble had consequences for McHenry, as Morgan cut off the money paying the salaries of McHenry's legislative assistant - and the assistants of other GOP members - between legislative sessions.

    He said he was going down a similar road during his first term in Congress.

    "I went to the U.S. House and was a hell-raiser," McHenry said. "I mean I was someone who wanted to shake things up quickly. And I realized that in order to affect outcomes, I had to take a different tact."

    McHenry continued, "It wasn't simply about throwing hand grenades." He said he wanted to affect policy and use better tactics and strategy.

    "My concerted effort was to be in the room where the decisions are made, which is different than on TV shows all the time or spending a lot of time in the press," McHenry said. "That was when I made a significant change."

    McHenry said that he learned from a battle during the 2007-08 session, while fighting against then-Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi, he released he was not the most effective spokesman for Republicans in Washington.

    "There are people far better in being on TV," McHenry said, specifically mentioning South Carolina Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy. He said he also realized during a legislative battle on a spending issue that he needed to adopt different tactics to get people from his own party on board.

    McHenry said he also learned that it was important to spend time developing close relationships with fellow members of Congress. "If you don't have meaningful and deep relationships when you get into a fight, you're going to be left behind," McHenry said. "They're not going to come back for you."

    McHenry said that decisions in the House are not influenced by what was being said on television. "They're influenced by the dozen - half-dozen - people that were in a room making a decision in a strategic play call," McHenry said.

    In terms of a legislator's time, McHenry said, "You can either work on crafting policy or preparing for a TV show. If you have to spend two hours for a five minute hit on TV - or an hour - it's not effective allocation of time."

    He said that since 2007, he's spent time on financial services policy so that he could become an expert on that topic. For instance, he's become one of the main advocates in Congress of legislation easing rules limiting the use of crowdfunding to raise private capital.