Election 2012: Gowdy says he's always a prosecutor, even while in Congress
Published: Sunday, October 28, 2012 at 3:15 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, October 29, 2012 at 12:00 a.m.
Trey Gowdy might have left the courtroom for Congress nearly two years ago, but the first-term congressman is still a prosecutor at heart.
Gowdy, the 48-year-old freshman Republican who represents most of Spartanburg and Greenville counties in South Carolina's 4th Congressional District, is running for re-election this year as the rising star whose penchant for prosecutorial questioning has landed him on various national news outlets numerous times.
He played a central role in grilling U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on the Fast and Furious gun-tracking operation that resulted in the death of a federal border patrol agent, and he's acted as a fiery interrogator in committee hearings.
Gowdy says his Republican colleagues invite him to hearings because of his background as a successful prosecutor.
“They're not asking me to come because of my charm or rakish wit. They want me to go because I have a background as a prosecutor, and I can ask questions,” he said.
While his oversight role during the Obama administration has garnered him support among conservatives who relish seeing Gowdy blast representatives of the Democratic administration, Gowdy said the question he hears most often is about the heightened levels of partisanship in Congress.
People ask: Why can't Congress seem to work together to get things done?
“When people say ‘I wished you worked more together,' where would you like me to compromise?” he said. “I'm just saying this is what I believe. Tell me which one of these beliefs you want me to capitulate on or surrender to reach this elusive harmony, and then guarantee me that if I do that, then harmony will be reached.”
The easy story, he said, is that Congress is just plain dysfunctional, can't or won't get anything done and hence has the lowest approval rating in the history of Congress.
But Democrats control the Senate, and Republicans hold the House, which complicates matters. For instance, Gowdy gave an impassioned speech earlier this year in favor of reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, a bill the merits of which he had seen personally as the former 7th Circuit solicitor in Spartanburg.
But some Senate Republicans joined Senate Democrats in adding provisions to the bill for women who are Native American, gay or transgender, or who do not have a legal immigration status. The House voted not to include these provisions and passed a different bill.
Both bodies need to come to some sort of agreement about the differences, but the bill has been stuck in limbo for the better part of this year.
Gowdy is one of the House members appointed to a committee to reach a deal, but he said the Democratic-controlled Senate won't agree to form a committee.
“So, objectively, where is the impasse?” he said. “It's just easier to say y'all are dysfunctional.”
His Democratic opponent, Deb Morrow, has said Gowdy is part of the partisan gridlock in Congress and hasn't offered representation for everybody in the congressional district.
Gowdy, however, said that's just a false argument.
“This district, the Republican has won since Liz Patterson (in 1992),” he said. “I assume that reflects the political ideology of the district, so what sense does it make to be elected as a Republican and then go spend all your time trying to figure out how to keep people who didn't vote for you happy?”
The people who did vote for Gowdy helped him bounce out longtime Congressman Bob Inglis in the Republican primary election in 2010.
Inglis, a man Bill Clinton described as “a guy that had a 100 percent conservative rating” in a recent interview with the magazine Esquire, had largely lost support as the Republican Party turned to the right in 2010 and elected a fresh crop of representatives, including Gowdy and three other new GOP congressmen: Tim Scott, Jeff Duncan and Mick Mulvaney.
Gowdy, a native of Spartanburg, won by a wide margin against Democratic opponent, Paul Corden, in the deeply Republican district in the general election, and he has since tried to implement his limited government, constitutional conservative ideas in Washington.
Rather than trying to please everybody, he said he views his job as congressman as having three major parts: government oversight, advocating for the district and policy making.
He said part of that advocacy means acting in a manner that moves the district forward.
“Are you fact centered? Are you civil? Are you persuasive? Do other people care what your opinion is? Does the leadership ask you to be the one to speak on the floor of the House because they have confidence in your skills?” he said.
It was Rep. Darrell Issa, a California Republican who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, who pushed Gowdy to be the lead on Fast and Furious.
Following that lead role, Gowdy said he has already been asked about committee appointments if Republicans still control the House after the election.
In the run-up to the election, he has a campaign war chest of $266,000 to spend.
He also has been making the rounds with businesses, community groups, and students in the 4th district as he campaigns for re-election to Congress, where he said he wants to continue to be the prosecutor clothed as congressman.
“I hope that people will say whenever I am done that he did his homework, he asked good questions, and he got it done in five minutes, and my response is that's what prosecutors do,” he said.
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