European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 9, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18 the stars and stripes june daily Magazine tip one ills last Hurrah by Tom Raum associated press its his last and Thomas Oneill is having the time of his the 72yearold House speaker is in no Rush to relinquish his reins As the nations top elected Democrat or to slide into an Early nor is he sitting Back waiting to be named ambassador to a goal Hes pretty much abandoned As a flight of Given current political in who announced in mid 1984 that this would be his last two year has never been according to Christo Pher his chief spokesman and pub in terms of his Hes All Over the Matthews after bounding Back from a Winter Case of postelection Oneill has maintained a High profile in recent weeks demo cratic votes against president reagans Call for Aid to the nicaraguan contras and the my leading a congressional delegation to resuming daily a rescission news conferences and delivering the democratic response to the presidents saturday radio Mes sages More despite one ills recent flurry of Active Veteran House democrats observe that Power is slowly but unmistakably pass ing from Oneill to majority Leader Jim the heir apparent for the and the new Breed of younger democratic leaders who will Rule the chamber through the rest of the in tacit acknowledgement of this Oneill already has assigned to Wright Many leadership duties including negotiating with republicans on committee memberships and other who has claimed commitments in his race to succeed Oneill from roughly three quarters of All House democrats who intend to seek treads a careful path giving Oneill a wide berth while steadily working behind the scenes on his own Agenda for 1987 and building his own leadership tip Oneill is still the Wright said in an in the majority in not a pretender to his he Doest have to hire a food taster and never the relationship Between a Noppol Ogies new Deal and the More conservative Wright is aides to both men once they barely spoke to each now they count each other As close in Oneill helped line up support for Wright in his bid for the Hes Bright and Able and and probably the finest orator in the con Oneill says of we get along Beautiful but sooner or will have to move out colleagues tip is transitioning there is quite a bit of move 1 dont think the speaker has been in a position to Lead the democratic party for some but Hes still the and Wright is going to have to test his own wings some time says Charles a conservative who last fall toyed with the idea of challenging Oneill for but then abandoned the at a recent democratic issues conference in West Oneill was conspicuously absent leaving the leadership of the conference to More activist democrats like Richard chairman of the House democratic caucus and Tony chairman of democratic congressional Campaign it want his kind of it was for the new Breed talking about the new Guys love those the speaker wants to know whats the Bill coming up and wants to know whats the Bottom said a close Oneill associate who spoke Only on the a photo tip Oneill is making the most out of his Sunset condition that he not be a hideaway office once used by Oneill for napping and watching television has been turned into a transition office with aides sorting through years of laying them out on tables for cataloguing and speaker since 1977 and Leader of the demo cratic party through some of its darkest says Hes not ready to throw in the theres no time while in the speaker that i am going to be a Lam Duck Oneill no time am 1 going to let the Power out of the grasp of my hands As the elected Leader of my about his relationship with Wright there Are some added functions that Hes is it by design id its by Oneill says he and both remain on Friendly the president and i Are Hes a great fellow to sit Down and have lunch Hes easy to talk but philosophically and Polit were not in Oneill a year ago said that he dreamed of some Day being designated ambassador to Ireland and hoped that Reagan might consider him for such an and now Ive Given that Oneill when you your horse and he runs and the party in Power is the party of r i  ask for and i would not Pate nor accept a gratuity from the White the son of a water system supervisor and grandson of an Irish bricklayer from county was born in on the family nickname tip recalled a 19th Century baseball player adept at tipping fouls until exasperated pitchers walked after in the Massachusetts Oneill came to the House in winning the seat that fellow Boston Democrat John Kennedy vacated to go to the Oneill plans to write a Book and to teach government at Boston College after he he has been avoiding formal he Speaks in Public Only on rare Sel Dom does television interview he sometimes says things that his aides later have to or for when Oneill recently referred to Reagan Asah old a kindly old press Secretary Matthews called Var ious news agencies stressing that the speak ers remarks were meant As a Good natured gibe at Reagan two years the speakers senior and not an attempt to Call attention to the presidents naturally gregarious and full of Good Sto the poke playing Oneill remains the Model of the backroom Boston Irish republicans have sought during election campaigns to characterize Oneill As the epitome of the big taxing Democrat a depiction Oneill didst help to dispel when referring to himself several years ago at a news conference As one of the big spenders of All some members of his own party have suggested that Oneill is out of touch with the such charges have receded with on Eills announcement that he would not seek while the charges have one ills presence has in he led a bipartisan delegation of House members to the soviet Union along with three of his paid the first official Call on new soviet Leader Mikhail after a session that lasted nearly four Oneill called the soviet Leader pro Vocative but with a sense of Charm Artic energetic and with a desire to talk and negotiate with the Oneill lost the first major congressional Battle of the year to Reagan the my missile but Only by six a closer margin than Many observers had and after intense lobbying by the White Oneill worked mostly behind the scenes in rallying democratic opposition to the he did not speak of the Issue on the House he said he would be glad to speak if he thought anything he said might change his judgment was that he could be More effective by talking privately with Wright Oneill has led often unruly democratic majorities with a Strong despite embarrassing de feats in 1981 and when reagans budget and tax cuts swept through both houses of but his grip on internal democratic politics May be slipping As the end of his tenure earlier this the democratic caucus enacted number of measures designed to the authority of the speaker including voting to make the Job of House democratic whip an elective democrats also rejected one ills recommendation and refused to reappoint 80yearold Melvin d As chairman of the House armed services commit sources said one ills decision to stand by Price until the end made it hard for the next inline Charles to Muster support for the if Oneill is he is Loyal to his by the time Oneill decided to support it was too Les a onetime harsh critic of the speaker and a relatively Junior member of the had won the and Bennett an old Oneill ally was left theres Only one thing a Man has in politics and that is his Oneill said in another context but equally All people dont read politics As i but that one of the basics you keep your