three days on the hill | vermont times | apr. 27, 1994

8/11/2019 Three Days on the Hill | Vermont Times | Apr. 27, 1994

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Political Journal

T h r e e D a y s O n t h e H i l l...Shadowing Leahy, Sanders and Jeffords through the Nation's Halls of PowerByNat Winthrop

Tuesday, April 127 a.m. I pass through the staff entrance of the

Russell Senate Office building without beingasked for identification. The fourth floor hall-way is totally deserted, and no one answersLeahy's office doorbell. Leahy shows up at ex-

actly 7a.m, Saying he's always been a morningperson, he explains that his wife Marcelle startswork at 4:30 a.m, as a registered nurse in anarea hospital. "Which one?" Iask "That's a

Jclosely guarded secret," replies Leahy, explain-ing that none of her colleagues knows she ismarried to a U.S. senator, which isjust the way

she likes it. "8a.m. Leahy goes offto study French with a 16 _ N_mb

tutor, to better converse with Marcelle's mom, who priationsForeignOperationsSubcommitteestaffroom

recently moved in with them in Arlington. I'm intro- to meet its chiefstaffer, Tim Riesner. Riesner briefs me

on the committee's hearing that afternoon, featuringUndersecretary ofState Lynn Davis.

9:30a.m. Leahy dons his Judiciary Commit-tee hat and goes into his private conferenceroom to meet with a group of Vermont healthcareproviders headed by Carolyn Roberta, chairof the American Hospitals Association board of

trustees and president of Copley Hospital inMorrisville. Roberta and her colleagues shareconcerns that doctors and other health care

providers not be len out in the cold ifa singlehealth care alliance serves as the only providerin parts of rural states, such as Vermont.118.m. While Leahy meeta inprivate with

members of the Farm Credit Bank, Iget to knowLuke Albee, who recently took over for Ellen Lovell as

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duced to several staffers, and legislative directorTheresa Alberghini takes me over to Leahy's Appro-

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Leahy's chief of staff. Once a

busboy at Burlington's Ice House,Albee explains that most Senatecommittee work gets done dur-ingtheday, withmostimportsntD oo r business waiting until night-time.

11:30 a.m. Leahy does a livephone interview with Ed Ander-sonofWSYB, Rutland, who Leahy

calls "the most right wing broad-caster in Vermont." In the inter-view, Leahy endorses GeorgeMitchell for the Supreme Court,hedges on whether he'll be a can-didate to succeed Mitchell asmajority leader and says he op-

poses a constitutional amend-ment on flag desecration.Anderson cuts off a caller forquestioning Leahy's patriotism,saying he doesn't allow name-

calling and urging callers to bepolite.

12 noon Press secretary JoeJamele walks in, turnsonLeahy'stelevision to CNN and says thatSenator Mitchell is expected tomake a live announcement.

Leahy shakes his head as Mitchellsays he won't be a candidate forthe Supreme Court. Leahy says"George told Marcelle last nighthe didn't think he could do it."

12:30p.m.Leahy, Jamele andI walk to the Capitol steps tomeet with students visiting fromManchester, Arlington andWilliamstown schools, visitingWashington as part of Vermont'sStep Up program. Then the sena-tor runs off for lunch with theDemocratic Caucus that, unlikeVermont's, is closed to the me-dia. Jamele and I walk to.UnionStation for sushi.

2:30 p.m, The caucus, likemost meetings on the Hill, runs

late, so Tim Rieser has to briefLeahy on the sidewalk en routeto the Foreign Operations Sub-committee. Unlike his colleaguesJeffords and Sanders, who usu-ally use the serpentine maze of

underground tunnels to getaround, Leahy steps outdoorsevery chance he gets. As chair,Leahy greets Davis, theUndersecretary of State for In-ternational Security Affairs, thenreads a prepared statement, plug-ging his proposed ban on the ex-port of land mines. Leshy chidesDavis and the administration forbungling operations in Haiti andSomalia, advocating a fundamen-tslrestructuringofforeignaidfrom

military to economic aid. At onepoint he invokes his stock line,"I'mjustasmall-town lawyer fromVermont, but I just can't under-stand .... " in reference to a $30

million aid request for Morocco.3 p.m. Leahy has to interrupt

Davis' testimony tog o to the Sen-ate for the first Doo r vote of theday, on the California DesertProtection Act, which would cre-

ate three new national parks. The

bill passes the next day.4:46 p.m, Donning his farm-

ing hat, Leahy next goes into abriefing with Georgia InspectorGeneral George Wombley and hisinvestigator, who report on di-

saster relief fraud they've un-earthed. Of the 48 cases theylooked into, 31farmers had sub-mitted inaccurate information.Most of the 31 claimed weatherdamage to crops they never in-tended to harvest. Leahy strongly

recommends prosecutions wher-ever possible, saying "I want toget the attention of U.S. attor-neys around the country."

6 p.m. After another SenateD oo r vote, Leahy returns to his

office for an end of the day brief-ing with Rieser and Albee. As thediscussion on land mines begins,

Leahy turns on opera music,takes off his shoes and puts hisfeet up on his favorite ottoman.His goal is to line up roughly 46

co-sponsors before a key May 13public hearing, persuading mod-erate Democrats to sign on a billthat would ban export of all minesand production of those without

self-destruct and self-nsutraliz-ing devices. ''You can't stop it but

you can sure slow it up," says

Leahy.The music shifts from a Ma-

dame Buuerfly aria to the Grate-ful Desd, then back to opera.

Leahy interrupts to take a brief

call from Marcelle, speakingFrench to her.

In bidding me goodnight,Leahy remarks that I am only the

second Vermont reporter in 20years to take him up on his openinvitation to be his guest for the

day, the first being aBrattleboroReformer reporter in 1976.

Wednesday, April 139 a.m. Bernie Sanders arrives

at his office after most of hisstaffers. He declined my requestto meet him at his home, just two

blocks away. "Bernie values hisprivacy," a staffer explains. Mtera few minutes to get organized,Bernie (as everyone calls him)invites me into his office with hislegislative director DougBoucher. Boucher reminds Sand-ers that today's Doo r action cen-

ters on the Omnibus CrimeControl Act, which he is sched-

uled to make a two-minute Doo r speech on this afternoon. Thetwo discuss a single payer pressconference he'll be giving withJoe Kennedy tomorrow.

9:30a.ID.As Sanders and I racethrough the subterranean tunnelsto the Capitol to meet a group of

school kids from Fairlee, he shakeshanda with a couple of colleagues

He says that while he's on a fl l'S tname basis with maybe 200 ofh isfellow representatives, he's closeto 60 of them. I have trouble keep-ing up with Sanders, whose pacebecomes increasingly frenetic as

we have difficulty locating the stu-dents.

10 a.m, Sanders makes a briefstop at a Banking, Finance and

UrbanAffairsCommitteehearing

chaired by oneofhis mentors, Re~resentative Henry Gonzalez of

Texas. He confers with Represen.tative Joe Kennedy of Massachu-setts, who sits directly behind him,abouttomorrow'spressconference.

11 a.m, Back in his office,Sanders meets with Assistant

Surgeon General Dr. Audrey

Nora and two associates to dis-cuss children's health issues withlegislative aide Katie Clark. Sand-

ers fidgets while Nora talks aboutthe administration's HealthyStart program and the Family

Preservation Act. Before leaving,he praises them for their work.

12 noon A 12:30 rally spon-sored by the Child Welfare League

has been cancelled due to rain, so

Sanders switches gears and dis-appears into his office to work onhis Doo r speech on crime withBoucher. Facing the window, herehearses the speech, mouthingthe warda, using hand gestures.He stops now and then to "dictate

revised language to Boucher. M-


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VERMONTTIMES APRIL 27 . 1994--7

ter a while, Sanders is satisified."I think it's good. I think we havea winner," he concludes.

1:30 p.m, Sanders meets withCindy Fagan, Patricia Doyle andEric Hanson of Burlington'sBaird Center for Children andFamilies, who have come downfor the Child Welfare rally. Sand-

ers gives his schpiel about en-trenched interests impedingmeaningful change, urging thechild advocates not to get dis-couraged ..

Assuming the three are fellowsingle-payer boosters, he coun-sels, "Don't be disappointed withwhat happened in the Vermontlegislature. The House proposalwas very, very radical. We'veraised the level of the debate, andwe need your help to keep push-ing reform forward." He offers tohelp their cause by writing let-ters or "ifyou think you can useme, I'm in Burlington everyweek." Sanders bids them fare-well saying, "You're doing a won-derfuI job."

3 p.m, I follow Sanders over tothe Capitol to watch him makehis floor speech on crime. Thoughaddressing only a dozen or socolleagues, only a couple of sen-tencesintohisspeecb,Berniehitshis stride. "A society which ne-glects, which oppresses and whichdistains a large part ofits popula-tion, which leaves them hungry,impoverished, unemployed, un-educated, and utterly withouthope, will, through cause and ef-fect, become a society which isangry, which is violent, and whichis crime-ridden." The presidingofficer signals Sanders his time isup about halfway through his

speech; he cuts to the end. Sand-ers disappears after exiting the

House. I think I am beginning towear out my welcome.

5:30 p.m, After running linerrand, I return just in time tocatch the tail end of Sanders'meeting with Miss Teen USA,Charlotte Anne Lopez of Dorset,and her sgent Barbara Rubin, ofthe Miss Universe organization.Lopez is bright-eyed and charm-ing despite having pounded thesidewalks ail dsy and having metwith both Leahy and Jeffords.After hanging around foranotherhour and feeling very much like aspare wheel, I catch Sanders be-tween phone calls,thank him and

pack it in.

Thursday, April 147:30 a.m. I meet Senator

Jeffords at his modest but attrac-tive brick townhouse near theHill, and he invites me in. Hisdaughter Laura's terrier Calvin(asin Coolidge)isdeleriously gladto See me, and Jeffords has adifficult time restraining him.

8:15 a.m, Jeffords drives us inhisFord Taurusovertothe Wash-ington Vista Hotel, the notorioussite ofMayorMarion Barry's coke

bust severalyearsago.lfeelguiltyfor distracting the senator with

lots of questions, as he missesseveral turns beCorereaching t heparking garage. Jeffords is t hereto address the National SchoolBoards Association. He sits atthe head table with VermontersKaren Saudek and Ross Ander-son. In his speech, he touts the

just passed Education 2000 Actand his 1 Percent Solution plan,whereby the Educat ionDepartment's budget would in-crease 1 percent a year Cor 10

years. Given that education isJeffords' top priority in Congress,

this is a very friendly crowd.9:30a.m WearriveatJeffords'

office on the fifth floor of the

posh new Hart Senate officebuilding. His walls are decoratedwith photos of the senator withvarious presidents, with his wifeand two kids, as wellas ofhis latefather, a Verroont Supreme Court

justice, and his Tae Kwon Doblack belt certificate. Just beforeleaving the office for an appoint-ment, Jeffords is notified by his

press secret ary Eric Smulson thattwo UShelicopters have been shotdown over Iraq.

10 a.m. As the ranking minor-ity member of the Labor and

Human Resources EducationSubcommittee, Jeffords makes anopeningstatement,citingtheOld

North End's Wheeler communityschool, beCore hearing the testi-mony of four panelists on theModel Schools Program.

12 neon As we return to theoffice Smulson tells Jeffords thehelicopters were apparently vic-tims of friendly fire; because of

the crisis, a luncheon withUndersecretary of State TonyLake is cancelled. Jeffords then

holds his daily staff meeting withall of his nearly 20 D.C. stafferscrowded into his office. Severalreport on various issues, includ-ing health, crime, finance reform

and BST labelling. At least tworeCerences to conferring with

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Leahy's staff crop up. Smulsonsuggests drafting a letter to theWhite House on the helicopter

incident; Jeffords agrees.12:30 p.m, Next comes a more

in-depth briefing on health care

with issues staffer ElenaGoldstein and veteran legislative

director Mark Powell. As a mod-

erate and the only Republican to

publicly endorse the Clinton plan,

Jeffords is well positioned tobea

power broker on this issue. His

Labor and Human ResourcesCommittee is the key Senate fo-

rum for health care. Jeffords saysit's critical that hebe"well ahead

of the colleague curve" and very

close to the "expert curve" in

terms of his expertise on all fac-

ets of the debate. During the brief-ing, Jeffords chows down on a

lunch of popcorn, chocolate fro-

zen yogurt and iced tea.Lp.m, We hustle over to Sena-

tor Bob Dole's private office adja-cent to the Senate chamber for aluncheon honoring him, hosted

by the President's Commission

on Employment of People with

Disabilities. Jeffords sits at the

head table with Senator and Mrs.

Dole, and Senator GeorgeMitchell. Jeffords and Mitchell

give short speeches honoring

Dole, along with senators Orin

Hatch, Strom Thurmond, Donald

Inouye, Tom Harkin and others.

Today is the 25th anniversary ofa famous speech Dole gave on the

Senate floor making a political

issue of his disability, which was

in turn the 25th anniversary of

his war injury. Dole then gives

his own speech.In the middle of the next ad-

dress, Mrs. Dole's speech, thereis a general commotion in the

room. Photographers come in,

followed by secret service agents

and President Clinton, appear-ing slim and relaxed. The presi-

dent adds his own tribute, saying

he was very moved in going backover Dole's famous speech that

morning. "It was one of those

magic moments in politics," says

Clinton, "that reminds us all that

for all our differences there is a

common chord that unites uswhen we -are all at our'best. 11

2 p.m, "I'm one of[Clinton'sl

favorite Senators," gushesJeffords after leaving the Capi-

tol. "I agree with so many of hispolicies, it's embarrassing attimes." Jeffords' recent voting

record shows he has not forsaken

his maverick ways. Out of66 con-tested votes through March,

Jeffords voted with 40 percent or

-

less of Republicans fully half f

the time. He was the 10neRepu~_

lic:an or one of o~y two votin

,,:,th the DemocratIc majority o~

eight votes; he voted different!than Leahy only three tim yJeffords says he has a runni es.

joke with Oregon's liberal Sen~~

tor Mark Hatfield about the

"ra.ce for the worst" partY-lin~

voting record. Returning to his

office, Jeffords is more excited

than I about the President's Sur-prise appearance, repeatedly call-ing it "an Olympic moment."

On the way back to his officeJeffords acknowledges his inter:

est in rU~nin~for.VermoI).t gOY.ernor, saying, !think that Bernie

will try to slip in before me there- we'll see. " He says that ifhe is

re-elected this fall, his next term

will likely be his las~, depending

on the progress of his top priori-

ties of education, health care

income security (pensions SocW

Security) and world peac~.

5:30 Jeffords and I leave with

aide Trecia Bickford to make ap-

pearances at three Hill recep-tions. I leave Jeffords withMiddlebury trial lawyer Peter

Langrock at an American Bar

Association fete where Jeffords

expects to find sumptuous enoughhors d'oeuvres to serve as dinnerbefore going home.

three days on the hill | vermont times | apr. 27, 1994

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