Posted on 01/17/2002 9:56:03 AM PST by laureldrive
Ethical knots tie up GOP
BY ROBERT NOVAK SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
Marc Racicot, the former governor of Montana, and his White House sponsors have solved more than half of their ethical problem. They belatedly abandoned the absurd idea of the Republican Party's national chairman simultaneously functioning as a registered federal lobbyist. But Racicot intends to stay on the lobbying firm's payroll while serving as a dollar-a-year ''volunteer'' for the Republican National Committee.
It is difficult to find any Republican outside the White House who endorses this arrangement. ''Would you let a volunteer run your office?'' asked a prominent Republican. State party chairmen want presidential political operative Karl Rove to re-examine a situation that they say never would be permitted in their own states.
Racicot, whose long career of public service in Montana was unblemished, is not at fault for appearing blind to ethics. During an interview in the national chairman's Capitol Hill office that he soon will occupy, he seemed a little bewildered. He deserved more guidance from President Bush's staff than a cavalier attitude toward conflicts of interest.
When asked by the president to be national chairman, Racicot told me, he accepted with the caveat that he would fulfill a two-year contract as a salaried lawyer-lobbyist for the Houston-based firm of Bracewell & Patterson. He currently is registered to lobby for six clients, including the bankrupt Enron Corp. White House sources had said he would register for new clients that both Racicot and the White House expected him to take on.
By last week, it was clear this would not stand. A White House meeting Monday determined that Racicot must forgo lobbying--and he did so Wednesday. ''I've gone through a re-examination,'' Racicot told me. ''Perhaps in my lack of exposure and with the speed in which we moved, I didn't dissect this as far as I should have.'' Once elected by the RNC this weekend in Austin, he said, he'll void his lobbyist registrations.
But what, then, will he do for Bracewell & Patterson? That question is being asked by Terence McAuliffe, the ethically challenged Democratic national chairman. RNC spokeswoman Mindy Tucker has been quoted as saying Racicot might give ''strategic advice,'' but Racicot told me ''there are some things which I think I can continue to do--for instance, contracts between people, or I have helped people in public hearings in Montana.''
Racicot said nobody has raised objections to his serving as a volunteer, though the RNC's rules a generation ago were changed to require a full-time, paid chairman. However, three former national chairmen and several state chairmen privately expressed astonishment over Racicot's dollar-a-year arrangement.
An added complication is Racicot's third hat: his current assignment as the president's ''special envoy'' to resolve the long-standing U.S.-Canadian dispute over timber imports. Canadian interests grumble that Racicot as Republican chairman would solicit money from grateful American timber companies after reaching a settlement. ''To be honest with you,'' said Racicot, ''I had not thought about that.'' The ethical escape route for Racicot would be to devote himself exclusively to his party duties. That would mean giving up his Bracewell & Patterson salary for his year or more at the RNC. Its amount is ''a matter of individual privacy,'' he told me, but Washington lobbyists guess he is getting closer to $700,000 a year than $1 million.
As governor, Racicot listed his number in the Helena telephone book and drove himself to work. He and his wife now live in a suburban Virginia apartment, and he takes the subway to work in Washington. He indicated to me that he rejected Bush's pleas to run for the Senate this year, not because of money but because he lacked ''the fire in my belly'' for a seven-year commitment.
Could Racicot make do for a year or two at the RNC chairman's $150,000 salary? ''It's more than I ever made, about 50 percent more,'' he replied. ''None of this has anything to do with compensation.''
That points the way for the GOP to gain an attractive new advocate, freed of remaining ethical entanglements. It's up to the White House, and prominent Republicans hope the president and his advisers will appreciate this before the RNC meets in Austin.
1) as a lobbyist - or a partner with a lobbying law firm, he can't afford to anger congressmen, or his lobbying clients suffer. Yet a chairman of the RNC has to put the party first when make decisions about where to spend party money. Putting the party first might anger individual congressmen who want money spent in their pet races - even if it's not in the party's larger interest. SO RACICOT HAS A CONFLICT - does he serve the party's interests first - or those of the clients of his lobbying firm?
2) it would be a a sure pickup for the GOP is Racicot ran against Baucus for Senate; Daschle would have to change his underwear if he heard Racicot were running. But Racicot tells Novak he's not running - and it's not because of money, it's because he "doesn't have fire in the belly." In other words, he doesn't have "fire in the belly" about taking back the Senate. THAT MAKES HIM DIFFERENT FrOM MOST FREEPERS - AND MAKES HIM UNQUALIFIED TO HEAD THE GOP. The CHAIRMAN SHOULD HAVE ":FIRE IN THE BELLY" ABOUT DUMPING DASCHLE!!! Racicot doesn't.
Nope ... but we'd let little ole Liddy Dole "revamp the entire US Blood System" as one.
Perhaps, in her case particularly, it has something to do with criminal culpability. An added protection for the State's actors.
Good grief. Any Pubbie who took it upon themselves to "take back the Senate" probably risks a bullet in the belly.
The Democratic Senate is KEY to Bush's having carte blanche (and the consent, nay the DEMAND, of the GOP faithful) to take a page from Clinton and make all the recess appointments he wishes.
Including thugs like Magaw
Where there's a will (and some concerted wooing of the homosexual lobby), there's a way.
SO YOU WANT DASCHLE TO CONTINUE AS SENATE LEADER? SORRY, GOTTA PART WITH YOU THERE, PAL
Futerhmore, he will not lobby while he is the RNC Chairman.
If Marc Raciot should go because of his connection with Enron, then my Freind the Bush ADM should resign....
You need a "crisis", comrade, to compel your just use of "whatever means necessary" ... including the complete slate of Clintonesque political maneuvers.
Plus, this way anything pro-life's off the table for sure since our Pubbies will see too it the "skin of their teeth" Dem majority sends all bills "veto-proof" for Bush's signature.
I just LOVED this line!
Bush made a campaign promise to the West Virginia coal region to promote new cleaner burning coal technology. This is the antithesis of helping Enron. Enron may have contributed money to Bush and other Republicans, but there was no quid pro quo, so what's the problem?
no man can serve two masters
Somebody answer my question: When there's a conflict between the needs of his lobbying firm and the best interest of the GOP, which way is he going to go?
Why should Racicot be in the job when such conflicts are sure to arise?
DON'T JUST SCOFF AT NOVAK, ANSWER THIS VERY REAL QUESTION!
It is a mystery to me why President Bush keeps bringing Racicot to the foreground of the Republican establishment.
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