Posted on 10/16/2004 10:03:09 PM PDT by neverdem
WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 - In the halls of the Capitol, Senator Charles E. Schumer is known as a master at getting attention for his pet causes and jumping on hot-button issues. But as a one-term member of the minority party, he has far less clout than some of his Republican colleagues in seeing major priorities become law.
Now, as he runs for re-election, his six years in the Senate are coming under scrutiny from a little-known opponent who argues that New York would be better served if it elected a moderate Republican who can better advance the state's causes should the Senate remain in Republican hands.
But a review of Mr. Schumer's first term reveals not an idle backbencher, but a wily pragmatist who has been adept at the inside game, making deals and trading favors with Republicans even while positioning himself as a voice of opposition to a host of Republican policies, chiefly judicial appointments.
He has lifted his profile with a style that both Republicans and Democrats say is quintessentially Schumer: identifying headline-grabbing issues, like restricting junk e-mail or providing greater access to low-cost generic drugs, and then championing those causes before others have noticed.
"It's a knack," said Norman Ornstein, a Congressional analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, a policy research group in Washington, referring to Mr. Schumer's political skills. "He's been a visible and active guy even though he is in the minority."
Mr. Schumer is expected to have little trouble being re-elected. He has about $21 million for his campaign, and polls show him with a double-digit lead as he runs against Assemblyman Howard Mills of Orange County, who has just $106,918 on hand.
In the view of those in the Mills campaign, Mr. Schumer's strengths as a politician are precisely what should give voters pause. They say drawing attention to his accomplishments is what the senator's term has been all about, and they portray him as a brazen self-promoter who frequently exaggerates his role in legislative accomplishments.
"He constantly takes the accomplishments of others and claims them as his own," said Caroline Quartararo, a spokeswoman for Mr. Mills.
In this campaign, for example, Mr. Schumer has cited as one of his accomplishments a new provision in the federal tax code that allows a $4,000 deduction for college tuition payments.
The Mills campaign notes that Mr. Schumer voted against a sweeping tax cut bill that included the deduction. But Schumer aides are quick to point out that the senator's vote was against the overall tax cut bill, not the tuition deduction itself.
More than that, the Mills campaign points out that the author of the tuition provision was actually former Senator Robert G. Torricelli, a New Jersey Democrat who lobbied for its enactment as a member of the powerful Senate Finance Committee.
Mr. Schumer's aides acknowledge the important role Mr. Torricelli played. But they say that Mr. Schumer championed the college deduction provision for years before it was finally enacted, and they note that Mr. Torricelli publicly thanked Mr. Schumer for his leadership on the issue.
Mr. Schumer arrived on Capitol Hill in 1980 as a member of the House of Representatives, where his work on prominent issues like gun control helped elevate his profile. In 1998, he ran a tireless Senate campaign in which he defeated Alfonse M. D'Amato, a three-term Republican incumbent.
In the Senate, Mr. Schumer has managed to stand out as a dogged champion of his state's most parochial interests, in a style reminiscent of Mr. D'Amato, who earned the nickname Senator Pothole because of the enormous attention he paid to even the smallest concerns of constituents.
Just this month, when Congress approved a major tax cut bill, Mr. Schumer, along with other members of the New York delegation, saw to it that the measure included $100 million in tax incentives to help build a mammoth mall in the Syracuse area.
To show off his record in Washington, Mr. Schumer's Senate Web site includes a map of New York with a message urging people to "click on your local area to see how Chuck is making a real difference for you."
The list of projects Mr. Schumer credits himself with finding support for is striking: $150,000 to refurbish the Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks in Tupper Lake; $68,000 to purchase an ambulance for the volunteer fire department in Hermon, in St. Lawrence County; $720,000 to build a center for disabled people in Schenectady at a site where a motel plagued by prostitutes once stood; $125,000 to help the Albany Institute of History and Art place its exhibits online; and on and on.
But at the same time, his aides say, Mr. Schumer has deliberately sought to play a bigger role in setting the national agenda, in the tradition of previous New York senators like Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Jacob K. Javits and Robert F. Kennedy.
He has vehemently opposed several of President Bush's choices for federal judgeships, blocking their nomination from coming to a vote on the Senate floor because he regards the nominees as ideologically extreme. Through his work on the Senate Judiciary Committee, he has tried to highlight what he and others say are the friendly ties between Mr. Bush and the Saudi royal family, arguing that the administration has dragged its feet in investigating the sponsorship of fanatical Muslim clerics by the Saudis. And Mr. Schumer was also one of the main organizers of a filibuster that derailed a far-reaching energy bill that was written by Republicans with little say from Democrats.
But one of the most defining moments of Mr. Schumer's first term came after the terrorist attacks in September 2001, when the senator played a pivotal role in securing billions of dollars in federal disaster aid for New York, negotiating for weeks behind the scenes with Republican leaders in Washington for the assistance.
At the time, some New York Democrats privately complained that Mr. Schumer was being too conciliatory in his dealings with Republicans, particularly after the president's budget director, Mitchell E. Daniels Jr., accused New Yorkers of engaging in "a money-grubbing game." But Mr. Schumer's aides countered that it made no sense to alienate people who controlled the purse strings in Washington.
Politically, Mr. Schumer is a liberal, and Democrats have been able to count on his support on core party issues like gun control, abortion rights, education and health care. But over the last six years he has at times been willing to ally himself with Republicans, angering some Democrats.
One example occurred a few months ago, when Republicans on the Hill tried to advance legislation that would restrict class-action lawsuits, in an effort to address the concerns of business leaders who complain that the legal system is being abused.
Democrats argued that the legislation, strongly backed by the Bush White House, would limit the rights of ordinary Americans to sue big corporations. Mr. Schumer was among a few Democrats who agreed to switch sides to support the bill in exchange for certain improvements in it.
In the end, the bill died, but some Democrats and watchdog groups were upset over Mr. Schumer's role during that debate.
"We were very disappointed in Senator Schumer's willingness to compromise one of the most effective tools to keep corporations accountable," said Richard Kirsch, executive director of Citizen Action of New York, a government watchdog organization that nonetheless endorsed Mr. Schumer for re-election.
But Hillary Rodham Clinton, the junior senator from New York, suggests that Mr. Schumer's willingness to find common ground with the other side is what has made him effective in the Senate.
"He's someone who wants to get things done," Mrs. Clinton said. "He's always looking for opportunities to bring people together and forge coalitions."
Even some Republicans agree. "Chuck is a partisan, but it's not personal with him," said Senator Jim Talent, a Republican from Missouri. "That's Senator Schumer's reputation. You can work with him."
In an interview on Friday, Mr. Schumer said that to get things done, he has tried to reach out to Republicans on issues.
"Even though I have been the point person on opposing the administration on some of their major initiatives, it doesn't interfere with the ability to get things done on a whole lot of issues," he said.
And when Mr. Schumer succeeds, the voters are likely to hear about it. Many New York politicians in both parties have become painfully aware of how tenaciously Mr. Schumer chases publicity and how deftly he manipulates reporters.
On one occasion, for example, New York's governor, George E. Pataki, planned a major announcement involving the federal government's decision to provide $4.5 billion in disaster relief money to build a transit center linking the subway and PATH systems around the former World Trade Center site.
But people close to Mr. Pataki, a Republican, later complained that the Schumer camp got the jump on them: making calls to reporters before the governor's announcement and alerting them of the federal government's decision in an apparent effort to claim some credit.
In response, Stu Loeser, a Schumer spokesman, said, "Chuck originally proposed this, worked hard to get it approved and believes there is plenty of credit to go around."
Mr. Schumer's opponent in the Senate race, Mr. Mills, has tried to make hay of the senator's appetite for publicity, saying the senator is driven by personal ambition, not a desire to get things done for constituents.
"He promises much more than he can deliver," said Ms. Quartararo, the spokeswoman for Mr. Mills. "Senator Schumer is so ineffective that he routinely tries to take credit for the work of others. It is so prevalent that lawmakers in Washington have coined a phrase for it. They call it being 'Schumed.' "
But the Schumer camp dismisses such criticism. Mr. Loeser said, "Senator Schumer's record of accomplishment speaks louder than any campaign name-calling."
Mills is not Schumer's only opponent. Schumer Ducking Election Debate with Challengers. Mills might come in third place. Dr. Marilyn O'Grady in running on the Conservative line.
FReepmail me if you want on or off my New York ping list.
Schmuck Chumer never saw a camera he didn't like. He is the Jewish Jesse Jackson in that regard.
Do you think that Hillary might prefer to be New York's SENIOR rather than junior senator? Chuckie sucks up a lot of press in NY.
LOL! Captures him to a T.
I suppose the "emerges" refers to the "deal-making." He's always been like a moth when it comes to the spotlight.
Who? Oh you mean Upchuck Schemer!
Chuch Schumer is one of Capitol Hill's leading camera hounds. It paid off--he'll win by a landslide.
I was going to post that it is well known that one of the
most dangerous things to do is to get between Chuckie Schumer
and a TV camera but your post renders it redundant.
As strange as it sounds, that would be a Godsend. I have witnessed Schumer in politics far longer than her highness. He is the most repulsive liberal in the whole Congress, IMHO.
Spouting something about the greedy slaughterhouses.
Aaron Zellman from JPFO would agree with you...
The most unsafe place in America is between Schmuck Schumer and a TV camera. A skillful politician is he.
And that other NY guy, Cuomo, always billed as a great orator, would put any cow with half a brain to sleep.
One speech...
have developed a new kind of abrasive New York accent ... sort of a butch hairdresser kind of thing...
Schumer and Bloomberg, definitely. Can't quite remember D'Amato's accent.
I still don't believe the New York Post endorsed Schumer. He needs to be held to account for blocking judicial nominations and his liberal voting record on non-security issues. That being said, Howard Mills is an unappealing RINO. I'll be voting for the conservative party candidate, Dr. O'Grady. I hope she comes in second to show these RINOs that we're sick and tired of voting for them.
His whiny, prissy voice is unbearable. Only a state like New York would elect a nudnik like Schumer.
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