Posted on 05/13/2005 5:17:59 PM PDT by Pikamax
Voinovich sticks to his conscience -- White House shouldn't have been surprised at opposition
By GEORGE E. CONDON Jr., Copley Washington Bureau Chief
WASHINGTON – Sen. George Voinovich’s decision to oppose John Bolton came as a great shock to the White House. But it could not have surprised anyone who has watched the Republican senator’s long career in public office in Ohio.
As a county auditor and commissioner, Cleveland mayor, Ohio governor and now as senator, Voinovich has always insisted on civility and decent treatment of public employees, a trait he found woefully lacking in President Bush’s nominee to be ambassador to the United Nations.
And despite threats and hostile advertising from conservative groups out to punish him for his apostasy, it is also not surprising that Voinovich did not buckle under what became a withering three-week assault from Bolton’s supporters.
“Because he is so principled, he is extremely tough,” said Ted Hollingsworth, a longtime Voinovich staffer who recently left as his chief of staff. “As long as he really believes in his heart that he is doing the right thing for the right reasons he absolutely will never be intimidated. People who think they can intimidate him are fooling themselves.”
For Voinovich, the decision to oppose a president of his own party was painful.
But he said simply, “My conscience got to me.”
And once he was convinced that Bolton is diplomatically ill-suited for the U.N. post, he did not mince words in stating his view. The result was a scathing critique of the nomination and a pledge to “do everything I can” to defeat Bolton in the full Senate.
When it was over, he was near tears, he said later. And, he confessed to reporters, “I’m tired.”
The Ohio senator’s emergence as the only Republican on the Foreign Affairs committee to speak against Bolton came after what veteran congressional analyst Norman Ornstein called an inept White House lobbying effort and a “ham-handed” campaign by conservative groups to force Voinovich to toe the party line.
“They are so used to Republicans falling in line behind them that they only look at the squeaky wheels, and Voinovich said nothing,” said Ornstein. “The White House just made an assumption, a foolish assumption” that he would support Bolton.
Then when Voinovich signaled his unhappiness with tales of Bolton’s mistreatment of subordinates, the conservative attacks began. “Go to hell, Voinovich,” said one blogger on freerepublic.com, a leading conservative Internet blog. Another blogger dismissed Voinovich as “a gun-grabbing, tax raising RINO” – Republican In Name Only.
A group called “Move America Forward” spent tens of thousands of dollars to air a radio ad in Ohio in which actors state, “Shame on Sen. Voinovich” and calling him “a traitor to the Republican Party.”
In a conference call with reporters late Thursday, Voinovich said he ignored the attacks. “If they don’t like it, that’s tough,” he said, noting, “I’ve been around Ohio for a long time. People know who I am. If they want to beat me up, they can beat me up.”
Indeed, Voinovich has been on the ballot 15 times since 1966, losing only once. He won his second term as governor with a record 72 percent of the vote and was re-elected to the Senate last year with 64 percent. He is the latest in a long line of centrist-to-conservative Republicans who have fared well in Ohio.
But even as he tries to engineer a major defeat for the president he is trying to maintain good ties with Bush. “I respect the president. I think ... he’s a tremendous human being,” the senator said in a conference call with reporters. “He realizes that Voinovich is Voinovich,” he said with a laugh.
“He knows that I don’t have axes to grind. I’m not a hateful person. I’m not somebody who is an ideologue. I just try to do what I think is right and all common sense ... He knows we’re straight shooters and good people.”
But what the White House had failed to grasp is how passionate Voinovich is about public officials treating their employees with respect and decency. Interviews with three longtime and high-ranking Voinovich staffers made clear that the Ohioan always demanded that.
So he was personally repulsed at what he saw in Bolton.
“That’s a big deal,” said Voinovich. “I’ve been involved in trying to improve the environment for the people who get the work done around here for some time now. It’s been a cause celebre in terms of my career here in the Senate and one I feel very proud of.”
He felt certain that many in the State Department said “hooray” when he stood up for them against Bolton. “I’m pleased that we were able to get the message out to the thousands of people who work in the State Department that somebody cares about them,” he said, adding he was trying to send a signal “that if you behave the way Mr. Bolton behaves that there comes a day when you will have to stand up and be accountable.”
Active in European and NATO groups and a frequent overseas traveler, Voinovich also believes that Bolton’s appointment would set back the president’s announced plans to improve on “public diplomacy” and do better on persuading the rest of the world to support American efforts on a broad front, including the war against terrorism.
“Right now, we’re Uncle Sugar. It’s our men and women who are dying over there for the most part. It’s our country that is paying enormous sums of money for this,” he said. “We’ve got to convince the rest of the world that, by golly, they’ve got to be with us and on board with us.”
He's a lousy stinking hot tempered Serb. I know them, I have had to (attempt to) work with them. Explodes on a moment's notice. Murderous to those around them (ask the Bosnians). Get the S@#$ kicked out of them when confronted (ask the Slovenes).
Worthless. Send him back to Banya Luka.
Voinovich is a CROOK.
Voinovich approved a $60,000 illegal payment from his 1994 gubernatorial campaign fund to the V Group, an architectural and construction company headed by his brother, Paul Voinovich.
In a sworn deposition, Vincent Panichi, the governor's 1994 campaign treasurer, told investigators that he was present at a meeting when the governor authorized an allegedly illegal reimbursement to his brother's company and former Columbus lobbyist Anthony Fabiano for Waste Technologies Industries (WTI) for hiring labor leader Ray Gallagher, a Voinovich partisan. Allegedly, the money was to be laundered through a third party, the political firm of Mamais & Associates.
On May 7, 1997, FBI and IRS agents raided Fabiano's Columbus office and seized his files and financial records as part of a secret grand jury investigation in Hamilton County.
Sorry. It's Sonovavich. That's confirmed.
"somethin ain't right"
You got that right.
Do the Rats have Voinovich's FBI file?
If he sold out to the Rats no wonder he's tired.
Voino just was re-elected in 2004...he won't be running again. Guaranteed. That's why he's being so irreverant.
He's done, so the threats to not support him or pledge money to the GOP in Ohio, etc are all meaningless.
I wish more conservatives would act as if this was their last term.
I think a number of us may be praised for that response in different variations. LOL
This piece is nothing but propaganda. I seem to recall this conscientious Senator that prides himself on treating others with civility didn't follow through himself. I see others have already noted at least one instance.
Too bad he'd rather make friends in the press then hold child rapists and pimps accountable.
You must have forgotten what RINOs are. They are Democrats who have to run as Republicans because the Democrat spot is already taken or they are unable to get the nod from their own Democrat party because it chooses to endorse another Democrat, so they leave and become RINOs.
Remember, Voinovich rhymes with Son of a _____.
That is what I have been thinking since that meeting last month when he waited until the meeting was almost over, and Lugar was getting ready to have them vote, before he ever said a word....
This guy was a mayor and a governor, now a senator...unfortunately, what I am beginning to learn is the longer a person is in politics, especially if they are always succesful, there has to be a reason....
If they are so quick to run to a judge's FBI file, I bet they run to each others, plus each other's families files, every chance they get...
Voinivich is even talking about LOBBYING against him with the other Republicans...dang, he doesn't have to vote for the guy, but to give a 30 minute torturous dissection of Bolton's every misstep in his whole career, (plus some false ones), and then say he is gonna lobby to keep him from a job...after Bolton has been confirmed by the senate 4 times before....
Somethin' just ain't right!!!!
so basically the times only reports on FR when they want to show us in a negative light.
There were some very thought out responses to vonovich yet they went for the emotional ones.
They even called FR a blog. FR is a forum, the MSM's ignorance knows no limits of ignorance.
well it isnt that the MSM is ignorant of what FR is. They know what it is, but are banking on their readers NOT knowing what it is and also that their readers would have a basic understanding of what a blog is....
they are mischaracterizing FR for their benefit, nothing more....
"What Voinovich did was stupid. He should have his head chopped off and handed to him on a platter."
Rinos and their MSM toadies are the world's most notorious hypocrites.
John Podhoretz said that of all the Republican officials in the country, "Voinovich was by the far the worst, most unpleasant, most difficult and most whiny. He was then the governor of Ohio, and he would send Bush 41 endless letters moaning about how he wasn't getting enough attention, Ohio wasn't getting enough, blah blah blah."
The State Department has been nothing but a litter of socialists, communists, and tax-sucking parasites forever. And Powell did nothing to flush those useless turds down the toilet. I sure hope Rice can make a little headway in that direction, and fast. The stench is horrific.
It is telling that Voinovich cares at all about that disgusting place and the scum that works there. Nobody with any decency or integrity gives the slightest rat's behind about it. So what's that say for Voinovich?
He is not going to run again but may be taken off a committee or two.
So true. The live thread on yesterday's committee meeting was over 1500 posts long. So what do they choose to cite? And for the last time, when are those dipsh*ts in the MSM gonna learn the difference between a forum and a blog?
Don't you have to have a brain to have a conscience?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.