Posted on 06/21/2005 9:05:01 AM PDT by CDB
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and his aides have denied Rep. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) assertion to home-state conservative leaders that he and Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) acted as emissaries for Frist in negotiations among 14 Republican and Democratic centrists that resulted in a compromise last month on judicial filibusters.
Dr. Oran Smith, president of the Palmetto Family Council based in Columbia, S.C., said, “Graham has been meeting with groups of conservative opinion leaders to explain his actions and to comfort conservative leaders by assuring them he was sent by the Republican leadership to broker a deal.”
As a result of Graham’s assurances, conservatives’ anger over Graham’s role in the controversial deal has slackened, Smith said.
“There’s a mixture of residual anger and ‘let’s wait and see’ because he said he was sent as an envoy and dispatched by the leadership, he and DeWine,” Smith added.
Joe Mack, the director of public policy for the South Carolina Baptist Convention, who met with Graham and discussed his role in the brokering the deal, confirmed that Graham told him “words to that effect that he was assisting the leadership.”
But when asked whether he had dispatched Graham and DeWine as emissaries, Frist replied firmly “No. No.”
Amid a conservative backlash to the deal, particularly against DeWine in Ohio and Graham in South Carolina, Frist aides have told conservative leaders that they did not encourage the two lawmakers to forge a deal to avoid a floor vote on shielding judicial nominees from filibuster.
Jeff Mazzella, executive director of the Center for Individual Freedom, said, “Frist’s staff and other have assured us that they were not behind that deal and we are satisfied that they are committed to moving forward with up-or-down votes on all of the president’s nominees.”
Sean Rushton, executive director of the Committee for Justice, said, “I’ve heard it from one of Frist’s liaison people that it’s not true.”
Graham did not answer yes or no when asked by The Hill if he was an emissary for Frist during the negotiations. Instead, he described a nuanced role.
“Both leadership teams were very well aware of what was going on,” he said, referring to the Republican and Democratic leaders.
He added that “everyone knew what was going on” and that some lawmakers liked it and some didn’t.
Both Graham and DeWine have been the targets of intense conservative anger since they appeared alongside five other Republican senators and seven Democrats last month to announce a deal they struck on judicial nominees who Democrats had blocked.
The deal was announced the evening before Frist had planned to trigger the so-called “nuclear option” to strip senators of the power to filibuster judicial nominees. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the majority whip, had announced a few weeks before that Frist had enough Republican votes to execute the tactic.
“I talked to McConnell and Frist during the negotiations,” Graham said. “I think Senator Frist’s primary goal was to change the rules and, barring that, felt it was better to live and fight another day.”
Conservative leaders in South Carolina responded angrily. Mack, with the Southern Baptist Convention, said “a number of our have been concerned about that role and were looking for a vote to break a filibuster.”
Thomas Ravenel, a wealthy developer who self-financed much of his race against Sen. Jim DeMint (R) in a GOP Senate primary last year, announced shortly afterward that he would consider challenging Graham in 2008.
In Ohio, conservatives responded with similar ire, saying that DeWine’s role in the filibuster negotiations was the latest in a series of actions and positions he has taken at odds with them.
Conservatives said they would retaliate by working against Pat DeWine, the senator’s son, who ran earlier this month for the seat vacated by retiring Rep. Rob Portman (R-Ohio). Despite having the highest name recognition in the race and having outraised his opponents significantly, the young DeWine finished a distant fourth in the race.
“His showing was extremely poor,” said Dr. John Wilke, head of the Life Issues Institute, an anti-abortion group based in Cincinnati. “A showing that bad after that good a start has reasons. Some people are saying that Mike’s business of being in the ‘Gang of 14’ hurt Pat.”
The ongoing battle between Republicans and Democrats over the makeup of the federal judiciary has been one of the highest concerns of social conservatives.
After the judges deal was struck, Ohio conservatives led by Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values, another Cincinnati-based group, stepped up its efforts to find a candidate to challenge DeWine in the 2006 Republican primary.
As conservatives in Ohio and South Carolina responded angrily to news of the Senate centrists’ deal on judges, Major Garrett, a Fox News correspondent, citing “senior Republican sources,” reported that “Frist and the Bush White House were worried enough about possibly losing the vote to end the judicial filibusters that they dispatched two conservatives, South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham and Ohio’s Mike DeWine, to cut the best possible deal.”
Burress said he suspects that DeWine is the source of that report.
“He will do anything he can to cover his tracks,” Burress said. “I call upon him to prove that, or he will be exposed as a flat out liar. I use that word very carefully. My sources tell me. I have people close to what’s going on up there that that’s not what happened.”
When asked about the Fox report, DeWine said, “If you look at the transcript, I never said that. What I said was that we had — people inside the meeting were talking to leaders — both sides were talking to leaders. But I never said that I was an emissary at all.”
“Lindsey and I got involved at the same time,” he added. “We looked at a early proposal and had the same reaction, that we couldn’t have an agreement where we would agree that under any circumstances we would not use the constitutional option,” the Republicans’ term for the nuclear option.
"Instead, he described a nuanced role".
There's that word again. I pretty sure "Nuanced" today is the same thing we used to call BS back in my day.
I personally prefer Kasich to replace DeWhine and I favor Blackwell over Petro for governor, but Petro seems well organized and off to a running start.
I don't know if the Pubbies are going to make it in Ohio in 2006, having screwed up a golden opportunity to show people that lower taxes, smaller government really work.
Thanks to Voinovich, Taft, and the Republican majority in both houses in Ohio we have bigger government, higher taxes and one of the lousiest business climates in the Union. Anyone want to buy some rare coins?
I heard a slanted newscast this morning that said the state sales tax was coming down a half percent. What they didn't say was that this was half of the "TEMPORARY"one percent sales tax that was put in place two years ago.
The downstate jackasses pay no heed to the complaints from the neanderthals out in the hustings about how they are sacking the state, so I sent them a list which said:
Not one penny
No literature distribution
No yard sugn locations or placements
No tubing on Saturday morning at 6AM
No working at the Pubbie tent at the county fair.
No door to door for candidates.
When they show me they are worthy, I will come back.
And I will actively work against DeWhine in the primary.
In God We Trust…..Semper Fi!
"I'm worried however that he will win a primary challenge and then lose in the general election to some wingnut.."
Me too. And I'll bet you a dollar he still gets the backing of Republican party when he runs.
No beating around the bush there. Also, very clear!
Right! This is what I was able to get out of it! Nothing more.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and his aides have denied Rep. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) assertion to home-state conservative leaders that he and Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) acted as emissaries for Frist in negotiations among 14 Republican and Democratic centrists that resulted in a compromise last month on judicial filibusters.
Graham seems to be trying to cover his behind and it won't work this time around. Many like myself are tired of these wimps!
Right and this is why some Americans are so dumb because they read the misleading headlines and do not get into the whole article to see the facts on the matter.
AOL is the worst in the world when it comes to headline news. They infuriate me with their headlines. Once read the headlines are without a doubt misleading!
I agree with what you have done and I did this myself, BUT I do have a question. Republicans have never really been known to be Conservative heck look at Nixon and the things he did like for instance starting the EPA. If we want Conservatives we are going to have to get men and women to run who put American first instead of the party.
He was in McCain's camp in the 2000 primary against George W. Bush.
I felt anyone who supported McCain for president over Bush in the 2000 primaries was not worthy to be Senator from South Carolina. Tons of freepers jumped all over me for urging that Graham not get the Republican nomination for the Senate. I wonder if those Freepers still think I was wrong to oppose the nomination of Graham.
There is no reason to elect a RINO Senator from South Carolina. South Carolina is a conservative state and can easily elect a conservative senatorl. The people of South Carolina were fooled once. They should not be fooled again. Graham is a lousy RINO. He should be opposed and defeated in the 2008 primary.
I would not support Graham if he got a 100 percent Americna Conservitive Union rating for the remainder of this term. The second he got re-elected he would stab us in the back.
Get rid of Graham in 2008. He is nothing but trouble.
Probably because they were enamoured with him because of the Clinton Impeachment hearings. He came off like a Rock Star and apprently looked like the perfect Republican to replace Thurman.
I'll do what I can to remove his hillary lovin' arse from the Senate.
That's simple; Snow and Collins, the bi*ches of Maine! What do I win? LOL
GO for it ! I am relocating to Crown Point, IN and I have every intention of working with the GOP in Ill. We may have to start from the ground up but hey we have to start somewhere and it is at the bottom then the only way is up!! Furthermore, we have to find a viable candidate to put against Durbin in 2008.
Graham's going the McVain route: "Maverick Republican Senator" which means he's in it for no one but Graham.
For this session of Congress, I think the Ohio Boys are even worse than the Maine Gals. Certainly they have been more of a disappointment.
Good luck with that. If the Senate had any cajones, they'd oust Durbin him now. One more reason to get rid of Graham and company.
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