All I can say is GO, JIM, GO!!!!!

May 23, 2001

Senator From Vermont Says He May Leave G.O.P.

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/23/politics/23JEFF.html

By ALISON MITCHELL and ADAM CLYMER

Senator's Defection May Doom Milk Bill (May 16, 2001)
A Senator's Unaccustomed Limelight (April 6, 2001)

WASHINGTON, May 22 — Senator James M. Jeffords, a Vermont Republican, indicated today that he was seriously considering changing parties after a series of disputes with the Bush White House. Through the day, Republicans including the president worked urgently to dissuade him from giving control of the evenly divided Senate to the Democrats.

Mr. Jeffords, 67, who has one of the most liberal voting records of any Senate Republican, met with Senator Trent Lott, the majority leader, Vice President Dick Cheney and President Bush. Asked at one point as he roamed the Senate corridors whether he would change parties, Mr. Jeffords said, "It might happen."

A decision by Mr. Jeffords to become a Democrat would have profound implications for a Senate that is split 50 to 50, and for Mr. Bush's legislative agenda. It would put the chamber under immediate control of the Democrats for the first time since 1994 and give them all the committee chairmanships, one of which party leaders were promising to Mr. Jeffords. It would also make Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota the majority leader, displacing Mr. Lott.

A White House official said the president and vice president both told Mr. Jeffords that "you can get more done for your state and the people who supported you if you remain in the party." But one White House official said he now thought it was a "foregone conclusion" that Mr. Jeffords would switch unless he changed his mind overnight. A senior administration official said, "I think most people think he's leaning in the direction of leaving. I think it's very serious."

Another senior administration official said: "Obviously, this would not be good. It is not something we want to see happen."

Scott Reed, a veteran Republican strategist, said that if Mr. Jeffords became a Democrat, "Unfortunately, the rest of the Bush agenda is in turmoil."

Mr. Reed said, "This would be a seismic boom like we haven't felt in Washington in a long time."

Senior Democratic staff members said that even if Mr. Jeffords became an independent but chose to caucus with Democrats, they would take control of the chamber under precedents set in 1881 and 1953.

Mr. Jeffords, who is at the beginning of his third term, will not face re-election until 2006.

As speculation about Mr. Jeffords's intentions reached a peak, the Vermont lawmaker said, "I will be making an announcement tomorrow in Washington."

Mr. Jeffords's political identity crisis sent the Capitol into a frenzy of uncertainty, even as the Senate worked into the night considering a $1.35 trillion tax cut that Republican leaders want to deliver to the president before Memorial Day. Mr. Jeffords has generally supported the tax measure and has voted with Republicans on amendments where his vote was decisive. But he has sporadically backed Democratic amendments to change the bill.

Asked about the possibility of Mr. Jeffords's becoming a Democrat, Mr. Daschle said: "I just know that he would be more than welcome in whatever choice he would make. Not only would Senator Jeffords be welcome, there's a half-dozen other Republicans I would welcome."

Senator John B. Breaux, a centrist Louisiana Democrat who has worked closely with Mr. Jeffords, predicted the switch would be made.

"I thing he's doing it; I think he's doing it tomorrow," Mr. Breaux said.

Senator Don Nickles, the assistant Republican leader from Oklahoma, said that he had talked to Mr. Jeffords daily recently, and that if he left the party, "I'd be so disappointed, words would not be able to express it. I'd be surprised and I'd be sorely disappointed."

By this evening Democrats said the White House, struggling to find a way for Republicans to keep control of the Senate, had redoubled efforts to get Senator Zell Miller, a Georgia Democrat, to change parties. Mr. Miller has been voting with Republicans and has been openly critical of his party.

"The White House," said Senator Kent Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat, "has gone into overdrive trying to get Senator Miller to switch. I'm sure they are prepared to name an aircraft carrier after him if that will help."

Mr. Jeffords, who has served as a Republican in the House and the Senate for more than a quarter of a century, drew the ire of the Bush administration in April when he refused to support Mr. Bush's call for a $1.6 trillion tax cut over 10 years. After not securing a promise of full funding for special education programs, he became one of a handful of centrists from both parties who forced the tax cut to be scaled back.

Shortly after his vote, the White House did not invite him to a ceremony honoring a Vermont teacher, even though Mr. Jeffords is a leader on education issues. The Hill, a Capitol Hill newspaper, recently reported that the administration was hinting that it might derail one of the senator's cherished pieces of legislation, a measure to assist dairy farmers, including those in Vermont.

Senior Democratic aides said that party leaders, including Mr. Daschle and Senator Harry Reid, the assistant minority leader from Nevada, had been courting Mr. Jeffords for weeks and that the talks had become particularly serious late last week. The Democrats promised Mr. Jeffords he would retain the chairmanship of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee should he change parties. And as an alternative, Mr. Reid was said to be willing to step aside from the opportunity to become chairman of the Committee on Environment and Public Works in favor of Mr. Jeffords.

There was even talk that Democrats might consider making Mr. Jeffords chairman of the powerful Finance Committee. Senator Max Baucus of Montana, who is the ranking Democrat, recently drew the ire of party leaders by striking a compromise with the chairman, Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa.

One Democratic aide said, "we felt very good about this as of Friday," but did not know what had happened between Mr. Jeffords and Mr. Bush.

Robert T. Stafford, a Republican who was Mr. Jeffords's predecessor, said the senator had called him three or four days ago.

"I can honestly say he came to no conclusions at that time as to what he ought to do," Mr. Stafford said, "and I gave him no advice about what he ought to do."

Vermont is a liberal-leaning state, and many believed Mr. Jeffords would suffer no political penalty if he switched parties. The state's one House member at large, Bernard Sanders, was elected as an independent and caucuses with Democrats.

"I think that if he decides to leave the Republican Party, people will respect him for defending Vermont's values," Mr. Sanders said, "and for having the courage to make a major impact on stalling the drift to the right which is currently taking place."