While conservative voters are trying to make up their minds to support one of the “outsiders,” who promise to overhaul Washington’s ways, or one of the senators or governors who have records of accomplishment, who returns to the scene but former Senators Tom Daschle and Trent Lott to tell us how to change things.
Former Senators Tom Daschle and Trent Lott at the WBUR studios. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
The pair have collaborated on a book, “Crisis Point: Why We Must and How We Can Overcome Our Broken Politics in Washington and Across America,” their prescription for change.
Here we are in the midst of a political revolution, the result of an angry public disgusted with Washington DC, a president who lives by executive order, and a polarized Congress and these guys believe they have the solution.
You will remember that they formed a joint leadership during the 50-50 Senate in 2001. That worked well didn’t it.
Daschle left the Senate in 2005 to serve as a key advisor to Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign that lead to his nomination to become Secretary of Health and Human Services.
In the midst of the Senate confirmation hearings, his $2 million gig with the lobbying firm Alston & Bird didn’t sit well, but it was his association as a paid consultant for InterMedia Partners that made the news in 2009. Not only did he fail to declare the use of a limousine and chauffeur, he didn’t pay taxes on an additional $83,000 he earned with that firm in 2007. He also took tax deductions for nearly $15,000 in illegal charitable deductions. While he paid back what he owed in taxes, on Feb. 3, 2009, he withdrew his nomination to head HHS.
Conveniently, Daschle’s wife was a lobbyist for American Airlines, Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
“We need real campaign finance reform to loosen the grip of special interests on politics.” – Tom Daschle
I was writing op-eds and letters to editors in opposition to ObamaCare from Texas when Daschle co-authored a book on the health care crisis and was pushing the White House to back a single-payer health insurance plan. I recall how he praised Europeans for being more willing to accept hopeless diagnosis, and said seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them.
Lott wasn’t without his faults. He resigned his leadership as Republican Senate Minority Leader in December 2002 after stirring a controversy over a racial statement made at Strom Thurmond’s 100th birthday party.
He resigned from the Senate in 2007 to beat the introduction of a new law that would have prevented him from lobbying for two years after leaving the Senate, however, at the same time, Lott was in the middle of bribery charges against his brother-in-law, who represented Lott in his Mississippi loss claims during Hurricane Katrina.
Lott became a lobbyist and co-founded the Breax-Lott Leadership Group that was later acquired by the Patton Boggs firm.
Claiming not to have a panacea to all of Washington’s problems, “we do understand the key ingredients needed to get us moving forward again – chemistry, compromise, leadership, courage and vision,” they exclaim.
I don’t know about you, but I think these two gentlemen had their opportunity to bring about change and failed miserably. I will say they have a lot of chutzpah offering us their advice.
