|
Nethercutt proud of his
work with Cuba
By Les Blumenthal Herald
Washington, D.C., bureau. Tri-City
Herald, October 20th, 2004.
WASHINGTON -- At first glance, George Nethercutt
would seem an unlikely dinner companion
for Fidel Castro.
The usually soft-spoken, mild-mannered
Republican congressman from Spokane who
is running for the U.S. Senate against two-term
incumbent Patty Murray would seem to have
little in common with the aging Cuban strongman
who rode to power with a gun in his hand
and still preaches revolution.
Nethercutt, however, isn't easily intimidated.
Though widely considered, even by Democrats,
one of the nicest of the 435 members of
the House, Nethercutt's 10-year political
career has been marked by a resiliency and
toughness his political opponents often
have underestimated.
Nethercutt earned the reputation as a giant-slayer
when he upset House Speaker Tom Foley in
1994, the first time a speaker had been
defeated since the Civil War. Nethercutt,
who admits he was "pleasantly surprised"
that he beat Foley, became a poster child
of the Republican revolution as the GOP
seized control of the House.
Six years later, Nethercutt broke his term
limits pledge and sought re-election. He
was thought to be in trouble when the term-limits
movement launched an aggressive campaign
against him and he was pilloried as the
"Weasel King" in the Doonesbury
comic strip. But he won easily.
Nethercutt has been a reliable Republican
vote in the House who rarely breaks with
GOP leadership.
But in 1999, Nethercutt emerged as the
leader in an effort to remove sanctions
on the sale of food and medicine to Cuba.
In doing so, he directly challenged powerful
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, the Bush
White House and almost 50 years of anti-Castro
orthodoxy in his own party.
On a parochial level, Nethercutt was looking
out for the interests of one of his district's
most formidable constituencies -- farmers.
Eastern Washington farmers had been unable
to sell peas, lentils and rice in Cuba while
overseas competitors had access to the Cuban
market.
On a loftier level, Nethercutt argued unilateral
sanctions involving food and medicine should
never be used as a "weapon" in
American foreign policy and were counterproductive
in trying to lay a "foundation"
for democracy in Cuba or other rogue nations.
Assembling a coalition of left-leaning
Democrats and farm-state Republicans, Nethercutt
successfully convinced the House to lift
the sanctions. The key test came when he
beat back DeLay, prevailing by a single
vote in the House Appropriations Committee.
During a four-hour dinner with Castro six
months later in Havana, Nethercutt sought
to convince the Cuban leader to actually
start buying U.S. agricultural products.
Nethercutt said he found Castro to be "outgoing,
friendly and charismatic" even as the
dictator rebuffed the overture, insisting
all U.S. trade sanctions needed to be lifted
before Cuba would sign any contracts.
"I told him there was nothing more
we could do," Nethercutt recalled,
adding it took a devastating hurricane before
Castro relented and began buying American.
Nethercutt said he is no fan of Castro,
but he considers the lifting of sanctions
a defining moment in his political career.
"We made history," he said in
an interview.
Before being elected to Congress, Nethercutt,
a lawyer specializing in adoption law, probate
and estate planning, had never held public
office. As chairman of the Spokane Republican
Party in late 1993, he sought a candidate
to take on Foley, who had represented the
congressional district for 30 years and
was considered unbeatable. When no one stepped
forward, the little-known Nethercutt decided
to run.
"The first poll showed I was known
by 3 percent of the people, but the poll's
margin of error was 4 percent," Nethercutt
said.
But Nethercutt was never the political
neophyte he sought to portray. In the1970s,
he was schooled in the ways of Washington,
D.C., when he served as chief of staff to
Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska. Stevens, chairman
of the Senate Appropriations Committee,
remains a powerful political patron.
And Nethercutt hired Ed Rollins to help
run his campaign. Rollins was a top political
adviser to Ronald Reagan and ran Reagan's
1984 presidential re-election campaign.
As in 1994, when he broke his term limits
pledge, the political stars were favorably
aligned for Nethercutt when he challenged
Foley. Anti-incumbency fever was sweeping
the nation and Foley was the very symbol
of a House tarnished by scandal.
Foley also had supported the assault weapons
ban in 1994 and was attacked relentlessly
in National Rifle Association ads. And Foley
had gone to court to challenge the state's
term limits law -- a move his detractors
saw as the ultimate political hubris.
"I took it in stride," Nethercutt
said of his upset win. "I don't think
of myself as having a big ego. People still
call me George."
During his 1994 campaign, Nethercutt promised
to serve only three terms.
"It just came out," Nethercutt
said of his term limits pledge.
Nethercutt said he initially planned to
honor his pledge and supported efforts in
the House to mandate term limits. But when
the House refused, he decided it would be
unfair to his constituents to limit his
time in the House and give up his seniority
when other lawmakers didn't have to.
"It was a mistake, and I apologized,"
Nethercutt said.
But as the 2000 campaign neared, U.S. Terms
Limits unleashed a barrage of radio, television
and billboard ads criticizing him.
Nethercutt was stung by the criticism.
"They were hitting me the over the
head and below the belt," Nethercutt
said. "I hated it."
Yet as in 1994, Nethercutt's 2000 campaign
came at an opportune time. The term limits
movement had lost much of its traction,
the congressional district was trending
even more Republican and he faced a weak
Democratic opponent.
Returning to Capitol Hill after the 2000
election, Nethercutt sought the chairmanship
of the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee.
But he miscalculated and the GOP leadership
rejected his bid.
Even so, Nethercutt remained well thought
of by his colleagues.
"He has a reputation on both sides
of the aisle as a great guy," said
Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., who entered Congress
in 1994 with Nethercutt and serves with
him on the Appropriations Committee.
Wamp also said there is another side to
Nethercutt.
"He's like a good trial lawyer,"
Wamp said. "He will take you apart
and you don't know it."
Democrats who have worked with Nethercutt
also had praise.
"He is a very thoughtful person,"
said former Rep. Elizabeth Furse, D-Ore.
"Working with him was very pleasant."
Furse and Nethercutt both have daughters
with diabetes, and they co-chaired the 300-member
House Diabetes Caucus. They worked together
to secure $1.5 billion in funding for diabetes
research.
Nethercutt has been sharply criticized
for a 1996 vote opposing cloning and embryonic
stem cell research, which may be useful
in curing diabetes. But he said he actually
supports embryonic stem cell research with
proper safeguards.
Not all Democrats are Nethercutt fans.
"I always thought he was a pleasant
fellow, but I always wondered why he surrounded
himself with so many political thugs,"
said Tom Keefe, whom Nethercutt beat in
2000. "He will do and say anything
to get elected."
Other Democrats call him a Johnny-come-lately
on important state issues and a political
opportunist.
When Major League Baseball earlier this
year planned to allow advertisements for
the Spiderman sequel on its bases, Nethercutt
sent a letter to baseball Commissioner Bud
Selig questioning whether the ads would
violate baseball's antitrust exemption.
Selig blinked and the ads were canceled.
Nethercutt once was a part owner of two
minor league teams, the Greensboro Bats
and the Michigan Battle Cats.
Only after he announced his Senate candidacy,
critics charge, has Nethercutt shown any
real interest in allowing Washington residents
to deduct state sales tax on their federal
income taxes or to create a new wilderness
area along the Skykomish River.
"I like George Nethercutt, but he
could have helped," said Rep. Brian
Baird, D-Wash., the leading proponent of
sales tax deductions among the state's lawmakers.
"He makes you believe he waved a magic
wand to get it passed. He didn't."
Nethercutt takes the criticism in stride.
"I hate meanness, arrogance and selfishness,"
he said. "I consider myself a good,
decent human being. I am what you see."
© 2004
Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &
Other Wire Services
|
