Let's start the day off with a big ol' Halleluiah!!. I don't think I'd even mind Elizabeth Dole in his vacated seat. Next stop: Strom Thurmond.
August 22, 2001
Helms Plans to Retire From Senate in 2003
By KEVIN SACK
ATLANTA, Aug. 21 — Senator Jesse
Helms of North Carolina, a
conservative stalwart for nearly 30 years,
plans to appear on television in Raleigh on
Wednesday evening to announce that he will
retire from the Senate when his fifth term
expires in January 2003, a person close to
Mr. Helms said today.
Senior Republican leaders in Washington
and one official in the Bush administration
said that while they had not been told
directly about Mr. Helms's plans, they
expected him to announce his retirement in
the television appearance.
One administration official said Mr. Helms, 79, had called some Senate
colleagues over the last week to let them know he would soon announce his
retirement and to tell them he just did not have it in him to run again in 2002.
Mr. Helms, who was chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee until the
Republicans lost control of the Senate earlier this year, has had health
problems in recent years. A nerve condition, peripheral neuropathy, has
numbed his feet and forced him to navigate the corridors of the Capitol in a
motorized scooter. It was also expected to make campaigning unpleasant for
a man who does not relish it under the best of circumstances.
Mr. Helms would leave an outsized legacy in both Washington and North
Carolina. His ardent conservatism on both foreign policy and social issues
presaged the rise of right-wing Republicanism in the South, and his adamant
stands on issues like relations with China and judicial nominations made him
a figure who could not be ignored by presidents, Congressional leaders or
foreign heads of state.
On Capitol Hill, he became known as Senator No, for his unflinching
willingness to stall movement on legislation and appointments until he won his
way, often on completely unrelated issues.
In North Carolina, that same stubbornness and straightforwardness, often
won admiration, even from those who disagreed with him on the issues.
And yet, Mr. Helms often offended many liberals and moderates with his
ultraconservative views on race and homosexuality, making him an enduring
bogeyman to the American left.
Richard C. Holbrooke, the ambassador to the United Nations in the Clinton
administration, said the foreign policy implications of Mr. Helms's departure
were substantial.
"He was the most powerful advocate, and one of the most skillful
parliamentarians, in pursuit of his objectives for his point of view," said Mr.
Holbrooke, who under pressure from Mr. Helms, helped restructure United
Nations finances and reduced the United States' dues.
The State Capitol in Raleigh was rife with rumors today that Mr. Helms
would step down, said State Representative Leo Daughtry, a Republican
legislative leader.
"I haven't heard anything directly from him," Mr. Daughtry said, "but the
scuttlebutt around here is that he's not going to run."
The person who confirmed that Mr. Helms planned to retire issued one
minor caution, noting that the senator can be impishly unpredictable.
"Lord knows," the person said, "he might change his mind before tomorrow."
Mr. Helms's aides would not address his plans.
Bill Peterson, the general manager of WRAL-TV, the CBS affiliate in
Raleigh where Mr. Helms came to public attention as a conservative
commentator, said Mr. Helms would address the state in a seven- or eight-
minute address at 6 p.m. Wednesday. Mr. Peterson said he did not know
what Mr. Helms would say.
Among those seen as potential contenders for Mr. Helms's Senate seat is
Elizabeth Dole, the former presidential candidate and two-time cabinet
secretary, who has said she would give the race "serious consideration" if
Mr. Helms declined to run. A group of her supporters in North Carolina,
Mrs. Dole's home state, have started efforts to draft her into the race.
If she announced, Mrs. Dole would become the instant heavyweight in the
Republican field. But whether Mrs. Dole, whose 2000 presidential campaign
never caught fire, would clear the field of other Republicans is a matter of
speculation.
Among the other Republicans who have expressed interest are
Representatives Richard M. Burr and Robin Hayes, former Senator Lauch
Faircloth (who was defeated for re- election in 1998), former Mayor
Richard Vinroot of Charlotte and Jim Snyder, a lawyer.
On the Democratic side, Secretary of State Elaine F. Marshall has already
announced her candidacy. Others considering the race are State Senator
Eric Miller Reeves, State Representative Daniel T. Blue Jr. and Mark W.
Erwin, a Charlotte developer and former ambassador. A Helms retirement is
likely to increase Democratic calls for former Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. to join
the fray, but he has said publicly and privately that he is not interested.
Without Mr. Helms as an incumbent, the race in North Carolina is likely to
become a focal point for both parties. While the state is considered
conservative, it has elected Democrats as governor and United States
senator in recent years and an influx of Northerners has moderated its
politics.
"Historically, Helms represents one of the fundamental traditions of American
politics and foreign policy, which was an all-out advocacy of American
sovereignty in the same tradition as Henry Cabot Lodge Sr.," Mr.
Holbrooke said, referring to Mr. Helms's World War I predecessor as
chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Alex Castellanos, a Republican media consultant who has worked with
Senator Helms, said the senator's legacy would endure.
"When Jesse Helms first ran for the Senate," Mr. Castellanos said, "balancing
the budget was an extreme idea, being conservative wasn't cool and Ronald
Reagan was an actor. He helped change all that. Someone who achieved all
that will be missed."
Mr. Helms's foreign policy priorities were informed by a conservative
ideology that was steeped in anti- communism. One of his most important
pieces of legislation in recent years was the Helms-Burton Act of 1996,
which stripped the president of the ability to lift the trade embargo against
Cuba.
Gays are one group of Americans with whom Mr. Helms shared a
longstanding antipathy. He struggled to suppress what he viewed as a gay
rights agenda and antagonized many gays by limiting federal efforts to curb
the spread of AIDS through explicit sex education.
David Smith, senior strategist at the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights
group, described Mr. Helms as "probably the most anti-gay member of
Congress in either house."
Mr. Helms's wife, Dorothy, had been expected to play a major role in his
decision on seeking re-election, and their friends have said she was clearly
ready to come home to their children and grandchildren after three decades
in Washington. |
