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Trent Lott: Freed from the constraints of leadership

By Paul M. Weyrich
web posted June 2, 2003

Back when I came to Washington in January of 1967, being a
conservative on Capitol Hill was a fairly lonely experience. Here
and there, I would encounter a fellow staffer with like-minded
views in the offices of a conservative Republican Senator
(although in many cases their staffs were as liberal as could be)
or, quite often, in the offices of a Southern Democrat Senator.

A journalist friend arranged to have me invited to a monthly
dinner hosted by a retired general who had been a Washington,
D.C. commissioner back when the District was run by a three
man commission. There I met some fellow Republican Senate
staffers who worked just a few doors away from the offices of
the late Senator Gordon Allott (R-CO) for whom I worked.
And there were some conservative Democrats as well. One of
them was an assistant to Rep. Bill Colmer of Mississippi, the
chairman of the then -powerful Rules Committee. His name was
Trent Lott. He was sharp and articulate and absolutely solid on
the issues.

We began to work together on some issues of mutual concern
and by 1970 I had introduced him to a young speechwriter who
also worked for Senator Allott. His name was George Will.
Along with Walter Mote, who was then Administrative Assistant
to the late Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, Will and Lott and I
formed the Conservative Lunch Club of Capitol Hill. I well recall
the first meeting because I had to rush back from a bill signing in
the Oval Office with then-President Richard Nixon. Nixon was
unusually chatty and I ended up being late to my own lunch.

But we were thrilled with the turnout for that luncheon. Sixty Hill
staffers attended. Each month for the next three years we
produced a major program. Will and I used our connections in
the Senate, Mote with the Administration, and Lott in the House.
We had hit after hit. In the process, I got to know Lott better
and better. Lott and I, along a half-dozen others, took a fact-
finding trip (a.k.a junket) in January of 1972 to Taiwan and
Hong Kong and Japan. Ed Feulner, who then was chief of staff
to Rep. Phil Crane (R-IL) and who now is president of the
Heritage Foundation, and I visited with Lott for hours on that
long trip. Mr. Colmer was preparing to retire and Lott intended
to run to take his place.

Lott shocked us by telling us that he thought he would run as a
Republican! We tried to talk him out of that since Mississippi
had only elected one Republican to Congress in all the years
since Reconstruction. But he sensed a change coming in the
South and indeed he was elected as a Republican in 1972. Just
eight years later, when Ronald Reagan was elected president and
Republicans greatly increased their numbers in the House, Lott
was elected Whip, the number two post in the GOP's House
leadership, right after the post of Minority Leader. We would
talk often. He still professed the same principles as always but he
said that then-Minority Leader Bob Michel (R-IL) didn't want to
rock the boat so he couldn't accomplish what we both believed
in.

Frustrated with operating under Michel, unable to see when
Michel would retire, and clearly unable to see a time when
Republicans would control the House, Lott ran and won a
Senate seat in 1988.

Soon Lott was in a small leadership post but it was a good
steppingstone for him to challenge then - Republican Whip Sen.
Alan Simpson (R-WY), who had angered conservatives on a
variety of fronts. Lott defeated Simpson by one vote.

It is highly unusual for Republicans to turn out an incumbent
leader, so Lott began his work in the leadership with a great deal
of prestige. Lott continued to attend the Steering Committee
lunches, the caucus of conservative Senators. He said all the right
things, but once again was hemmed in by then-Republican
Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-KS). Just a few months later
Dole resigned to run for president. Lott was challenged for
Majority Leader by the senior Senator from Mississippi, Thad
Cochran. Cochran received only eight votes out of 55 Senators
voting. Our friend Trent Lott was at last Majority Leader. He
had the strongest mandate any leader has had in recent memory.
Howard Baker became Republican leader by a single vote, for
example.

We expected great things from Lott. But from that day forward
until he was unfairly forced from office early this year, our friend
was a constant disappointment. He did not advance conservative
principles. He was ever so cautious that very little was
accomplished under his watch. The problem, it seems, is that
Lott now viewed all 55 Senators as his constituents. Those
included the likes of Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Olympia
Snowe (R-ME). He was constantly trying to reconcile all sides.
Frequently that was impossible. It left him more frustrated then
when he was constrained by Bob Michel and Bob Dole.

While he did keep the Republican caucus reasonably happy in
that there were few fights (except for the Chemical Weapons
Convention when he backed President Clinton and split his
colleagues right down the middle), he did not emerge as the
strong, principled leader we always knew him to be. That was
perhaps my greatest disappointment in 45 years of political life.

As readers of this column know I defended Lott over the
Thurmond flap. He was just trying to make an old man feel good
on his 100th birthday. Still and all, I believe this story has a
happy ending. Bill Frist is turning out to be a good leader. Lott is
now Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee. There is a certain
irony to that development in that he began his political life in
Washington working for the Chairman of the House Rules
Committee.

Freed of his obligation (from his perspective) to please everyone
and to reconcile that which cannot be reconciled, Lott is
emerging as his old self again. He is advocating the radical
solution for ending the filibuster by the Democrats against the
President's judicial nominees that I wrote about last month.

Lott told the Jackson Clarion-Ledger regarding that solution to
the filibuster "I am perfectly prepared to blow the [Senate] up.
No problem. What good are we doing anyway?"

Senator Snowe and many of his critics over the Thurmond affair
acknowledge that Lott has handled himself with extraordinary
grace and without bitterness since he was forced to resign as
leader. "He has done an admirable job making what would be a
very difficult transition for anyone" Snowe told the Clarion-
Ledger.

Even though Bush pulled the rug out from under Lott during the
Thurmond flap, Lott is helping Bush however he can. "It's not
about me," Lott said.

He called the Senate passed tax bill "a piece of junk" and said
Senators ought to crawl on their hand and knees to beg the
House to pass their bill through the conference committee. That
is the old Trent we knew and loved. Thanks to the Republican
Study Committee in the House, which Lott helped to form in
1973, the conference committee emerged with the best
compromise possible.

Lott has retained his sense of humor. A group in his home state
wanted to roast him for a fundraising event. He told them that
might not be a good idea because "you can't roast toast."

Lott will never be leader again and yet in his new position it is
entirely possible that he will at last be able to put forth those
conservative principles which made him such a solid friend as we
battled the wars in those early and lonely days.

Paul M. Weyrich is Chairman and CEO of the Free Congress
Foundation (www.freecongress.org).