Meltdown: Arlen Specter Stands Alone

On Wed, 06 May 2009 13:40:37 -0400, Clay <...@justice.com

Glenn Thrush and Manu Raju
May 6, 2009

Arlen Specter infuriated Senate Republicans when he bolted from their
party last week. Now he’s alienated just about everybody in the Senate
Democratic caucus, too.

Since declaring himself a Democrat last Tuesday, Specter has defied
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the White House on virtually
everything that’s come down the pike: the budget, mortgage reform, the
Al Franken-Norm Coleman race, even President Obama’s appointment of
Dawn Johnsen to head the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel.
All while quibbling over whether he said he’d be a “loyal Democrat” –
and insisting that he had an “entitlement” to transfer his Senate
seniority from one side of the aisle to the other.

The blowback came Tuesday night: On a voice vote, the Senate voted to
strip Specter of his 29 years of seniority, effectively transforming
him in a blink-and-you-missed-it-moment from one of the most senior
senators in the body to a lowly freshman on most committees.

"There were concerns about his actions," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow
(D-Mich.), chairwoman of the Senate Democratic Steering and Outreach
Committee, which sets committee assignments.

Specter hasn’t commented on Tuesday night’s vote, and an email to his
office went unreturned.
But the Pennsylvania Republican-turned-Democrat seemed to know Tuesday
afternoon that his colleagues would be busting him back to freshman
status.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, just selected to take Specter's former spot as the
ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, asked Specter Tuesday
where he would be sitting during committee proceedings.
"At the end of the other side of the aisle," a dejected Specter
responded, according to a first-hand account of the conversation.

Democratic staffers say Reid may have tolerated Specter’s early splits
with the party if he hadn’t simultaneously been so vocal in claiming
he was entitled to keep his seniority and leapfrog over veteran
Democrats on some of the Senate’s most powerful committees.

Specter’s claim that he’d been promised as much sparked an in-house
rebellion among longtime Democratic foot soldiers, including Barbara
Mikulski (D-Md.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairwoman of an Appropriations
subcommittee who would have been passed over by the more senior
Specter, said it would have been an unfair move.

"When you get to be a chairman you really have some control of that
area, and that's what makes it interesting for me," Feinstein told
POLITICO. "Somebody comes in on top - then everybody gets bumped. Then
somebody gets bumped from the committee. That's a very hard thing if
you've got 14 years having been on that committee. Obviously you'd
like to stay where you are. I understand how people feel about it."

Feinstein said she's heard other members complain about Specter
keeping his seniority too. "It's a concern and I think Sen. Specter
will understand that."

By Tuesday night, Reid had no option but to strip Specter of his
seniority, staffers with knowledge of the situation say. Reid
preserved a vestige of his original promise to Specter by vowing to
revisit the matter after the 2010 midterms.

"Whenever you have a party switch like this there has to be give and
take, negotiation, and I think that's what happened here,” said
Democrat Robert Casey, Pennsylvania’s other senator.

“I think the reality is between now and then is — is he on the team or
not?” a senior Democratic aide said Wednesday. “If he’s instrumental
in getting health care done, I imagine his position in the caucus
after 2010 will be substantially strengthened.”

But that’s assuming that Specter is reelected – or even survives a
Democratic primary.

Republicans say the loss of seniority robs Specter of a key argument
in a general election race against former Republican Rep. Pat Toomey
or perhaps former Gov. Tom Ridge – that Specter’s seniority and
experience will allow him to deliver more goodies to the Keystone
State.

"It's kind of hard to make the argument that you should be returned to
the Senate because of your clout when you're the junior most senator
on every committee," said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), chairman of the
National Republican Senatorial Committee. "I imagine that will be the
subject of some discussion on the campaign."

Julian Zelizer, a political science expert at Princeton University,
said the seniority move will be even more damaging in a primary,
allowing an opponent – perhaps Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak – to dismiss
arguments that Specter has more clout.

“This is a body blow for Pennsylvania,” Zelizer said. “It certainly is
not a great deal for Specter who will look like diminished figure in
the primaries as a result.”

One more problem for Specter: Liberal groups are turning up the volume
on calls for a competitive Democratic Senate primary in Pennsylvania.
"Our elected officials should have to compete for their seats, and
Arlen Specter is no exception," said Arshad Hasan, executive director
of Democracy for America, a 725,000-member political action committee.
If Specter were to keep his seat and retain his seniority, he would
leapfrog nearly the Democratic caucus. He’d be tied for seventh in
seniority with Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), and he’d be line to fight
for coveted subcommittee chairmanships on the powerful Appropriations
Committee, potentially chair the Environment and Public Works
Committee and take the reins of the Judiciary Committee if Sen.
Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who is more senior, steps aside.

On Wednesday, Leahy told reporters he had “no idea” Specter would lose
his seniority, adding, "You should talk to Sen. Reid, it was his
decision."

Asked if he was fine with Specter losing his seniority, Leahy said:
"I'm just glad Sen. Specter is on the committee, he's a very valued
senator, we have a 40-year friendship the two of us. I'm delighted
he's there."

Other Democrats, including Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Byron Dorgan
(D-N.D.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) all said they were kept in the
dark about Reid’s decision. Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said he
was in the loop, but referred all questions to the leader.

Members are fiercely territorial and use their much-prized committee
positions to shower their constituents with legislative gold. They
balked at the possibility of being replaced by someone who simply
switched parties to preserve his political career. In interviews with
POLITICO, several Democrats said that they were in no mood to give up
their gavels either this Congress or next -- and several expressed
their views directly to Reid over the last several days.

In the end, aide said it was a no-brainer to strip Specter of his
seniority: Specter is now a Democrat and has no choice but to try to
ingratiate himself with the Democratic caucus if he wants to retain
his seniority after this Congress.

Specter tried to make some amends with members of his new party
Tuesday. After word leaked out that he’d told the New York Times that
the courts in Minnesota should “do justice” and name Republican Norm
Coleman the winner over Democrat Al Franken, Specter backpedaled,
telling CQ that he had “conclusively misspoke” in “the swirl of moving
from one caucus to another.”

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-C-