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When thousands of people donate no more than $100 per person per election, we can build a campaign without money from special interests. _______________________ But it's about more than money. We need your energy and your enthusiasm, too. Sign up to volunteer on Jim Hansen's campaign for Congress.
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| Ex-congressmen desire civility |
626 Views |
| posted on Friday, July 21, 2006 |
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POCATELLO — Ralph Harding and Orval Hansen waged a tight congressional race in 1962 that Harding narrowly won after Harry Truman stumped for him.
On
Thursday, 44 years later, the two sat down next to one another on a
sofa and lamented the loss in civility that’s marked contemporary
politics on a national and local level.
“It
was a campaign of gentlemen,” recalled Harding, 76, who now lives in
Blackfoot. “I’m just very upset about the bitter partisanship in our
Congress and our Legislature today.”
These days, said Harding,
a Democrat who represented Idaho from 1961 to 1965, politics is a
different ballgame that’s become a lot more lucrative.
As Harding and Hansen talked Thursday evening in a rare get-together, a third former congressman, Democrat Richard Stallings, nodded his head in agreement from a nearby chair.
“When
we were there there were always contributions, but now they’re talking
about millions,” said Stallings, who served in the nation’s capitol from 1985 to 1993. “The numbers are staggering.”
The
unlikely trio of former statesmen — two Democrats and one Republican
with a combined 18 years experience in Washington D.C. — agreed
changes are needed to fix what they described as a vengeful and money-hungry political system.
“I think the general American public is fed up with it and I think that’s really what’s going to change it,” Harding said.
A
year in which Democrats and Republicans took turns sniping at one
another over the war in Iraq, gay marriage and lobbying scandals is the
ineffectual result of a system in which incumbents redesign their districts to ensure victory, said Hansen, 79.
“The
people do not have any real chance,” said Hansen, a Republican who
served from 1969 to 1975. “When you have assured candidates, you have
assured money.”
While
Hansen admitted things in the 1960s and 1970s might not be as good as
he remembers, he said it was common for ranking members of the opposite
party to be fast friends.
In fact, Harding said there were a lot of his fellow Democratic “hacks” he was happy to see defeated.
But it’s the influence of big money the three congressmen believe has had the biggest role in changing the core of American politics.
During
his tenure in Congress, Harding once paid out of his own pocket to come
back to Idaho from Washington D.C. to check out an Eastern Idaho dam
proposal.
“When I went there you got $22,500 a year and you got two trips from your district to Washington,”
said Harding. “I went there poor and came back poorer.”
Stallings,
the current chair of the Idaho Democratic Party and a Pocatello City
Council member, decried jet-setting lawmakers and
the phenomenon of lobbying groups writing legislation. But most of all
he said both parties need to reassess their priorities.
“The
issue today is winning — it’s not about what’s best for the country,”
Stallings said. “It’s got to be about more than winning. It’s got to be
about governing.”
Harding blamed former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich for ushering
in the era of bad feelings in which moderate Republicans were stripped
of committee responsibilities in favor of more hard-line conservatives.
In order to improve the situation in Washington D.C., the three
former congressmen suggested starting closer to home by enforcing term
limits to ensure consistent turnover.
Seated beside the
powerful triumvirate Thursday was Jim Hansen, Orval’s son and a
candidate for the Second District Congressional District seat currently
held by Mike Simpson.
An underdog in the race, the younger
Hansen has maintained a pledge to accept only donations from
individuals and no donations larger than $100.
Stallings
said the contest between Simpson and Hansen could get ugly if it’s
close in the final weeks since powerful special interest groups might
not appreciate Hansen’s campaign strategy.
“He’s not only
going to be running against Mike Simpson ... he’s going to be running
against the system itself,” Stallings said. “He’s threatening not just
a congressman but a corrupt system.”
Dan Boyd covers politics,
high - er education and natural resource issues for the Journal. He can
be reached at 239-3168 or by e-mail at dboyd@journalnet.com.
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