Jim Jeffords (R-Sort of)
DEALEY, SAM
JamesJeffords (R-Sort of) Revenge is a dish best served with milk. BY SAM DEALEY AS HIS REPUBLICAN COLLEAGUES were polishing off lunch at their weekly policy meeting last Tuesday, Vermont senator...
...According to the Wisconsin Democrat's spokeswoman, Wolff was "receptive" to the free-market argument against the dairy compact...
...On the same day that the president was dining with Democrat John Breaux in an effort to woo him into a compromise, the White House neglected to invite Jeffords to an event honoring a Vermonter as Teacher of the Year...
...If we weren't all so furious, it would have been funny," groused a GOP budget negotiator...
...Nor did it endear Jeffords et al to their own party leadership...
...Indeed, an indication that this might be the preferred punishment came last week in a meeting between Candida Wolff, Vice President Cheney's top liaison to the Senate, and Senator Herb Kohl's office...
...A Bush spokeswoman denied it was intended as a snub...
...Republicans weren't shocked that Chafee would act like this...
...They allowed Democrat John Breaux to broker a compromise on their behalf...
...BY SAM DEALEY AS HIS REPUBLICAN COLLEAGUES were polishing off lunch at their weekly policy meeting last Tuesday, Vermont senator James Jeffords spoke about the importance of passing the education bill...
...And it's stuff that may hurt him, but stuff that's not going to draw a significant amount of attention...
...But, Kohl's office says, Wolff was well aware of the tradeoff that had saved the dairy compact the last time it was up for renewal...
...The result of these defections was a tactical and public relations headache: protracted negotiations with Democrats that substantially reduced the tax cut package and increased spending...
...Specter signaled early on that he would support any compromise...
...Wolff didn't indicate whether the White House would urge Congress not to renew the dairy compact...
...So they're going to get him...
...Still, it was the kind of photo-op politicians leap at— and presidents are happy to dis-pense—and Jeffords was conspicuously absent...
...But White House and Senate sources say it was a taste of things to come for Jeffords...
...The vote was more than just a measure to boost the economy...
...Everybody needs to stick together on this bill," he said...
...a 13-year veteran of the Senate...
...To say that Republican tax cutters were irked with the defectors would be putting it mildly...
...The White House is not giving specifics," says a senior GOP source...
...Thus, we can sneak it in through the stealth of night, get it through when people aren't looking...
...But there's a one- or two-year plan to punish him for his behavior...
...Hopefully . . . everybody will be concentrating on something else other than the compact," he told the Associated Press...
...Adding insult to injury, Jeffords and Chafee refused to negotiate personally with their own party...
...Majority leader Trent Lott had managed to line up 48 other Republicans, only to be thwarted by these two...
...The most likely retribution, GOP-ers say, would be for Republicans not to reauthorize the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact, a Depression-era price-fixing scheme for New England dairy farmers that gives them an unfair advantage over Midwestern dairy producers...
...Jeffords, on the other hand, is Sam Dealey is a writer in Washington, D.C...
...The key difference this time around is that Jeffords isn't up for reelection, so letting the compact die won't cost Republicans a seat...
...But, given the hard feelings caused by Jeffords's tax-bill antics, Republicans will at least try to make him pay...
...Jeffords's office would only say that the dairy compact is important to many states and not just Vermont...
...it was the first major vote on a pillar issue of the Bush presidency...
...But in early April, Jeffords described how the dairy compact might scrape by during the usual end-of-year spending mayhem...
...The compact was saved from the chopping block last time around during another Jeffords buy-off and was excused as a necessary evil to shore up the senator's 2000 reelection bid...
...According to a witness, Jeffords, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee chairman, delivered one last exhortation as senators got up to leave...
...The first-term senator from Rhode Island is more popular than respected or feared...
...Last month, the White House exacted an ounce of retribution...
...In early April, along with fellow moderate Republicans Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Jeffords broke with his party to vote with Democrats to reduce the president's tax cut package from $1.6 to $1.2 trillion...
...What better way to punish Jeffords than by denying him his pet project and doing away with a prime example of pork...
...That Jeffords would urge party loyalty was surprising...
...Granted, it wasn't a big thing...
Vol. 6 • May 2001 • No. 33
