By Mary Mostert, Analyst, www.originalsources.com
October 30, 1998
The Associated Press reported of John Glenn's return to space "results from a combination of political clout, persistence, good health and his heroic reputation. Glenn forcefully lobbied NASA for months to put him on a space shuttle crew." Just exactly what kind of "political clout" John Glenn exerted has become a prime item for discussion. Frankly I had thought his return to space, while surprising, was great since it was clearly something he wanted to be able to do. Then I heard Walter Cronkite ask President Clinton a surprising question: "I would be amiss if I did not ask whether you rewarded John Glenn..." for his role in blocking investigation of Campaign Finance Reform by Sen. Fred Thompson, Chairman of the Senate Government Affairs Committee.
John Glenn retires from the Senate at the close of the 105th Congress, saying he was "too old" to serve another term. Too old to serve another term along side 95 years old Strom Thurmond but not to old to go into space? Clinton, who is using the Congressional campaign as a third presidential race to save his presidency from an ignoble end was at Cape Canaveral for the launch. He replied, "I had no role in it," and then quickly used the occasion to urge his supporters to "get out and vote" on Tuesday.
Really? I decided to check out the sequence of events involved in the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee's investigation of the 1996 Presidential Campaign fund-raising, which opened January 28, 1997. I remember when it opened thinking that John Glenn, Ranking member of the committee promised his cooperation. Sen. Glenn promised Chairman Fred Thompson, "As the ranking member of the committee and as someone who was chairman for some 8 years, this can be a most important hearing for our committee. Today I want to publicly pledge to him my best efforts to cooperate in establishing the bipartisan atmosphere that he called for and that I believe Senator Thompson genuinely wants to have as we go forward."
However, that isn't what took place. In fact, as more than one report has noted today, Sen. John Glenn took some very "uncharacteristic actions" for him in his dogged opposition to the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee investigating only "illegal" campaign activities of the 1996 Presidential Election.
In February 1997 "John Glenn, on the verge of leaving public life, said today he yearns for another space flight like the one that propelled him into national prominence 35 years ago. Glenn, ending four terms as a Democratic senator, arranged for his children and grandchildren to fly to Ohio to be present today when he announces his future plans.
Soon after that wistful announcement, in March 1997 in a discussion of Resolution 39 which would authorize the appropriation of funds and the time allotted to investigate the abuse of Campaign law by Clinton and Gore, John Glenn began his "uncharacteristic actions" which derailed the Senate investigation of the 1996 Presidential campaign. He said, "My remarks stem once again from my belief that a balanced investigation of fundraising by both parties, highlighting legal transgressions as well as their legal but ethically dubious fundraising activities, could be effective in pointing the way toward real reform. Conversely, an unbalanced, partisan investigation suggesting that the problems lie solely or even mainly with one party would be destructive to forging a consensus and would lead to political games, possibly including an attempt to pass reform legislation crafted not so much to fix the system as to give one party a fundraising advantage over the other."
He was the leader of the effort to equate "illegal" with "legal but ethically dubious" in a blatant attempt to confuse the issue over illegal foreign campaign contributions to the Clinton-Gore campaign. It was a point that the public never fully understood, but, because of John Glenn's prestige as a national hero, the end result in the minds of many was to assume that both political parties were somehow both equally guilty of the same thing - whatever it was. Yet, John Glenn did not say that there was evidence of Republicans committing the kind of felonies the Democrats appeared to have committed. He was saying that legal behavior of Republicans should be equated with those felonies.
The second thing Sen. Glenn did was to offer an Amendment to Resolution 39 which cut the Resolution's appropriation from $11,050,721and its original time line of March 1, 1997, through February 28, 1998 to "A sum equal to not more than $4,350,000, for the period beginning on the date of adoption of this section and ending on December 31, 1997." It was adopted March 20, 1997.
The Thompson Committee was then faced with insufficient money and a very tight nine month schedule while struggling to investigate a series of uncooperative and disappearing witnesses. (See Sen. Hatch's speech) Sixteen days after the Committee was forced to end its investigation, on January 16, 1998, NASA "named John Glenn to the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery, scheduled to launch in October. Glenn will serve as a payload specialist on that mission. Glenn made history 35 years ago when he strapped himself into a nine- by -seven foot capsule atop an experimental rocket and became the first American to orbit the Earth. Recently he asked NASA if he could fly again to conduct space-based research on aging, but only if he met the agency's physical and mental requirements. 'Not only is John Glenn a Marine test pilot, an astronaut, and the first American to orbit the Earth, he brings a unique blend of experience to NASA,' said NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin. 'He has flight, operational, and policy experience. Unlike most astronauts, he never got the opportunity for a second flight. He is part of the NASA family, an American hero, and he has the right stuff for this mission.' And thus was born possibly the most expensive Congressional junket in history - a space flight and a record. John Glenn is the oldest person in space by 16 years, beating his nearest competitor who was 61.
With his dream of returning to space in sight, John Glenn became the major advocate of the Clinton Administration effort to pretend that the "problem" in 1996 with campaign laws and foreign money were due to confusing legislation. He said on the floor of the Senate, "As I sat in on months of hearings on our campaign system, I became more thoroughly convinced that only when we turn to a public system of financing campaigns will we fully solve the problems of campaign finance."
As I said the other day, that is socializing politics. If there is a worse idea than socializing medicine it is socializing politics. But, of course, it would be embraced by Bill Clinton.
It's sad to think that John Glenn, a national hero with great physical courage, lacked the moral courage it would take to turn down what appears as a quid pro quo - "You help me avoid impeachment, you get to fulfill your dream of a second space flight." We may know on Tuesday just how effective Bill Clinton's 3rd presidential race turned out - his race to avoid impeachment. If the Republicans don't pick up some Senate seats - he'll probably have won again.
So, folks, spend a little time this week-end studying your State's candidates and the ballot measures, make up your own mind and don't be too trustful even of the advice of national heroes, then vote on Tuesday. (See Candidate section of www.originalsources.com).
To comment: mmostert@originalsources.com