U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Scott Brown’s political hassles of late present a powerful argument for more independents in Congress, which could mean even them.
If Maine political history repeats itself, Snowe will win with ease in the 2012 general election - if she is not ousted in the Republican primary because saner Republicans have been departing the party. That leaves the GOP with a concentration of yahoos.
Brown may face the same challenge in the Massachusetts Republican primary and, if he survives that, he will be vulnerable to defeat in the general election.
The more conservative Republicans have characterized Brown and Snowe as “rino’s,” or “Republicans in name only,” because their voting records are perceived as too liberal. They try to portray themselves as moderates. Someone described their concept of “moderate” as a person who tries to save a drowning victim 30 feet out to sea by tossing him a lifeline…of 15 feet.
What brings this to mind is Brown’s declaration to graduates of Lasell College on Sunday, May 16, as reported in The Boston Globe: “I don’t care if you’re a Democrat or a Republican - just as one party can’t be right 100 percent of the time, it shouldn’t have 100 percent of the power. Unchallenged power grows arrogant over time. It is what has given us one case of graft after another.”
One-party rule is unhealthy in a democracy, but Republican policies compel many of us to vote for Democrats in most elections. After all, if we are repulsed by GOP positions, we usually have one alternative - the Democrats. Ditto for voters displeased with the Democrats. The system discourages independent and third-party candidates because of the winner-take-all outcome permitted in elections.
Brown obviously designed his statement to accommodate his 2012 re-election campaign. As the only Republican in the state’s congressional delegation, Brown’s re-election would preclude one-party rule among members of Congress from Massachusetts and throughout state government.
If Brown is this worried about one-party rule, he can address this concern just as well by running as an independent. He would probably have a better chance to win as an independent and, if he wins, can focus on the needs of Massachusetts residents rather than demands of his party. An advantage to campaigning in Massachusetts lies in geographic convenience. Massachusetts has a large population, but more than half its citizens live within 25 miles of Boston.
Republican or independent, Brown is vulnerable in 2012, especially if the Democratic nominee runs a savvy campaign. He just flipped-flopped on Medicare. On Friday, May 14, 2011, Brown pledged to vote for the House budget plan to turn Medicare into a voucher system, and then promised on Monday, May 23, to vote against it.
Neither Snowe nor Maine’s other GOP senator, Susan Collins, need do much campaigning for re-election. Each has won re-election with high margins in past general elections, but they cannot be so optimistic about future Republican primaries. A number of prominent Republican office-holders elsewhere were defeated in their primaries because the party has become more conservative.
In early May, GOP primary rival Scott D’Amboise of Lisbon Falls accused Snowe’s husband of “stealing and misappropriating taxpayer funding” following a U.S. Department of Justice court motion to intervene in a lawsuit against Pittsburgh-based Education Management Corp. which alleges that the company improperly compensated employees who recruit students to the for-profit college company’s institutions, The Portland Press Herald reported. Snowe’s husband, former Maine Gov. John McKernan, is chairman of the company and has held other high-ranking positions there since 1998.
Note that nothing has been proven that her husband did anything wrong. Of course, this issue could come back to haunt Snowe if there really is something to it.
Snowe responded by calling D’Amboise’s comment “libelous,” adding, “You have a potential opponent here who suggests that he already has a verdict.”
Why should Snowe bother to haggle with this guy in the primary? After three terms in the Senate, Snowe is positioned to win as an independent. Certainly, running as an independent is hard. A candidate needs an organization and money which best comes from an established party. Also, independents siphon votes away from one or both of the other rivals.
Yet Snowe could win handily. Independents who have won statewide elections elsewhere had usually established themselves first as people of stature - in Maine, former Gov. Angus King; Vermont, current Sen. Bernie Sanders; Rhode Island, current Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee; and Connecticut, current Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman and former Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr.
As independent senators, neither Snowe nor Brown would be saddled with pressures from any political party. They would be free to vote for what is best for their constituents only. That is hardly the case now.
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