GOP Trades Up
Jeffords be gone!

Mr. Moore is president of the Club for Growth
May 15, 2001 8:55 p.m.

enate Majority Leader Trent Lott confirmed today a blockbuster trade that will send Zell Miller, the Georgia Democrat, to the Republicans in exchange for Vermont's Jim Jeffords and a liberal Republican to be named later. Speculation is that the politician to be named later will be ultra-liberal House member Jim Greenwood of Pennsylvania.

The trade has been rumored for months, ever since Miller announced that he would vote for the Bush tax plan, much to the annoyance of his Democratic colleagues. The relationship between Miller and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle has been icy from the start of this term, and the damage became irreparable when Miller declared last week that "congressional Democrats were no longer the party of JFK, a progressive tax cutter."

Meanwhile, Jeffords has been an irritant within his own party, especially of late, when he voted first against the Bush tax cut plan, then against a scaled back tax cut voted on last week. Mr. Daschle could hardly contain his glee over the trade, saying, "In Jim Jeffords we've now inserted into our line-up a reliable vote against tax cuts for the rich." Daschle went on to describe Jeffords as a cagey veteran of Congress who can "almost always be counted on to vote against trickle down economics and for more social spending. His record for progressive causes is really impeccable."

Daschle also said that he was sorry to have to deal away Zell Miller, but that the affable Georgian "never really fit in with Democratic party here in Washington." "All Zell wanted to talk about was tax cuts this, tax cuts that. We tried to explain to him the importance of the Social Security lock box, Medicare prescription-drug benefits, and more money for education, but to no avail." Daschle described Miller as "totally entranced with the voodoo philosophies of the GOP." The final straw for the Democrats came late last week when Miller sponsored a bill to cut the capital-gains tax.

Not all Democrats were pleased about this mid-session trade. "In adding Jim Jeffords to our caucus," said Evan Bayh, the chairman of the Democratic Leadership Conference, "we continue to tilt our party further to the left fringe of the political spectrum. We're no longer even spittin' distance from the sensible center," he fumed.

Jeffords said he had little regret in switching parties. "I didn't leave the GOP. The party left me. There's far too much Reagan and far too little Rockefeller in the Republican party these days for my taste." Jeffords briefly considered joining fellow-Vermonter Bernie Sanders of the House as a member of the Socialist party, but said it would be more practical to become a Democrat. "Anyways, there really isn't that much of a philosophical difference between the two," he said.

The deal almost fell through when the Democrats rejected the one for one swap, insisting that Miller has a longer and more distinguished career ahead of him than Jeffords. That's when Republicans agreed to throw in a liberal House member to seal the deal. RNC Chairman Jim Gilmore conceded that "it will probably be Jim Greenwood of Pennsylvania who will be sent over to the Democrats, but there are so many liberal Republicans to choose from, it could be anyone of 25 House members."

Miller says he joins up with the GOP with some trepidation. "I'm terribly concerned that I may be too conservative for the congressional Republicans," he complained.