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Lugar Says Weld Should Get Hearing

No. 2 Republican Would Support End Run Around Helms

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Aug. 3) -- A key Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Sunday that he would support an end run around the committee's chairman, Sen. Jesse Helms, to force a hearing on the nomination of William Weld to be U.S. ambassador to Mexico.

"A Senate chairman cannot be dictatorial, ultimately, when a majority of the committee, a majority of the Senate, a majority of the American people, want action," said Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) on ABC's "This Week."

"In due course, Governor Weld needs to be heard," said Lugar, who was the ranking Republican on the committee until Helms asserted a seniority claim to the spot in 1987. He now holds the No. 2 GOP committee post.

Helms (R-N.C.) has so far declined to schedule a hearing for Weld, a moderate Republican who resigned last week as governor of Massachusetts to fight for the nomination.

Helms Complains Weld Soft On Drugs

Weld

The conservative chairman has complained that Weld is soft on drugs because he supports medical use of marijuana and distributing clean needles to drug addicts to stem the spread of AIDS. He says Weld is thus unsuitable for the Mexican post because the flow of drugs is one of the significant policy issues with which an ambassador there must deal.

Weld has waged a public campaign for the job, saying Helms is holding up the nomination because of ideological differences between the two men. While both men are Republicans, they hold widely divergent views on social policy, including on abortion rights and gay rights. Weld is in favor of both; Helms strongly opposes both.

Though committee chairman are usually given deference in deciding whether or when to schedule confirmation hearings, a majority of the committee can vote to schedule one over Helms' objections.

If, as expected, all of the committee's Democrats backed such a move, it would require the votes of just two GOP members. At least one other Republican on the committee, Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), has joined Lugar in calling for a hearing.

Lugar, Inhofe Predict Helms Will Relent

Helms

Both Lugar and Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) predicted on "This Week" that Helms will decide to call a hearing himself, rather than be overridden by his own committee. But in comments to the Raleigh News & Observer newspaper, Helms indicated that he has not been swayed by Weld's campaign for the job.

"I'm not going to pick up his challenge. What he would like most in the world is for me to fire back. so he could fire back," Helms said.

Helms told the newspaper that his opposition is based strictly on policy.

"I'm just doing what I think is right for the country, regardless of parties or personalities," he said. "I just don't think anybody with his views ought to be ambassador to Mexico."

Helms said he had also recently discussed the nomination with White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, a fellow North Carolinian. He implied that Weld's support at the White House may not be ask strong as the former governor thinks it is.

"I wouldn't put it down as the gospel," Helms said.

Weld's Campaign May Have Hurt Chances

Even if Weld does get a hearing, there are indications that his very public campaign against Helms may have hurt his chances of being confirmed to the post.

Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said Saturday that while he initially supported Weld's nomination, his view may have changed because of actions by Weld that he termed "goofy."

"It doesn't at all give me an awful lot of confidence in his ability to do this job," said Hagel, speaking on CNN's "Inside Politics Weekend." "He didn't just kick dirt in the face of the chairman of the (committee). He really kicked sand in the face of the Senate, the institution."

Inhofe, who said he used to think Weld might make a good ambassador to a country without Mexico's drug problems, agreed that Weld had hurt himself by taking on Helms.

"Now I'm not sure he'd be even a very good ambassador anywhere because he doesn't seem to have the diplomatic skills," Inhofe said.





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