THE NATIVE CONSERVATIVE: George Smith

A remarkable man

Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

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Former California Congressman Pete McCloskey may be 78 but he has not lost any of his feistiness.

Honest and outspoken, McCloskey was in Maine last week at the College of the Atlantic as part of the school's Wiggins Lecture Series in Government and Politics.

I am certain the students got an earful. A newspaper interview reported McCloskey's view that his Republican Party has failed in its mission to balance the federal budget and reduce the size of government.

Those are not the only issues that upset him. A co-founder of the first Earth Day in 1970 and cosponsor of several important environmental bills including the original Endangered Species Act, McCloskey thinks the Bush administration and Republican Congress have weakened environmental laws and programs.

He even worries that we are losing our system of checks and balances with a president who dominates the Congress.

Right now he says he and his wife are working to get rid of what he calls the "DeLay Republicans" -- members of Congress allied with recently resigned House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas.

"They don't have any Republican values I remember," says McCloskey, who served in Congress from 1967 to 1983.

It is 1972 that I remember best when I hear his name. In New Hampshire's Republican presidential primary that year, McCloskey courageously stepped up to run against Richard M. Nixon, the incumbent president. And I went to work for McCloskey.

Having evolved from a Nixon zealot in 1968 to a disillusioned anti-war activist in 1972, I was more than ready for McCloskey and his anti-war message. I had decided that Nixon was dishonest and corrupt.

For six weeks in the dead of winter, I directed McCloskey's foot soldiers on a door-to-door canvas in northern New Hampshire. We were headquartered in Gorham and spent a lot of time working the city of Berlin.

Actually, we did not really have a headquarters. We lived and worked out of a small camp in the foothills of the Presidential Range, with frozen pipes and no food. We tried to arrange our schedule so we could be at George S. McGovern's campaign headquarters for dinner because they had food. McGovern won the Democratic presidential nomination that year and was stomped by Nixon in the general election.

McCloskey got 20 percent of the Republican primary vote in New Hampshire and dropped out of the race. But he never quit on us.

Shortly after Nixon's inauguration for his second term as president, then-Rep. McCloskey delivered the first speech calling for Nixon's impeachment. That was a contest McCloskey would ultimately win.

I learned a lot from the friendly, down-to-earth, former Marine pilot and his quixotic campaign for president.

One day, I was assigned the task of escorting actor Paul Newman around Berlin as he campaigned with McCloskey. I had to fill my old white VW bus with a specific German beer favored by Newman -- I think it was St. Pauli Girl. He never drank a single bottle but the beer did not go to waste.

As a young idealist, I was appalled as Newman and McCloskey campaigned up and down Berlin's Main Street and people went wild over Newman while ignoring McCloskey. How could they go crazy over an actor and show no interest in the courageous man running for president?

It was my first acquaintance with the concept of politics as entertainment. Fourteen years later, an actor would be elected president. It was not Newman.

We leafleted in snowy blizzards in mill towns and campaigned in Dixville Notch at the swanky Balsams Hotel. Years later, I would return to the Balsam's with my wife and fondly remember the campaign of 1972. Nixon clobbered us in the Notch, but that winter we started the process that led to his resignation.

It is nice to know that one of the good guys, McCloskey, is still alive and kicking. Our national leaders need that kicking.

It makes me wonder if there are any Pete McCloskeys lurking in the halls of Congress these days. Any Republicans willing to stand up to their president and congressional leaders and speak the truth. Anyone there who puts the environment first, thinks we ought to have a balanced budget, favors tax breaks that do not favor the rich?

After all, we cannot rely on Pete McCloskey as our truth teller forever. I hope this hero of the Republican Party enjoyed his fall visit to Bar Harbor. He is a most remarkable man who made a difference for this country.

George Smith of Mount Vernon is the executive director of the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine. He can be reached at george@samcef.org.