Here's A Conservative Who Is Partial to Sen. Arlen Specter

The Hill

May 21, 2003

Many of my fellow conservatives have their knives out for Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who is facing a primary challenge from Rep. Pat Toomey, who is keeping his pledge to serve only three terms in the House.

I have nothing against Pat Toomey. He's a bright, decent conservative whom I would support under other circumstances, but I'm afraid I can't bring myself to join this particular crusade. I say that knowing that on paper Toomey looks better than Specter. His lifetime American Conservative Union (ACU) rating is a spectacular 97, while Specter manages only an anemic 47. Pennsylvania's other Republican U.S. senator, Rick Santorum, has an ACU rating of 87.

But those ratings tell only part of the story. It is true that Specter can be infuriating. Many conservatives have never forgiven him his 1987 vote against confirming Robert Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court. But three years later, he reversed field and spearheaded the defense of Clarence Thomas before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Without Specter's help, it is doubtful that Thomas would be on the high court today, but his role in that fight almost cost him his Senate seat in his re-election campaign six years ago.

Steve Moore, the feisty head of the Club for Growth (and a member of the ACU board) can't stomach Specter. He's backing Toomey and calls the 2004 Pennsylvania Republican primary "the most important Senate election in the nation."

Steve is, of course, an economic conservative who sees Specter as little more than just another tax-and-spend incumbent who ought to be turned out in favor of the more predictable Toomey. But although Specter isn't a consistent supporter of tax cuts, he was the first senator to introduce the flat tax, has consistently supported a Constitutional amendment to balance the federal budget and favors a presidential line-item veto.

Moreover, Specter supported President Bush's most recent round of tax cuts, while such "moderate" Republicans as Maine's Olympia Snowe and Arizona's John McCain were taking a walk. During the floor debate, he even got a sense of the Senate amendment adopted directing the Finance and Joint Economic Committees to get back to work on fundamental tax reform.

Specter's critics dismiss all that. They say the former U.S. district attorney is a liberal at heart who sides with conservatives only because he has to keep someone such as Toomey from taking him out in a primary. Thus, his opposition to partial-birth abortion, support of missile defense and refusal to join McCain and others in undermining Second Amendment rights are seen as cynical bows to the right that allow him to bed down with liberals when it really counts.

Well, they're wrong. I've known and worked with Specter for more than a decade. I wish he were with us all the time, but that line of attack is neither accurate nor fair. Specter marches to his own drummer, but I've found the man to be as easy or as difficult to work with when he isn't facing re-election as when his opponents are organizing against him.

He is honest and decent, and, unlike many of his colleagues, his word is always good. When he's with you, he'll tell you, and when he's against you, he'll let you know that, too.

The White House, the Republican Senatorial Committee and Santorum are rallying around Specter for their own pragmatic reasons. Some think a primary could cost the GOP the seat, while others think the fight could jeopardize Bush's chances of carrying Pennsylvania next year. They may or may not be right.

But I'm for Specter for another reason. I may be going soft, but I like him. I like his honesty and his willingness to listen.

I don't always agree with him, but I believe conservative energy and resources can be more effectively utilized elsewhere.

Arlen Specter is what we used to call a standup guy. He isn't always with us, but when he is you can take his word to the bank. He's willing to climb out of his foxhole and take on the opposition, as he did in fighting for Clarence Thomas or in demanding needed reforms of the FBI in the wake of Sept. 11. That should count in a world in which most elected officials don't have the courage to disagree with anybody.

It may not count with many conservatives, but it counts with me.

David Keene is the chairman of the American Conservative Union and a managing associate with the Carmen Group, a Washington, D.C.-based governmental-affairs firm.