Jackhammered

by Ed Bethune

  Eventually, the time was ripe for Sam and Alison. Sam proposed marriage, Alison said, “Yes,” and a wedding date, October 10, 1992 was set. A happy ceremony at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Hot Springs, Arkansas, preceded a gala reception at the Arlington Hotel.

  When Lana and I got to the church, the young ushers were having entirely too much fun. We quickly determined why that was so. Ordinarily, ushers will ask guests whether they wish to sit on the bride’s side of the church or the groom’s side of the church. Since this was a bipartisan wedding, the ushers had stopped asking, “Bride or Groom?” Instead, they asked the arriving guests, “Republican or Democrat?” It turned out to be a good way to welcome folks, and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

  A large number of Democrat and Republican notables attended the wedding ceremony and the reception but most of those who came could have cared less about politics. They were longtime friends and family. Governor Bill Clinton was not in attendance because he was running for president and it was only three weeks to Election Day. His mother, Virginia, did come and when I saw her at the reception, I pulled her aside and said, “You are three weeks away from every mother’s dream.” It was clear at that time that Clinton was going to win the election, thanks to the candidacy of Ross Perot, an independent who siphoned votes from George H.W. Bush. She beamed, and we talked for a few minutes about the wedding and our hope that Sam and Alison would have a good and happy marriage.

  Three weeks later Bill Clinton won the election. He would be the forty-second president of the United States.

  I was somewhat concerned that Clinton’s election was a setback for the Republican party, but for the most part I was determined to keep my focus on taking care of my law practice in Searcy. My first responsibility was to my clients, and I was happy to focus on something other than politics.

  No one outside of Arkansas paid much attention when Lieutenant Governor Jim Guy Tucker moved up to be governor of Arkansas the day Clinton vacated the seat to take the office of president. They paid less attention when a political unknown, Mike Huckabee, won a special election to fill the seat vacated by Tucker. In winning the race for lieutenant governor, Huckabee became only the fourth Republican to win a statewide race since Reconstruction. His victory would matter later.

  As 1993 rolled around, Lana and I bought a thirty-three-foot sailboat, Greensleeves, and immediately sailed her into the Atlantic Ocean on a blue water trip from Fort Lauderdale to Charleston, South Carolina. It was a belated application of the hair of the dog that bit you remedy. A few months later, my son Sam and I made another blue water trip on Greensleeves. It was exciting to be back on the high seas but it did not compare with our next adventure.

  We were about to become grandparents! Our daughter Paige was pregnant and the baby was due in May, the birth month of Paige and Sam. Everything went smoothly and on Cinco de Mayo—May 5, 1993—Bailey Alexandra Nassetta was born. We were there, of course.

  Then, on October 25, 1993, Sam and Alison became the parents of a baby girl, Amy Nicole Bethune. We drove all night from Searcy in an effort to be on hand for the delivery, but Nicole would not wait on us. We got to the hospital in St. Mary’s County, Maryland a few hours after she was born. Now we had two granddaughters. It never occurred to us that we might wind up with eight granddaughters, but that is exactly what happened over the course of the next ten years.

  The joy of witnessing new life occurred against a backdrop of sadness, of sickness, and death. My sister, Delta Lew, died on December 23, 1993, a victim of lung cancer. It was painful to watch the chemotherapy take her hair, the sickness from it take her flesh, and the cancer take her life. She, the most beautiful girl ever, the one who sacrificed so much to help me, just wasted away.

  Delta Lew did not live to see her own grandchildren, but she did get to see our first granddaughter, Bailey, who she lovingly called, “Chunk.” When she died, her husband, Bill, arranged a private family burial in Little Rock because that is what she wanted. It was her way to live inconspicuously, devoting herself to family first, last, and always.

  Throughout the joy and sadness of the early 1990s, I was doing my best to learn and grow as a believer and disciple of Christ. The first part, believing and surrendering may take longer, as it did in my case, but it is simple compared to the second part, discipleship.

  Once I was in the fold, I learned that I had to get rid of the idea that I could figure out, on my own, how to conform to God’s purpose. That is nothing more than ego, self, and pride. I would have to be patient and let God explain things to me as I was able to understand them, and that does not come all at once. I was going to have to study and pray to get to where God wanted me to be. Some call it the “process” of sanctification to illustrate that it is not an overnight thing, and that is a good description. Sanctification is a lifelong effort that comes to a screeching halt every time pride shows up. I was learning, the hard way (my specialty) that Jesus cannot teach me a thing until I get rid of those barriers.

  53

  POLITICAL UPHEAVAL

  AND GRANDDAUGHTERS

  A revolution is an idea which has found its bayonets.

  Napoleon Bonaparte

  Clinton’s popularity as the newly elected president of the United States was not to last. He misread his mandate and overreached, just as he had done when he, at age thirty-two, became governor of Arkansas. As the youngest governor in the country, he surrounded himself with liberals, made some unpopular decisions, and the people of Arkansas booted him out of office after only two years.

  It was a mistake for President Clinton to empower his wife, Hillary Clinton, to head up an effort to reform healthcare. Opponents called it a big-government, liberal takeover of healthcare. The brand stuck and Clinton’s initiative became known as HillaryCare. The effort failed, the voters were upset, and Clinton paid for it in the next election.

  There were other reasons for what was about to happen. The Republican party united conservative and independent voters behind their Contract with America, a pledge that panned HillaryCare and argued, among other things, that the House of Representatives was under the control of corrupt leaders.

  On Election Day, 1994 the Republican party gained a majority of seats in the House of Representatives for the first time since 1954. There was a fifty-four-seat swing in membership from Democrats to Republicans. The Democrats had run the House of Representatives for all but four of the preceding sixty-two years.

  Virtually overnight Lana and I found ourselves questioning the wisdom of staying in Searcy. My law practice was going well, and we were thoroughly happy with life in small town Arkansas, but now there were new factors to consider.

  We had two granddaughters living in the Washington, D. C. area, and more were on the way.

  The Republican takeover of the House, with Newt Gingrich scheduled to be speaker, created a real opportunity for me and I had an outstanding offer to join the Washington office of a prestigious Texas law firm as a partner.

  For us, it came down to this: If I could make a living in Washington and we could be close to our grandchildren, why not go?

  Once again, we pulled up stakes. I became a partner at Bracewell & Patterson (later Bracewell & Giuliani) and handed my Arkansas law practice over to Russ Hunt, a former FBI agent, who had joined my practice a year earlier.

  We moved into a condominium that gave us an inspirational view of the Potomac River and all the major monuments. I worked at the law firm and Lana began to sell real estate in the Northern Virginia area. We were not getting any younger, and since I had refused to take the congressional retirement benefit, we needed to start preparing financially for our retirement years.

  Our move to Washington got us there just in time to witness the birth of our third granddaughter, Mason Ellis Nassetta, on January 31, 1995, an event that confirmed the wisdom of our decision to return.

  On Easter Sunday, April 7, 1996 our daughter, Paige converted to Catholicism. All Nassetta family members are Roman Catholics
and have been for eons. Paige wanted to raise her children in the Christian faith, and she did not want them distracted by debates over which church has the best approach.

  Christians have debated the differences between one church and another for centuries, and in spite of the violent opposition to Protestantism of our presumed ancestor, Cardinal David Bethune, the Bethune family switched to Protestant somewhere along the way. The arguments about church doctrine continue, but for me there is but one concern: Is the church—Catholic or Protestant—united and is there a shared love of Jesus Christ?

  Lana and I attended the service that Easter Sunday. When it was over, I placed in my daughter’s hands the crucifix that Pope John Paul II had blessed when he placed it in my hands at the Vatican in 1982. It was a special moment.

  The granddaughters kept coming. On May 21, 1996, Alison gave birth to Olivia Lee Bethune. Our son’s second daughter was born on his birthday, the best birthday present a father could ever have.

  Then it was Paige’s turn again. Kirby Marie Nassetta was born on November 27, 1997. Sydney Paige Nassetta was born on November 25, 1999 and Peyton Lynley Nassetta was born on March 21, 2001. Fittingly, our son-in-law, Chris Nassetta, got a new boat and named her Another Girl.

  Life is not all joy, there are always moments of sadness. Lana’s mother, Mary Lou Douthit passed away on October 9, 2002. She did not live to see her eighth great-granddaughter, Avery Frances Nassetta, born August 15, 2003.

  Meanwhile, the Republican Party of Arkansas was growing, but not as fast as in other southern states. Bill Clinton’s remarkable victory over President George H. W. Bush in 1992 created what I called the “Clinton Interregnum.” His election to the presidency brought a natural outpouring of state pride and provincialism that slowed but did not stop Republican progress in Arkansas.

  Republicans Tim Hutchinson and Jay Dickey won seats in the United States House of Representatives in 1992. Dickey’s amazing victory was the first for a Republican in the Fourth District since Reconstruction. Then in 1996, Tim Hutchinson won a seat in the United States Senate. His brother, Asa, won the House seat that Tim vacated to run for the Senate.

  On July 15, 1996, Lieutenant Governor Mike Huckabee, a Republican, became governor of Arkansas. He moved into the position when Governor Jim Guy Tucker resigned due to a criminal conviction arising out of the Whitewater investigations. The unexpected turn of events was embarrassing for the state, but Huckabee handled the sad moment with dignity.

  On November 5, 1996 in a special election to fill the seat vacated by Huckabee, Arkansans elected Win Paul Rockefeller, the son of Governor Winthrop Rockefeller. He served with distinction as lieutenant governor until July 16, 2006 when he tragically succumbed to a fatal blood disorder.

  Huckabee proved to be a popular governor, so much so that the people elected him to a full four-year term as governor in 1998. In that election he got the largest percentage of the vote ever received by a Republican gubernatorial nominee in Arkansas. He was re-elected to another four-year term in November 2002.

  In all, Mike Huckabee served ten years and six months as governor. The Republican Party of Arkansas gained stature and strength during his tenure.

  On August 6, 2001, Congressman Asa Hutchinson vacated his seat in the House to become administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration. John Boozman, who would later win a seat in the United States Senate, succeeded Asa.

  Elsewhere in the political sphere, Arkansas Republicans were winning hundreds of positions at the county and state legislative level. Hard working volunteers and financial supporters from all walks of life were growing the party. The newcomers took over for the intrepid few—most are gone, but not forgotten—who worked so hard to build the party when the political ground was hard as a brickbat.

  We were not in the state for most of Huckabee’s governorship, but he and all the others who joined the Republican effort made us proud. It was extremely satisfying to see the growth of a two-party system in Arkansas.

  Finally, in 2010, the maturity of the Arkansas Republican party reached new levels and everyone, even partisan Democrats, conceded that Arkansas had become a legitimate two-party state. Tim Griffin of Little Rock won the congressional seat I once held, the Second District of Arkansas. Steve Womack of Rogers won the Third District seat in Congress. And, for the first time since Reconstruction a Republican, Rick Crawford of Jonesboro won the First District seat in Congress.

  Speaker-to-be John Boehner came to Little Rock during the 2010 campaign to help our candidates for Congress.

  Statewide, Congressman John Boozman defeated incumbent Senator Blanche Lincoln. We had a fine candidate for governor, Jim Keet. I chaired his campaign but he came up short in a gallant effort to oust the incumbent Democrat, Mike Beebe. Mark Darr became lieutenant governor; Mark Martin became secretary of state and John Thurston became land commissioner. To top off the stunning political upheaval, Republicans reached historic highs in the state Senate and the state House of Representatives.

  54

  ANOTHER NEW CAREER

  Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, and without

  sneering teach the rest to sneer. Willing to wound and yet

  afraid to strike, just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike.

  Alexander Pope

  When I first joined the Washington, D.C. office of Bracewell &Giuliani in 1995, I worked on a number of government relations issues. I represented Alltel, a Little Rock-based telephone company, and I continued my work for the FBI Agents Association. There were other clients, but it was not long before I took on a new role, one that would continue for more than a decade. Members of Congress started retaining me to represent them when someone accused them of violating a law or ethical code of conduct.

  I was a natural for this work because of my background as an FBI agent, a prosecutor, a defense attorney, and a recognized expert in criminal procedure but most importantly, I was a trusted former colleague with Ethics Committee experience.

  Members knew that I had represented Newt Gingrich in 1989 when Bill Alexander, the Arkansas Democrat, filed a ten-count ethics complaint against Newt alleging over four hundred instances of misbehavior. It took a few months, but the bipartisan committee found no violations and dismissed Alexander’s complaint saying it did not warrant a formal inquiry. It was a shameless attempt to use the ethics process for revenge and to belittle Newt, solely because he had instigated an ethics investigation that ultimately forced Speaker Jim Wright, a Democrat, to resign. Alexander’s ethics charge failed miserably, but he and the Democrats fed story after story to the media to get what they wanted; headlines suggesting Newt had done something wrong when he had not.

  There is a serious fault in the congressional ethics process. It derives from the disingenuous nature of political warfare. The rotten, devious attitude permeating our current system is like that described in 1734 by Alexander Pope (see quote above) in his “Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot.” There are many examples to prove my assertion that the congressional ethics process has degenerated into a partisan tool, but one sordid episode stands above all others.

  The Democrats went after Newt Gingrich again in 1994, this time alleging that he violated campaign finance and tax laws by establishing a college course called “Renewing American Civilization.” He had not, and that was the ultimate finding of the Ethics Committee.

  In the course of the protracted inquiry the top Democrat on the Ethics Committee, Congressman Jim McDermott, a Democrat from the state of Washington, was doing everything he could to hurt Newt. His conduct got so bad that Jim Bunning of Kentucky, a Republican member, resigned from the committee saying, “He [McDermott] has poisoned the well for that committee forever.”

  An example of McDermott’s poison showed up in the first days of January 1997. Congressman John Boehner was traveling in Florida and used his cell phone to join a telephone conference call for Republican leaders of the House of Representatives. The purpose of the private conference was to discuss
what Republican leaders could do and not do in connection with Newt’s campaign for reelection as speaker of the U. S. House of Representatives.

  A Florida couple—monitoring transmissions from a nearby cell phone tower—intercepted Boehner’s connection and tape-recorded the conference call. They soon realized that the call involved Speaker Newt Gingrich, me as the speaker’s lawyer, and other Republican leaders and we were discussing the heavily publicized ethics case. At that point, they gave the tape recording to a Democrat member of Congress from Florida.

  The ill-gotten tape eventually found its way to McDermott who released it to The New York Times for the express purpose of biasing the case that he, as the top Democrat on the Ethics Committee, had sworn to judge fairly.

  On January 10, 1997, The New York Times ran a front-page story reporting verbatim excerpts of the telephone conference call. The story said a Democrat congressman hostile to Newt Gingrich had given a transcript of the tape recording to the newspaper.

  During the conference call, I was explaining what the leaders could say and not say about the pending ethics case while Newt was running for reelection as speaker of the House. My guidance to the Republican leaders was all about how to obey the rules. It was perfectly appropriate, but the Democrats tried (unsuccessfully) to spin our conference call as a nefarious violation of the committee process. The incident backfired on the Democrats because it showed how partisan Jim McDermott had become. His breach of duty revealed his willingness to deprive an accused of a fair and impartial trial. The incident forced McDermott to resign four days later from the Ethics Committee. Later on, John Boehner sued McDermott and recovered a sizeable judgment. The Ethics Committee then found McDermott to be in violation of the rules, but did nothing about it.