If anybody knows the meaning of being a party of one, it’s former U.S. Sen. Dean Barkley.
Appointed as an independent to the U.S. Senate in late 2002 by former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, Barkley said being an independent with no party to caucus with didn’t keep him from being an effective lawmaker.
Those saying former Maine Gov. Angus King, who is running as an independent for the seat of retiring Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, would be handicapped by not picking a political party to caucus with don’t know what they’re talking about, Barkley said.
“It’s more of the same B.S.,” he said.
“Being independent gives you an extraordinary amount of power and influence in the Senate, much more so than just falling in line with your caucus mates and being bullied into doing what they want,” he said. “You can do what you want and you can pick and choose the fights you want to get into.”
Barkley, who was appointed after Sen. Paul Wellstone, D- Minn., died in a plane crash, said he quickly became effective.
No rule forces a member of the Senate to caucus with a party and no rule prohibits an independent from being given committee assignments, as some critical of King’s stance have suggested.
“You can set up your own caucus, if there’s one or two of you, set up your own darn caucus,” Barkley said. “Have three caucuses, why do you have to have just two? That’s just a bad habit that should be broken.”
Barkley said in a telephone interview Thursday that he found himself in an “uncannily powerful position.”
He served all of 62 days in the Senate but became an instrumental player, helping to force a Senate vote that led to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, among other things.
The Senate was split evenly, with 50 Democrats matched by 49 Republicans and Republican Vice President Dick Cheney, who was president of the Senate.
“I was probably the most popular guy on the Hill. I was everybody’s best friend — for about a week,” Barkley said.
Mark Brewer, an associate professor of political science at the University of Maine in Orono, said it is unfair to compare Barkley’s experience to any King might have in the U.S. Senate.
He agreed with Barkley that an independent senator could wield extraordinary power but balked on the issue of caucuses and said he didn’t think King would resist party caucuses if he won the seat.
“If both parties said to him, ‘Look, you either caucus with us or you don’t get any committee assignments,’ which they can do, it would be absurd to pass up committee assignments,” Brewer said.
Lots of work gets done in committees, Brewer said. If King lost committee assignments that would diminish his power in the Senate.
But with a closely divided Senate, King could have clout, Brewer said. His vote would be more of a commodity and more sought after than one from a senator who is a staunch party loyalist.
“His vote, if it’s King, his vote is going to be at a premium,” Brewer said.
King said Friday that he has tried to clarify his position on caucusing and committees and some things he’s said in the past that have been taken out of context by his opponents.
“What I have tried to say consistently is I haven’t made up my mind, which is true,” King said. “It’s not like I have made up my mind and it’s secret. I have not made up my mind. I want to stay as independent as I can, for as long as I can but not do something that would make me ineffective on behalf of Maine.”
If Senate rules require him to caucus with a party to get a committee assignment, then he’ll do it, King said.
To see more from the Sun Journal visit sunjournal.com
Puff piece.
Exactly – like the ones published when he said he’s run a “positive” campaign. Whoopee.
If he feels he’s the right guy for the job, where was he when Snowe was still in the race?? This guy should have had his name in the race from the get-go… You have to wonder about that.
He’s an opportunist at best and should NOT get your vote!
he is no more an opportunist than anyone else running for this vacant seat
yes he is! He could have thrown his name in the mix as an independent but he didn’t. If he truly believed his time is now, he would have run against Snowe anyway. He doesn’t deserve you vote! What does he really stand for anyway?
Well, the flip side to your argument could be that King, generally speaking, supported Snowe. Why run against someone you think is doing a good job?
Angus King stands for Angus King and what he can do to get richer off the American taxpayer. He’s already bled Maine dry – now its off to bigger and better riches.
Re “If he feels he’s the right guy for the job …”
If he really doesn’t see a major difference between R’s and D’s, he is holding each equally responsible for the gridlock, showing himself ill-informed with respect to what has been going on. His not declaring the party with which he would caucus means per se he is not “the right guy.”
On the question of who is most responsible for the mess, see “It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism” by Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein, about which former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel (two terms) says, ““This is an exceptionally important and cogent analysis of America’s breakdown in self-governance. It is an urgent warning of the consequences of our intolerant politics and governing paralysis, and ways to fix it.”
Or maybe Angus King does see a difference, but chooses to run as an Independent
because his calculations show this the path the one most likely to lead him
to the Senate.
King’s refusal to indicate which party he will caucus with is a disservice to Maine voters.
Voters shouldn’t have to guess where a candidate stands.
By trying to play both sides, King appears to be a sly, slippery, calculating candidate.
In other words just another typical politician.
Angus King graduated from Dartmouth College in 1966…he was on college deferments at the time. From 1966 to 1969, he was on more college deferments while attending Univ, of Virginia Law School. In 1969, (at the Height of the Vietnam War and draft calls) King went to work for Pine Tree Legal.
Mr. King never served a day in the military. It’s OK that others were required to fulfill their obligations…but not Angus King. Other veterans can hold this man up as a role model…but not me. He is as fake and plastic as they come.
I hope you’re consistent in your criticisms. Thoughts on LePage?
a snake
I could not think of a person who is not more unsuited, for the Senate than King. look what he did to the state when he was governor.
I understand that King gave thousands of dollars to the Democratic Party this year. The BDN won’t tell you that for some reason. Seems relevant to this story. The BDN keeps rehashing this same story so they can have a King headline as often as possible. Why do stories when there is no news?
Actually he bought two tickets for his son and daughter-in-law to attend an Obama fundraiser. He did this before he knew he was going to run for the Senate.
Right! He wasn’t going to try to challenge Snowe, the coward!
He is a loser!!
So, by your definition all but one of the Republicans running for Snowe’s seat are cowards and losers too?
pbmann, running against an incumbent in your party is different than what this clown is doing. Snowe drops out..of course someone needs to run in her place besides that strange Tea Party guy..
LOL, some difference!
Duh? So that makes him “independent”? He will probably win because people like him personally. But this independent thing is ridiculous posturing. He and Bernie Sanders are about as likely to caucus with Republicans as Reid.
Alot of people in Maine are awake which makes it impossible for king to win
“I could not think of a person who is not more unsuited”
WoW! That makes me dizzy!
Yeah, I remember the King Daze!
Treating teachers like common criminals and forcing them to give up fingerprints in order to teach!
Giving out laptop computers to all school kids to play video games on, calling it education!
Now all they can do is punch pictures of hamburgers on computer screens at burgermart!
Ask them for individual items and they get confused and try to sell the Full Meal Deal!
King will win this race.
Sadly, you might be right… just shows how stupid some/many can be.
Nope. He will lose..
…
Takes a loser to back a loser!
I said he’d win. I didn’t say I backed him.
You’re so quick to throw an insult that you don’t pay attention to read for comprehension, so who’s the loser Mr. Teabully?
What better forum to augment his special interests? This guy is a schmuck of the first order, a do nothing in Maine who has profited mightily on wind power. Who needs him?
Thousands of 40 story industrial wind
turbine bird choppers spraying bird blood and disease into our
breathing air, dumping many megatons of co2 into our atmosphere from
their manufacture, transportation, and installation, causing
corruption at all levels, financial and wildlife ruination, and all
of that and worse for a trickle of electricity? I find that I no
longer have a political party. SHAME! I am very savvy about the
overall plans and rationales of big wind and they are NOT worth it!
I am vehemently opposed to to flattening the Western mountains of Maine, destroying our
internationally renowned wilderness hiking, camping and precious and
non replaceable scenic areas, lakes, ponds, rivers etc, for a trickle
of subsidy supported electricity to be shipped out state. We already
produce well in excess of the electricity we need and export the
rest. Tell me your approach to this most major of issues and I’ll
consider my standing. I have no love of Angus King.
This is bull. Whoever heard of Senator Barkley — no one. I don’t trust anyone who can’t make a decision during the election season. It appears to be a game whether it is or not.
The thought of this carpetbagging lawyer representing Maine in the US Senate sickens me.
Carpetbagger, opportunist, schmuck, unsuited. Some of the name calling in these comments prove there is more wind in here than there is on any hill in Maine. Good luck Gov. King.
More wind as in more taxpayer subsidized wind power, a key to Angus Kings riches.
Effective Democrat
King needs to go back to his mansion in V.I and his tax free haven. He took and took from the tax payers and still, there are some who want him back Just amazing, folks who don’t research and review before they think and comment. Very sad.
Hes a loser he will not get my vote
Please retire and leave this State once and for all angus.
Please be King. We don’t need another Republican getting us on the national news for all the wrong reasons like LePage does. At least Snowe and Collins behave themselves, doesn’t look like the current Republican candidates would be able to control themselves.
YES!
King need not be concerned about instilling an aura of mystery concerning his political positions and flawed ideology to Mainers. An unproductive and dilatory tour at the Blaine House, lavish payoffs from the Federal government to underwrite his Quixote quests, and the rapacious destruction of Maine’s wilderness are all too familiar themes to those who have eyes to see. Like his ebony inamorata in Washington, King will pursue an agenda of moral decline and uncontrolled spending while ushering our children into an age of government excess that resigns them to a common existence as fast-food vassals. This mildewed remnant of average intellect will unlikely go away in the near future; however, he should be reminded frequently that a failed legacy cannot be easily obfuscated.
This coming election will be a clash of ideology like this country has never seen before. We cannot permit the process to be cowardly fought with the politics of personality. Mainers, in truth, we are not as divided as we think but that will not prevent politicians from politically attempting to divide us further. A third party is just like throwing a pine log on a hardwood fire as there are only two competing ideas…Free Economy Capitalism and Big Governmentism, rooted in all the old failed European ism’s.
American bravery includes self-identification prior to the clash. Cutler needs to get off the fence, choose an ideology and tell us which, why, who he is and what he believes.
The United States Constitution will not be compromised.
Anyone that thinks King is anything but a Democrat is delusional!
King. a delusional name indeed..
He will vote with the Dem’s every time. I worked for the state when he was gov. Remember the shut down days, no pay days, and so. Would not vote for him no matter what party he picked!
Sorry day for the state of maine if he makes it to washington for four yrs. I think he made all his money electric power. See how many grants and bonds where floated for power stations and electric jobs during his time in office to help keep making him millions when he was in the Blaine House??? We do not need another spineless mainer in Washington.
I might go for it if he agrees to stay for just 61 days like Barkley.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Barkley
Two months — there’s some real big “experience” for ya.