Despite Senate Defeat, Foster Sees Positives

Showing not a trace of bitterness, Dr. Henry W. Foster Jr. said that--while his ordeal as President Clinton’s surgeon general nominee ended in failure Thursday--it was an enriching and worthwhile experience because it enabled him to promote his lifelong campaign against teen-age pregnancy.

“This has provided me a platform to get that message out. It’s not as if this is going to go away,” Foster told reporters after the GOP-dominated Senate doomed his nomination by refusing for the second and final time to vote on it.

“This has not been for naught,” he said.

Flanked by 11 of his Senate champions, two of whom blinked back tears, the Nashville obstetrician-gynecologist pointedly thanked “the solid majority” of 57 senators who voted to move the issue forward and allow a vote on the nomination. Sixty votes were needed to approve that procedural step of invoking cloture and ending debate.

Had a vote been taken on the nomination, Foster almost certainly would have won because his confirmation required only a simple majority--51 votes if all senators are present.

“Fairness did not prevail,” Foster said.

The only time that he revealed any real emotion was when Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) praised his “noble career” and added: “Dr. Foster won today and America lost.”

At that point, Foster looked down and, apparently struggling to maintain his composure, drew his lips tightly across his face.

Amid the outpouring of praise for Foster at the press conference, Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) at times brushed away tears. California’s other Democratic senator, Dianne Feinstein, also was there and had spoken out for Foster during floor debate.

*

Clinton--traveling in Edison, N.J.--also denounced the Senate vote, saying: “This is not a good day for the United States Senate but it is a good day for Henry Foster. . . . Those who denied him the right to a vote, they may have pleased their political bosses but they have shown a lack of leadership that will surely be remembered.”

White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry said that Clinton plans to offer Foster a job running a federal program to reduce teen-age pregnancy--a post that will not require Senate confirmation.

“It’s clear that the President wants him involved in some capacity,” McCurry said.

He said also that Clinton plans to look for another surgeon general nominee but expects that any candidate who favors abortion rights will face the same kind of opposition that brought Foster down.

“We will look for a well-qualified candidate, but it’s going to be complicated by the fact that there is a Republican litmus test for the job,” McCurry said. “It’s going to be very difficult to find people who want to go through the process that Dr. Foster just endured.”

Thursday’s 57-43 Senate vote to end debate was identical to that recorded a day earlier, as 11 Republicans joined all 46 Democrats to invoke cloture and head off a threatened filibuster by Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Tex.).

Sens. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) accused Republicans of seeking refuge behind a parliamentary procedure. Harkin challenged them to “have the guts to come and vote up or down.”

“We are proceeding, I think, in a very fair way,” said Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.).

During the debate, Sen. Robert C. Smith (R-N.H.), an abortion foe, displayed graphic and gruesome diagrams of a highly controversial abortion technique--a none-too-subtle attack on Foster for having performed 39 abortions over his 38-year career.

Murray called Smith’s conduct “really outrageous” and Boxer urged GOP senators to change their votes as a way to register their displeasure at Smith’s tactics. For the most part, Democrats used their time to laud Foster’s record.

*

“The only test that he didn’t pass is the litmus test of the far right,” fumed Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.).

Afterward, Foster was asked if he could recommend public service to others, given his own experience.

“Don’t shirk your responsibility,” he replied. “Come in and try to change the system. But don’t back away from it.

“Would I have liked a different outcome? Absolutely,” Foster said. “But I remain strong and honored by being the President’s choice for surgeon general. And I intend to keep fighting for the things I believe in with all of my heart.”

Foster, 61, whose efforts to combat teen-age pregnancy earned him a “point of light” award from then-President George Bush, became embroiled in controversy almost immediately after his February nomination because he misstated the number of abortions he had performed, a mistake that he blamed on faulty recollection and a hasty reply.

The 11 Republicans who voted with the Democrats in favor of a confirmation vote were Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado, John H. Chafee of Rhode Island, William S. Cohen of Maine, Bill Frist of Tennessee, Slade Gorton of Washington, James M. Jeffords of Vermont, Nancy Landon Kassebaum of Kansas, Bob Packwood of Oregon, Alan K. Simpson of Wyoming, Olympia J. Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.

Times staff writer Doyle McManus contributed to this story.