Cheney Voted a Conservative Conscience

No doubt about it, Dick Cheney, the Republican vice presidential candidate, had one of the most conservative voting records of any member of Congress during his five terms in the House.

Most of the time, on issues from environmental safety to gun control, the former Wyoming congressman was marching in lock-step with President Reagan, if not always with fellow Republicans. But what is more telling is that on occasion Cheney was not afraid to vote his conscience--even when he had little company among fellow conservatives--a stance that bespeaks deeply held political views.

Cheney was one of just four lawmakers who opposed a ban on plastic guns used by terrorists. He was one of just 21 lawmakers who opposed the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act. And he was one of 33 Republicans who opposed authorizing funds for Head Start. While some of his votes in retrospect may appear extreme, Cheney had carefully considered reasons at the time--born of both his Wyoming roots and his GOP leadership position--for taking the stands he did.

“If you look at his record, he’s a consistent conservative. He took the time to develop a philosophy and he stuck to it,” said David Gribbin, his longtime aide, who now runs the Washington office of Halliburton Co., the Texas-based oil service firm of which Cheney has served as president.

At the time, these votes were little-noted, both because Cheney was so well-liked and, more important, because he viewed it as his responsibility as a member of the Republican leadership to stand firmly with Reagan. And Reagan almost always took the same conservative positions.

The ‘Sagebrush Rebellion’

Moreover, Cheney was elected with a small cadre of Western Republicans, whose arrival in Congress was dubbed the “sagebrush rebellion.” These congressmen represented the frustrations of farmers, wildcat oilmen and small businessmen in the West over the dramatic increase in federal regulations in the 1970s.

Two themes--anti-regulation and tax reduction--became the core of the Republican Party’s philosophy throughout the 1980s and laid the groundwork for their successful capture of Congress in 1994.

“He was representing a constituency that was very skeptical of government regulation,” said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, Calif. “That was a formative period for the party. Both the sagebrush rebellion and the tax revolt . . . were crucial.”

Democrats have been quick to criticize the voting record of George W. Bush’s running mate. The Democratic National Committee posted a Web page that proclaimed Cheney “to the right of Newt Gingrich,” citing a series of votes in which Gingrich voted for legislation that Cheney opposed.

Representing His Wyoming Constituents

Such comparisons, however, ignore a crucial difference between the two lawmakers’ districts: Until the 1984 presidential election, Gingrich’s constituents split their votes almost evenly between Republican and Democratic presidential candidates. In contrast, nearly two-thirds of the Wyoming electorate voted Republican in 1980 and by 1984 a full 71% voted Republican.

“He was representing Wyoming,” said Bill Gradison, a former GOP member of Congress who served with Cheney. Gradison, a moderate who represented Cincinnati, said that he never thought of Cheney as outside the Republican mainstream. “A lot of how a member votes is geographical.”

Political scientists added that, while most lawmakers moderate their votes in part because they worry about facing a challenge in the next election, Cheney, after winning his seat the first time, never faced real opposition and thus had considerable freedom to vote his conscience.

Gradison and others also pointed out that politicians adjust their political positions depending on the office they are seeking. Vice President Al Gore’s positions were far more conservative when he was a congressman from Tennessee than when he became a national political figure, Gradison said.

“It’s different when you’re seeking a national constituency,” Gradison said. “As a member of Congress or the Senate, your obligation is to represent your district or your state and, to me, the proper question for Dick is, ‘How would you vote today on that issue?’ ”

In recent interviews, Cheney has said that, while he is comfortable with his voting record, he would vote differently on some measures, particularly those involving spending programs. “It’s important to remember that it was a different era,” Cheney said in an interview on CBS-TV’s “Early Show.” “In the 1980s, we had big budget deficits. Today we’ve got surpluses.”

Not Always Part of the GOP Pack

Though he split with the majority of his party on some votes because of budget issues, he had other reasons as well.

He was one of just 33 members of the House to vote against the reauthorization of Head Start in 1986. The program helps lower-income preschoolers get the education, food and health services they need to do well once they start elementary school.

Asked about the vote this week on CNN’s “Larry King Live,” Cheney cited questions about the program’s efficacy--a concern shared by a handful of Republicans who were skeptical of most social service programs. “At the time, there were questions about the content of Head Start--whether or not, in fact, we were operating the program in the fashion that would allow us to best get the maximum benefit out of it,” Cheney said.

He cited the budget as another concern. “The other thing that is important here is that . . . an issue I ran on repeatedly . . . was the notion of fiscal responsibility. Today . . . we have a significant surplus and we’re now in a position to be able to look at doing some things from a compassionate standpoint that we simply couldn’t afford 10 or 20 years ago.”

If he were to vote on Head Start today, Cheney said, he would favor funding the program.

Cheney cast similarly conservative votes against gun control of any kind, citing the 2nd amendment to the Constitution. He opposed both a measure that would have banned so-called cop killer bullets capable of penetrating armor worn by police and legislation that would have banned the sale of plastic guns, which law enforcement officials feared would be used by terrorists.

Debate Over Plastic Guns

In the latter case, Cheney took an even harder anti-gun control position than Reagan’s attorney general, Edwin Meese III, who initially opposed the plastic gun ban but changed his mind after law enforcement groups lobbied him.

Despite the change in the administration’s position, Cheney held firm. In an article in his hometown paper in Casper, Wyo., he said that his vote was a protest against a procedural technicality. He disliked the fact that the measure was brought up in such a way that it could not be amended.

“I have no great love for plastic guns,” the article said. “My concern is that you keep the right to bear arms. It’s a basic constitutional prerogative. . . . It [the ban] should not have been considered under the expedited procedures. It deserved a little more careful, thoughtful consideration.”

That article and quotes were being given to reporters by the Bush-Cheney campaign on Friday as an explanation of his position.

Asked specifically on NBC-TV’s “Today Show” about his opposition to the plastic gun ban--which even the NRA did not oppose--he quipped: “Well, obviously, I wasn’t in the pocket of the NRA.”

The environment is another area in which, with few exceptions, Cheney stood staunchly with the business and energy industry in opposition to any increased regulation. He was one of 21 House members to oppose the federal Safe Drinking Water Act and was one of eight lawmakers to oppose passage of the Clean Water Act. He also opposed reauthorization of the federal Superfund law, which required polluters to pay for the cost of cleaning up hazardous waste. Reagan also opposed several of these environmental measures--at least initially.

Dan Bartlett, a spokesman for the Bush-Cheney campaign, said that Cheney foresaw red tape and protracted legal battles that would cost taxpayers millions of dollars if the Superfund legislation became law. Cheney also took a strong states’ rights view of environmental regulation--a position typical of Republicans from the West, Bartlett said.

“Representing a Western state, he was against taking the control out of local stakeholders’ hands and putting it in the hands of the federal government,” Bartlett said. “There was a philosophical element to his opposition,” Bartlett said.

Looking After Local Interests

He noted that, while Cheney cast anti-environmental votes on national regulation, when it came to local interests, he was more sensitive to environmental concerns. He was the author and chief proponent of a law that preserved as wilderness 885,000 acres of Wyoming forest and mountain areas. He also supported legislation to reduce emissions associated with acid rain, Bartlett said.

For all of Cheney’s conservative record, the vote that first earned Democrats’ ire was his opposition to a nonbinding resolution that exhorted the Reagan administration to urge South Africa to release Nelson Mandela from prison. Cheney opposed it along with 176 other Republicans because the resolution also asked Reagan to urge the South African government to recognize the African National Congress. Many GOP members viewed the ANC as a Communist-backed organization. The ANC did have a number of members who identified themselves as Communists.