My Way, the High Way

In the months since my decision to leave the Republican Party and become an independent, I have been both hailed and admonished. This is not surprising, given the impact of my decision. Yet, I find that many of the journalists, legislators and ordinary citizens who offer their thoughts still don’t understand the reasons behind my decision.

During my 26 years in Congress, I have been labeled many things--a moderate, a liberal, a maverick, an independent--but always, at least until last May 24, with the party affiliation Republican.

As we began 2001, I was hopeful. With a 50-50 U.S. Senate, I expected that moderates would be a strong force and that bipartisanship would prevail. At first, this seemed true. Moderate senators from both parties worked together to make significant changes to the president’s budget when it was considered in early April. We were able to reduce the size of the tax cut from $1.6 trillion to $1.25 trillion and to add $450 billion for education.

But when we sent that bill to the House-Senate conference committee, all our work, including the $450 billion for education, was stripped out of the final compromise. There were no moderates on the conference committee; it was totally controlled by the Republican leadership and the White House.

More than simply disappointing, the events were a clear signal to me that the Republican leadership had no intention of working with the moderate wing of the party. Something radical needed to happen.

Because the Republican Party controlled the White House, the House of Representatives and, in effect, the Senate, its partisans were able to run the conference committees, which gave them final say about legislation sent to the president.

It became clear to me that the role of moderates would be limited in the Senate--and that any influence we managed to garner would be overridden by conference committees stacked with partisans. Consequently, many of the issues I care most about--education funding, child care, rights for the disabled, environmental protection, choice, campaign-finance reform--were being pushed aside. I was alarmed that these priorities would continue to fall by the wayside and partisanship would rule the day.

With the Senate evenly split between Democrats and Republicans for the first time since the 1880s, a single senator could shift control of the Senate and change the agenda of the entire legislative body. One person could make a dramatic difference.

In the face of this, my conscience pushed forward a question: What would be the consequence if I did not take action? What would happen with the direction of the judiciary? Tax and spending issues? Missile defense? Energy and the environment? The consequences of doing nothing weighed heavily. I had the power to dramatically change the course of history: If I did not do so, I would have to accept responsibility for the results.

Not everyone saw it that way. Most members of my staff, all but one member of my family and all my Vermont advisors told me not to leave the Republican Party. My son threatened that if I did leave, he would name his first child Reagan Nixon Jeffords.

Still, I knew what I had to do. On May 24, I traveled from Washington to Vermont to make my declaration of independence. That decision changed the nation’s balance of power, changed our national agenda and changed my life forever.

Some Senate colleagues may never forgive me; some will always exalt me. In the end, my true friends in the Senate remain my friends.

My switch became official June 6, ending six years of Republican control of the Senate. The media swirled for days with stories about who lost Jim Jeffords. Did I switch because I had been snubbed by political operatives and not invited to the annual White House reception for the National Teacher of the Year, Michele Forman from Middlebury, Vt.? Did I switch because I had been threatened with retribution against my Vermont dairy farmers after I forced the White House to compromise and reduce the size of the tax cut? No. None of this mattered.

What did matter was that the issues I most cared about would be back on the agenda, would be given due consideration, would be advanced.

The media furor following my action was intense. I’ll never forget getting off a plane in Italy right after my switch to see my photograph and name in headlines of newspapers from across Europe. I even had a beer named after me. Magic Hat, a brewery based in South Burlington, Vt., created a beer called Jeezum Jim. They dubbed it “a celebration of conviction, courage and the difference one man can make.”

Not all the attention was positive. Numerous threats led to my needing round-the-clock police protection for weeks following the decision. The conservative Wall Street Journal editorial page said of me: “Not everyone gets to wake up one morning and decide an inner voice had told him to overturn the results of a national election, an unprecedented legal struggle and a decisive Supreme Court decision to form a government.”

Given all that has happened, would I do it over again? Absolutely. I have never felt more confident or secure about any decision in my life.

Because of my switch, Democrats now have a seat at the table and will be part of the final decision-making process. There is balance in the debate.

I do not believe that Democrats should get their way on every issue any more than Republicans should. My decision to become an independent has required all branches of government to compromise and to seek moderation and consensus.

As we begin 2002, we have many challenges ahead. Our nation grapples with the aftermath of Sept. 11 and our war against terrorism. We face economic uncertainty, and we are challenged to improve our schools and health-care system. I firmly believe that my decision to become an independent has brought balance to our deliberations on these vitally important issues.

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James M. Jeffords is chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. He is the author of “My Declaration of Independence.”