YOUE BREAKFAST WITH REPRESENTATIVE SKELTON, SNOWE, AND STENHOLM (D., MO), SNOWE (R., ME) AND STENHOLM (D., TX)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90M00005R000400070012-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 13, 2012
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: June 10, 1988
• Content Type: MEMO

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OCA fltE *c I
e affW~
bb-l '1Z , 10 June 1988 J
10
FROM:
VIA: Director of Congressional Affai
MEMORANDUM FOR: Deputy Director for Intelligence
House Affairs
Office of Congressional Affiars
SUBJECT: Your Breakfast with Representatives Skelton
(D., MO), Snowe (R., ME) and Stenhoim (D., TX)
1. The Representatives have asked for a breakfast briefing
on the current situation in Panama. The briefing will be held
on 14 June 1988 at 0730 in the DCI Dining Room. In addition to
the three representatives, Tommy Glakas, a personal staffer to
Mr. Skelton, will attend.
2. These breakfasts are somewhat of a tradition with
Mr. Skelton, especially in connection with his influential
membership on the House Armed Services CommitteP_ F
3s
possible that he may ask for additional information during this
breakfast. Please note that none of our guests serve on the
House Intelligence Committee and are not entitled to
operational information.
3. It is not unusual for staff member Tommy Glakas to
attend these meetings; in addition to his substantive role,
Mr. Glakas assists Mr. Skelton, a victim of childhood polio.
4. Mrs. Snowe, our only Republican guest, represents the
massive congressional district of northern Maine. She is the
ranking member on the International Operations Subcommittee of
the Foreign Affairs Committee. Mrs. Snowe has zealously
guarded her independent interests with votes on foreign
affairs. After a visit to Central America in 1986, she became
a supporter of the Contra cause. She has a special interest in
the security of US facili.ties abroad.
5. Mr. Stenhoim is a conservative Democrat from the west
central Texas prairie. He leads the Conservative Democratic
Forum (the Boll Weevil group). Mr. Stenholm serves on the
Agriculture and Veteran Affairs Committees and shares the
foreign policy views of our other guests.
ocvi
25X1
25X1
25X1
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6. While our guests did not make a specific request for
information on Panama, we should anticipate their interest in:
the long term. security of the Panama Canal,
possible threats to US persons and facilities; and
the likelihood of an "after Noriega" scenario.
Attachments
Biographies
2
SECRET
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Distribution
Original - Adse
- D/ OCA
- OCA Registry
1 - KB Chrono
HA:OCA:KB:sf (10 June 88)
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4 Ike Skelton (D)
of Lexington - Elected 1976
[corn Dec. 20, 1931, Lexington, Mo.
)Education Attended Wentworth Military Academy,
1949-51; U. of Edinburgh, 1951-53; U. of Missouri,
B.A. 1953, LL.B. 1956.
occupation: Lawyer.
Family: Wife, Susan Anding; three children.
Religion Christian Church.
political Career. Chairman, Lafayette County Demo-
cratic Committee, 1962-66; Mo. Senate, 1971-77.
Capitol Office: 2453 Rayburn Bldg. 20515; 225-2876.
In Washington A quiet, courteous Demo.
crat with a hawkish record on defense issues,
Skelton nevertheless has an instinctive skepti-
cicm about military leaders themselves, and the
ptructure of Pentagon power. He has spent
much of his career on Armed Services working
t., revamp the Defense Department hierarchy.
Along with other Pentagon critics in both
the House and Senate, Skelton began arguing
CA-I in the 1980s that U.S. military strength
Wes being hindered by interservice rivalry, and
that power in the military establishment
Deeded to be centralized. In the 99th Congress,
Skelton offered two Pentagon reform bills. The
first aimed at granting more authority to the
chairman of the Joint Chiefs and less to the
individual service branches. The second, of-
fered chiefly to spawn discussion, would have
?h.. fished the Joint Chiefs entirely and re-
placed them with a single chief of staff.
Under the existing system, Skelton com-
plained, "you get a committee - watered-
dnwn, consensus advice as opposed to strong
military advice.... The Good Book informs us
quite pointedly that no man can serve two
masters."
The effort made him an enemy of John
Lehman, the secretary of the Navy, who said it
would create "a Prussian-style general staff
reporting to a strengthened chairman." Skelton
imisted he only wanted to avoid waste when
the services compete against each other.
By the end of 1986, the effort had been
more successful than even Skelton might have
hoped, due largely to the support of Sens. Sam
Nunn and Barry Goldwater and of Rep. Bill
Nichols of Alabama, perhaps the single most
respected member of House Armed Services.
Those senior members were the most visi-
bk advocates of Pentagon reform as it cleared
Congress in 1986, but Skelton's early contribu-
Missouri - 4th Distrkt
tions were crucial in bringing the process for-
ward. The bill strengthening the role of the
Joint Chiefs' chairman passed the House 406-4.
At the start of the 99th Congress, the
Missourian played a role even more striking for
him than that of Pentagon critic - he joined
what amounted to a liberal rebellion against
the Armed Services chairman. Skelton was cru-
cial as Armed Services dissidents persuaded
House Democrats to oust Chairman Melvin
Price and install Les Aspin of Wisconsin.
In Skelton's case, liberalism had little to do
with it. He simply felt that the 80-year-old
Price was too feeble to give the committee the
independent leadership it needed. He was im-
portant to the rebellion because of his credibil-
ity among other conservative Democrats who
would likely have ignored lobbying by anybody
identified with the party's left.
"This was a very, very unpleasant thing to
do," Skelton said after Price was defeated. "It
was a matter of leadership and no longer just
accepting the wish lists of the four branches of
the military." Skelton also helped out in 1987
as Aspin fought off a challenge to his chairman-
ship from Marvin Leath of Texas.
Also in the 99th Congress, Skelton led the
effort in the House to restore funding for
production of lethal chemical weapons for the
first time since 1969. The House had fended off
administration requests to resume nerve gas
production in 1982, 1983 and 1984. In 1985,
Skelton's amendment to include $124 million
for binary weapons production was adopted.
Skelton is a keen supporter of the adminis-
tration's policy against the leftist government
in Nicaragua, and he was the chief Democratic
sponsor in 1986 of the GOP-initiated plan to
provide aid to the contras fighting the Nicara-
guan regime. That proposal was to send $100
million in military and non-military aid to the
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Missouri 4
Sprawling across west-central Missouri,
the 4th is in amalgam of rural farm land,
scenletourist resorts and blue-collar subur-
ban turf outside Kansas City.
Much of the area is given over to small
farming. The 4th's cattle business is focused
toward its southern end; corn, soybeans,
pork and dairy production are important
districtwide. Pockets of rural poverty -
especially in parts of Texas County - stand
in contrast to the economic climate enjoyed
by comfortable landowners living in La-
fayette and Pettis counties at the 4th's
northern end. -
Tourism has supplemented the dis-
trict's agriculture in recent years. Winding
around Camden County's northern border
is the Lake of the Ozarks, a stretch of water
that draws boaters, swimmers and skiers
from around the state and nurtures a grow-
ing restaurant and motel trade.
Roughly 40 miles northeast of the lake
lies Jefferson City, all but a sliver of which
falls within the dth's boundaries. Missouri's
capital since 1826, it has never developed
into a city- of much size or sophistication.
State government is the largest employer.
rebels. After an intense, emotional debate, the
House adopted the amendment 221-209.
Skelton's interest in defense policy began
long before he gained a seat on Armed Services.
Searching for an issue in building a legislative
career when he came to Congress, Skelton
quickly found one in civil defense.
There are 150 reasons why civil defense is a
good issue for Skelton - 150 Minuteman mis-
siles that fan out from Whiteman Air Force
Base through his district. For Skelton, civil
defense is constituent service, and he lobbies
for a national plan that would include local
blast shelters able to withstand nuclear attack
or a sophisticated new evacuation system.
"Western Missouri is a potential holo-
caust," he warned in 1979. "These people
didn't ask to have missiles put in their back
yards ... to be sitting ducks for the benefit of
200 million other Americans."
A childhood polio victim who went on to
graduate from a military academy, Skelton
added funding to a 198] military pay bill
increasing ROTC scholarships for the Navy
and Air Force; the next year, he put through a
West - Kansas City
Suburbs; Jefferson City
The district reaches into the Kansas
City area to pick up some 80,000 constitu.
tints, many of whom 'commute to work in
Kansas City factories. Other population
centers in the 4th include Sedalia, a historic
rail town and site of the annual Missouri
State Fair, and Warrensburg, a grain and
livestock center that is home to Central
Missouri State University.
Between those two cities is Whiteman
Air Force Base, whose Minuteman missiles
make civil defense a paramount concern. In
addition, the Richards-Gebaur Air Force
Base (near Kansas City) and the Army's
Fort Leonard Wood (Pulaski County) are
located here.
The 4th contains some solidly Demo-
cratic areas of Jackson County east of Kan-
sas City. But votes from this region have not
been sufficient to overcome the GOP mar-
gins districtwide in recent elections for state
and national of ice.
Population: 546,637. White 524,772 (96%), Black
14,950 (3%), Other 4,383 (1%). Spanish origin 5,503
(1%). 18 and over 390,415 (71%), 65 and over 70.341
(13?/,). Median age: 30.
requirement that ROTC students complete
their education.
At Home: A small-town lawyer with a
sincere and low-key style, Skelton has had only
one tough contest since winning election in
1976. In 1982, redistricting threw him together
with another incumbent, freshman Republican,
Rep. Wendell Bailey.
Map makers gave Skelton a head start in
the race. When Bailey's old 8th District was
dismembered, the largest single bloc of his
constituents - about 178,000 people in seven
counties - was added to Skelton's 4th. So
Bailey decided that was the place to seek a
second term. But for every one of his old
constituents in the new district, there were
nearly two of Skelton's.
Numerous political action committees and
nationally known politicians came into the 4th
and billed the Skelton-Bailey match as a test of
the popularity of Reaganomics in the rural
heartland. The candidates responded with ap-
propriate rhetoric: Skelton called Bailey a
"rubber stamp" because he supported nearly
all the president's budget and tax proposals.
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and Bailey countered that Skelton's mixed
record of support for Reaganomics showed him
be a liberal who occasionally waffled to
:ffective ,PeHSe conservatives.
Bailey, known as one of Missouri's most
Republican campaigners, was relying
en the gregarious, hard-charging style he devel-
o, ed as a car salesman to help him pull Demo-
crats away from the less-dynamic Skelton.
But in the end, all the discussion over
Reagenomics and the differing styles of the two
candidates probably were not decisive. Most of
the voters chose the man most familiar to them.
()f the seven counties that had been part of
(ai)ey's old 8th District, Bailey carried six. But
Skelton had represented 13 counties, and man-
ned to carry 12 of them. That brought him in
nearly 18,000 votes ahead.
Skelton was a rural state legislator with a
narrow political base when he began his 1976
campaign to succeed retiring Democratic Rep.
William Randall. Only two counties in his state
Senate district were within the borders of the
Committees
Amred Services (13th of 31 Democrats)
e:~ lary Installations and Facilities; Military Personnel and Com-
ppwtion. Procurement and Military Nuclear Systems.
Select Aging (23rd of 39 Democrats)
Men"nand Long-Term Care.
$mo Business (5th of 27 Democrats)
Exports, Tourism and Special Problems (chairman).
11W Genarat
ke Skelton (D)
11814 General
a e Skelton (D) 150,624 ( 67%)
Ce?1 D. Russet. (R) 74,434 ( 33%)
Previous Winning Percentages: 1982 155%) 1980 (68%)
Wit (73%) 1976 (56%)
District Vote For President
1984 1980 1976
0 75,862 (33%) D 90,030 (40'J) D 97,502 (48%)
R 155.936 (67%) R 125,179 (56%) R 103,436 (51%)
6,185 ( 3%)
Campaign Finance
Receipts Expend-
Receipts from PACs itures
Missouri - 4th District
4th District as it was then drawn. His major
rivals for the Democratic nomination, Jack
Gant and Don Manford, were state senators
from the Kansas City suburbs, which cast
about 40 percent of the district vote.
Skelton chose to emphasize that he was the
only major candidate from the rural part of the
district, and campaigned actively for farm and
small-town support. It was a successful strat-
egy. He ran third in the suburbs, but with the
rural vote he won with 40 percent overall.
Independence Mayor Richard A. King was
the Republican nominee. A protege of Republi-
can Gov. Christopher S. "Kit" Bond, King tied
his general election campaign to the GOP
ticket of Bond and senatorial candidate John
C. Danforth, hoping to benefit from their coat-
tails. Skelton emphasized his farm background
and fiscal conservatism, voting against a pay
raise for state legislators as an example.
King was not greatly helped by the top of
the GOP ticket; Danforth carried the 4th, but
Bond lost it. Skelton won by 24,350 votes.
1964
Skelton (D) $275,213 $150,770 (551/) $214,962
Voting Studies
Presidential Party Conservative
Support Unity Coalition
Year S 0 S 0 S 0
1986 48 47 66 26 76 20
1985 44 46 66 25 85 15
1984 54 38 63 27 76 15
1983 45 50 56 37 74 22
1982 46 34 40 41 73 14
1981 58 39 45 45 91 5
S = Support 0 = Opposition
Key Votes
Produce MX missiles (1985) Y
Cut federal subsidy for water projects (1985) N
Weaken gun control laws (1986) Y
Cut back public housing construction (1986) N
Aid Nicaraguan contras (1986) Y
Impose textile import limits over Reagan veto (1986) Y
Block chemical weapons production (1986) N
Impose South African sanctions over Reagan veto (1986) ?
Interest Group Ratings
Year ADA ACU AFL-CIO CCUS
1986 35 55 86 47
1985 40 50 63 33
1964 35 36 77 33
1983 50 57 82 30
1982 10 65 50 63
1981 25 43 67 37
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Maine - ?nd 'District
2 Olympia J. Snowe (R)
Of Auburn - Elected 1978
Bores Feb. 21,"1947, Augusta, Maine.
Education: 13. of Maine, B.A. 1969.
Occupation': Concrete company executive; public offi-
cial.
Family: Widowed.
Religion: Greek Orthodox.
Political Career. Maine House, 1973.77; Maine Senate,
1977-79. '
Capitol OtGce: 2464 Rayburn Bldg. 20515; 225-6306.
In Washington: Seldom does a member
who votes against her party's majority almost
as often 8s-Zhe votes with it find a place in the
party .leadership, but Snowe has shown an
ability to retain her independence while show-
ing loyalty'.when it counts.
When she was denied a seat on the Appro-
priations Committee in the 98th Congress,
many members thought the GOP was punish-
ing Snowe for her liberal voting record. But a
few weeks later she was appointed deputy
Republican whip. The fact was, Snowe's record
had been leavened with support for the Reagan
administration on most key economic issues.
Even more,-important, the leadership had to
have a tangible moderate presence to attract
the votes it needed on the party's left.
.Sri owe* provided that presence. She had
been 'actively involved with the Gypsy Moths.
the.group i f Northern Republicans that tried
to win concessions from the party on budget
bills to -help Northern states. Snowe has been
pgrticularly concerned with energy conserva-
tion and low-income energy assistance pro-
grams. -Inthe 98th Congress she made several
successful appeals to administration officials
for more.funding for the assistance programs.
Still,: there is a widespread feeling that
Snowehas not taken full advantage of her key
position among Republicans in the House. As a
youthful end attractive moderate in GOP
ranks, she has no difficulty attracting publicity,
but she rarely goes out of her way to expand on
the attention she seems to draw naturally.
Snowe is now in the middle seniority ranks
amorif Republicans on Foreign Affairs, where
the party-faces a leadership vacuum at the top,
but she'has not been one of the more active or
visible members of the committee. She tends to
function as a swing vote there, sometimes join-
ing the Democrats against the orthodox Repub-
lican ,hard-line position.
After having consistently opposed aid to
the Nicaraguan contras battling the leftist San.
dinista government, Snowe switched in 191Y,
voting to send $100 million in military and non-
military aid to the guerrillas. Her vote came a
month after visiting Central America on a 13.
member House delegation led by Oklahoma
Democrat Dave McCurdy. Explaining her re.
versal in The Boston Globe, she said that sht
came away from the trip convinced that thr
contras were needed to maintain pressure on
the Sandinistas to negotiate a regional settle.
ment. The contra-aid package, she said, "could
be, in fact, the last and best hope for demos.
racy to take root in Central America."
Snowe focused much of her Foreign Affairs
activity in the 99th Congress on maintaining
the U.S. commitment to U.N.-sponsored family
planning programs. When Republicans led b'
Christopher H. Smith of New Jersey sought to
eliminate all U.S. contributions to these pro-
grams, Snowe cautioned that "the anti-abor-
tion crusade has become an anti-family plan.
ping crusade." Snowe proposed denying U.S.
funds only for U.N. programs in China, which
has been accused of condoning forced abortion,
and female infanticide. The committee pre
ferred Snowe's plan to Smith's.
Snowe has been co-chair of the Congres-
sional Caucus for Women's Issues with Demo
crat Patricia Schroeder of Colorado, and has
been an outspoken proponent of legislation k-
aid women. "I think it's important for womer.
in Congress to ensure equity for women," shy
said in 1983. "If we don't, who will?"
In her first House term, Snowe concen
trated on changing federal aid formulas to wir
a bigger portion of the pie for smaller state
like Maine. Her greatest victory came when she
amended a $1 billion anti-recession aid bit! it. .
1980 to place a cap of 12.5 percent on the shart
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Maine 2
America's largest congressional district
east of the Mississippi, the 2nd accounts for
the vast bulk of Maine's territory. Across its
northern reaches stretch the pine forests
that have fueled the northwoods economy
since the 18th century. Its people are clus-
tered at the southern end, closer to the
state's industrial core.
The one portion of the district actually
within Maine's industrial belt is Androscog-
gin County, anchored by the twin cities of
Lewiston (population 40,000) and Auburn
(population 23,000). Ancient factory towns
- Auburn claims to be the birthplace of the
shoe industry in Maine - the cities anchor
the Democratic vote in the district. Lewis-
ton, the state's second-largest city, is the
more Democratic of the two - it went
narrowly for Walter F. Mondale in 1984,
while Auburn fell to Reagan after voting for
Jimmy Carter four years earlier. Both cities,
however, tend to abandon their Democratic
leanings to vote for Snowe and Republican
Sen. William S. Cohen.
The only other city of any size in the
2nd is Bangor (Penobscot County), the
third-largest in the state. Bangor's heyday
as a ship-making center is over, as are the
days when woodsmen from the north would
come to squander their paychecks in the
neighborhood known as the "Devil's Half-
Acre." But its wood-products industry and
modest port remain in operation.
Though still Democratic in local elec-
Snowe has also worked on behalf of
Maine's troubled potato growers and shoe and
textile industries. She has protected potato
growers from subsidized Canadian exports, and
when the International Trade Commission re-
fused to recommend import protection for foot-
wear manufacturers in 1984, Snowe introduced
a bill limiting imports to 50 percent of the
market. She reintroduced this legislation in the
9 th Congress.
At Home: No one in Washington is likely
to confuse the fashionable Snowe with Marga-
ret Chase Smith, the flinty., Republican who
represented the same part of Maine a genera-
tiun ago. But she has all of Smith's ambition
and talent for winning votes.
An orphan at age 9, Snowe was raised by
North - Lewiston;
Bangor
tions, Bangor is a more dependable Republi-
can vote at the national level than the two
cities farther south. Reagan carried it by 50
votes in 1980 and by about 2,000 in 1984. But
when Democrats put up a strong candidate,
Bangor will show its Democratic stripes; in
1982, Democratic Sen. George J. Mitchell
won 63 percent in Penobscot County.
The rest of the district is rural, much of
it covered with the forests that supply trees
for huge lumber and paper mills. The land
that is left raises apples, blueberries, corn,
chickens and Maine's biggest cash crop,
potatoes. The potatoes are grown largely in
Aroostook County, the huge northern tract
that is bigger than four states.
Yankee Republican farmers form a
solid majority outside the industrial cities,
and their votes keep the district Republican
in most elections. Still, the chronic poverty
that afflicts the area is gradually bringing
some of its residents into the Democratic
column as they turn to the government for
assistance. Pockets of severe poverty are
found in the woodlands in Aroostook
County and in coastal Washington County,
which lacks the tourist attraction of the
more accessible coastal regions. With the
large Franco-American population, Demo-
crats often prevail in Washington County.
Population: 561,587. White 552,343 (98%), Black
1,492 (0.3%), Other 4.367 (1%). Spanish origin 2,322
(0.4%). 18 and over 397,442 (71%). 65 and over 68,462
(12%). Median age: 30.
her aunt, a textile mill worker, and her uncle, a
barber. Like most working-class Auburn fam-
ilies, they voted Democratic. But after working
as an intern for Democratic Gov. Kenneth M.
Curtis, Olympia Bouchles met Peter Trafton
Snowe, a young Auburn businessman involved
in GOP politics. She married him in 1969,
adopting his partisan allegiance.
In 1973, four months after Olympia Snowe
began working in the district office of Republi-
can U.S. Rep. William S. Cohen, her husband
was killed in an automobile accident while
returning from Augusta, where he was serving
his second term in the state House. A month
later she was elected to fill his seat. After
winning another term on her own, she was
elected to the state Senate in 1976. At that
point, Snowe began contemplating a run for the
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Olympia J. Snow,, R-Maine
U.S. House amid rumors that Cohen planned to
leave the seat to try for the Senate.
Republicans at the state and national lev-
els felt she was the ideal replacement for Co
hen, and they successfully arranged for her to
be the only GOP candidate in 1978. Her Demo-
cratic opponent was Secretary of State Mark-
ham L. Gartley, who had attracted some atten-
tion because of his 1974 campaign against
Cohen - in which he won only 29 percent -
and because he was the first prisoner of war
released by the North Vietnamese.
To broaden her exposure and help soften
her "Fifth Avenue" image, Snowe traded her
designer clothes for a wool shirt and hiking
boots and walked across the district - a tactic
Cohen had been using successfully. Opposing
the construction of the Dickey-Lincoln Dam
and favoring "some kind" of national health
insurance, Snowe appealed to many Democrats
who were put off by Gartley's conservative
stance. She ran far ahead of the GOP ticket in
Democratic Androscoggin County, her home
territory, and picked up the usual Republican
vote in the rest of the district to defeat Gartley
handily. Since then, Democrats have found no
Committees
Foreign Affairs (6th of 17 Republicans)
International Operations (ranking); Arms Control, International
Security and Science.
Select Aging (5th of 25 Republicans)
Human Services (ranking).
Joint Economic
Economic Goals and Intergovernmental Policy: Education and
Health; International Economic Policy.
Elections
1986 General
Olympia J. Snowe (R)
Richard A. Charette (D)
1984 General
Olympia J. Snowe (R)
Chipman C. Bull (D)
Previous Winning Percentages:
1978 (51%)
148,770 (77%)
43.614 (23%)
192,166 (76%)
57,347 (23%)
1982 (67%) 1980 (79%)
District Vote For President
1984 1980 1976
D 93,807 (37%) D 106,383 (42%) D 111,634 (48%)
R 155,692 (62%) R 116.329 (46%) R 113,300 (49%)
1 23,209 ( 9%)
Campaign Finance
Receipts Expend- 1986 _
Receipts from PACs itures 1985 48 35 64
1986 1984 46 53
55 25
38 3f
Snowe (R) 1983 $216.402 $79.075 (37%) $215,659 1982 35 43 29 7-
Charelte (D)1 $28,780 $1,000 ( 4%) $23,779 1981 50 36 35 5-
45 87 40 It,
effective counter to Snowe's Popularity.
Her 1982 Democratic opponent tried to tit
into national concern over the economy
Social Security, and
but Snowe stressed her inde.
pendent voting record - she supported Rea.
gan's position less than half the time durin-
1982 - and she won re-election by a 2-to-1
margin. Two years later, against Democra,
Chipman C. Bull, a former Agriculture Depart.
ment official who ran on the slogan, "It's Bull.-
she won more than 75 percent, topping thal
figure again in 1986 against former Democratic
state Sen. Richard Charette.
Snowe gave up a chance to run in 1982 for
the Senate seat held by Democrat George d.
Mitchell. deferring to the ambitions of het
GOP House colleague, David F. Emery, whr,
had served in Congress four years more.
Snowe said her outlook was so similar k.
Emery's that a primary contest between then
would focus mainly on personalities and might
divide the party. Looking back on 1982, some
Republicans may wish that Snowe had beer,
their Senate nominee. Emery's campaign fa)-
tered, and in the end he lost to Mitchell by e
wide margin.
1964 ---
Snowe (R) $236,623 $86,150 36%
Bull (D) $44,895 ( $236,27;
$4,964 (11%)) $44,w
1 Totals based on incomplete data
Voting Studies
Presidential Party Conservati-s
Support Unity Coalition
Yeai S 0 S 0
1986 S 0
54 53 47 64 36
1985 ~ 46 52 56 43 69 31
1994
9 51 47 53 64 36
1984 4
50 50
1982 47 52 46 53 49 49
1981 67 33 53 46 58 3
6E 32 69 31
t
S = Support
0 =Opposition
Key Votes
Produce MX missiles (1985)
Cut federal subsidy for water projects (1985)
Weaken gun control laws (1986)
Cut back public housing construction (1986)
Aid Nicaraguan contras (1986)
Impose textile import limits over Reagan veto (1986)
Block chemical weapons production (1956)
Impose South African sanctions over Reagan veto (1986)
Interest Group Ratings
T
t
t
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17 Charles W.
Stenhohn (D)
Of Stamford - Elected 1978
Born: Oct. 26, 1938, Stamford, Texas.
Education: Attended Tarleton State Jr. College, 1957-
59; Texas Tech U., B.S. 1961, M.S. 1962.
Occupation: Cotton grower.
Family: Wife, Cynthia Ann Watson; three children.
Religion: Lutheran.
Political Career. No previous office.
Capitol Office: 1226 Longworth Bldg. 20515; 225-6605.
In Washington: Stenholm is best known
as the ringleader of the Conservative Demo.
cratic Forum, the Boll Weevil group that used
its leverage to help pass and shape the 1981
Reagan economic program. But he also com-
mands considerable attention for his work on
the Agriculture Committee. He is less visible in
that role, but he is widely respected as a man of
both principle and substance.
During work on the 1985 farm bill, Sten.
holm showed a consistent willingness to take on
technical tasks that required attention from
the committee but offered little or no political
benefit. One contribution was his work to forge
compromise on "clear title" provisions. That
compromise was intended to prevent the auto-
matic transfer of farm debts to those who
acquire farm land or make some other agricul-
tural purchase.
But Stenholm's influence on the commit-
tee stems as much from ideological positioning
as it does from hard work. His reputation for
independence leads to solicitations for his sup-
port from all sides when an issue is debated.
When Stenholm himself is attempting to round
up support for an idea, Republicans tend to
look favorably upon it with an eye to winning
him over on another issue later.
Stenholm has generally advocated lower
federal spending on agriculture, and has spoken
out in favor of helping farmers cut back on
production rather than increasing direct subsi-
dies. But in 1985 he was an adamant opponent
of a plan to allow farmers to vote for manda-
tory production controls as a way of raising
prices. On the floor he argued in favor of a
successful amendment to kill the plan, saying
that it had not been thoroughly examined by
the committee, could pose compliance prob-
lems and might lead to higher unemployment
and foreign production. "We should have spent
N
more time on it if we wanted farmers to vote on
it," he said.
A courteous, soft-spoken cotton grower
from West Texas, Stenholm seemed an unlikely
choice to be the conservative Democratic leader
in the early days of the Reagan administration.
He had spent much of his time prior to that
listening quietly to arguments about cotton
prices at the Agriculture Committee.
When he stepped forward after the 1980
election as spokesman for 40 conservative Dem-
ocrats demanding more influence within the
party, observers wondered whether the pleas-
ant Stenholm was a "front man" for more
outspoken members of the group; he insisted he
was chosen mainly because he was willing to go
public. Stenholm had no record of leadership to
draw on, but unlike some of the others, he had
no real enemies either. He turned out to have
real organizing ability.
His group made its presence felt in the
committee assignment process in 1981, as con-
servative Democrats found their way onto Bud-
get, Ways and Means and other key commit-
tees in unusual numbers for the 97th Congress.
When the conservatives formed a permanent
organization, the Conservative Democratic Fo-
rum, Stenholm became coordinator.
In that capacity, he met frequently with
officials in the Reagan administration as the
president lobbied for his budget proposals in
1981 in the Democratic House. Reagan did not
have to worry about Stenholm's vote; the con-
servative Texan was with him on all major
budget issues. As a reward, Stenholm won a. 44
million solar energy plant for his district.
Stenholm also negotiated administration
support for the peanut allotment program, a
key interest for Southern members. In return,
Stenholm helped persuade his fellow CDF
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Charles W. Stenholm, D-lrexas
Texas 17
The 17th stretches across more than 300
miles of rolling West Texas prairie. Its life
revolves around cattle, cotton, oil and gas. It
is predominantly Democratic territory, but
its conservative tilt has brought Republicans
some success. Ronald Reagan carried all but
two of the district's counties in 1984. For
years there was no steady habit of GOP
voting in state and local races -- Republican
William P. Clements Jr. carried just a hand-
ful of the 17th's counties in his 1982 guber-
natorial re-election campaign. But four years
later 'Clements practically swept the district.
Despite Clements' 1986 success, which
came about because the oil industry's down-
turn left voters disgruntled with incumbent
Democrat Mark White, Stenholm felt no
pressure. As usual, he did not even have a
Republican opponent; the GOP has offered a
congressional candidate in the 17th only
twice in the past 22 years.
Republicans do best in Taylor County
(Abilene), which stands almost in the mid-
dle of the 17th and casts about one-fifth of
the vote. Clements easily won Taylor in
both 1982 and 1986.
Abilene sprang to life when the railroad
came through in 1881 and cattlemen started
driving herds there for shipment. Today the
city has nearly 100,000 people, but it still
touts its cowhand flavor; one of the biggest
annual events is the International Cowboy
members to support the Kemp-Roth tax cut.
But the 1981 budget and tax bills were the
high-water mark for the CDF. The 1982 elec-
tions added 26 seats to the Democratic major-
ity in the House, giving Speaker Thomas P.
O'Neill Jr. enough loyalist votes virtually to
ignore the CDF-
After fading into the background, Sten-
holm resurfaced in 1985 with a brief quixotic
challenge to O'Neill for the House leadership.
He knew as well as anyone that he could not
win, but he wanted, in the wake of the 1984
presidential landslide, to dramatize discontent
in the Democratic Party's right wing. He also
hoped to give some Boll Weevils a chance to
cast an initial vote against O'Neill before his re-
election, insulating them against anti-O'Neill
feeling in their Southern districts.
In the end, the challenge never came off.
Campfire Cook-Off.
The oil downturn has brought consider-
able unemployment to Abilene, a plight
unaccustomed there because the economy is
fairly diversified. The city processes cotton.
seed, meats and dairy products; it makes
aircraft parts, trailers and electronic items.
Another dependable provider of jobs is
Dyess Air Force Base.
Other than Taylor, only six counties in
the 17th have more than 20,000 people. Five
of them are at the far eastern edge of the
district, either in or near the metropolitan
sphere of Fort Worth. Population growth
there has been brisk, with Parker and Wise
counties leading the way. Republicans are
gaining strength in the east - Clements got
nearly 60 percent in Parker and Wise in
1986.
Settlement is generally sparse among
the oil and gas wells, range land and cotton
fields in the western half of the 17th. Sev-
eral counties have just one or two crossroads
that rate a dot on the map. While nearly all
these western counties backed Clements in
1986, only a few of them traditionally vote
Republican.
Population: 526,913. White 470.931 (89%), Black
16,940 (3%), Other 3,194 (1%). Spanish origin 59,274
(11%). 18 and over 380.499 (72%), 65 and over 82,648
(16%). Median age: 32.
Pressured by fellow Texan Jim Wright.
O'Neill's heir apparent, and by some of his own
loyalists, Stenholm abandoned the challenge a
few days before the voting. "I don't want to be
a martyr," he said. "I have nothing to gain by
fighting a losing battle."
Stenholm did meet with O'Neill, and won a
few modest concessions. The Speaker agreed ti-
appoint a "Cabinet" to advise him on strategy
in the 99th Congress, and to include a conserva-
tive Democrat. He promised to place a Boll
Weevil on the Budget Committee, and Texan
Marvin Leath, one of the original backers of the
Stenholm challenge, got the place.
Despite his criticism of the Democratic
Party, Stenholm has made it clear that he doe'
not plan to leave it. "I'm a Democrat, period."
he said in 1986. "Philosophically, I am what I
am, and that's a conservative Democrat. I be
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lieve that philosophy, tempered with the liberal
and moderate viewpoints, is best for the coun-
try.
In the 99th Congress Stenholm tried to
(tress cooperation with his party, rather than
collaboration with the GOP. In 1985, in a move
that would not have been made four years
earlier, Stenholm joined liberal Democrats in
opposing administration attempts to boost de-
fense spending. "If we're going to do something
about the deficit, this is where we can start," he
said, supporting an effort to cut the defense
authorization. "If farmers are going to have to
tighten their belt, the Pentagon should do the
same thing."
At Home: Stenholm is a third-generation
West Texan, descended from a family of Swed-
ish immigrants who settled near his home town
of Stamford. Agriculture has been the focus of
his life and the basis of his political career.
He moved into politics in 1966, when the
U.S. Agriculture Department made a ruling
unfavorable to the cotton-growing plains sec-
Committees
Agriculture (11th of 26 Democrats)
Ltvestock, Dairy and Poultry (chairman); Cotton, Rice and
Sugar; Department Operations, Research and Foreign Agricul-
ture; Tobacco and Peanuts.
Veterans' Affairs (16th of 21 Democrats)
Hospitals and Health Care.
1986 General
Charles W. Stenholm (D)
1194 General
Charles W. Stenholm (D) 143,012 (100%)
Previous Winning Percentages: 1982 (97%) 1980 (100%)
1976 (68.6)
District Vote For President
1984 1980 1976
V 65,460 (32%) D 79,143 (46%) D 99,077 (57%)
R 140,746 (68%) R 87,449 (51%) R 73,789 (43%)
2,986 ( 2%)
Campaign Finance
Receipts Expend-
Receipts from PACs Itures
198E
Stenholm (D) $225,411 $91,840 (41%) $217,744
1961
Stenholm (D) $254,615 $93,727 (37%) $207,940
tion of Texas. As executive vice president of the
Rolling Plains Cotton Growers Association,
Stenholm made several trips to Washington to
lobby against the ruling, and was partially
successful in changing it.
In 1977 President Carter appointed Sten-
holm to a panel that advises the U.S. Agricul-
tural and Conservation Service. He resigned
that position to run for the House in 1978,
when veteran Democrat Omar Burleson retired.
Stenholm had a much smaller campaign trea-
sury than his major rival for the Democratic
nomination, wealthy Abilene lawyer and busi-
nessman A. L. "Dusty" Rhodes. But as a
farmer and former member of the state Demo-
cratic executive committee, Stenholm had ex-
tensive agricultural and party ties.
Although Rhodes spent over $600,000 in an
effort to win the nomination, Stenholm ran
ahead of the crowded primary field and de-
feated Rhodes by a 2-to-1 margin in a runoff.
An easy winner in the fall, he has not faced a
major party foe since.
Voting Studies
Presidential
Support
Party Conservative
Unity Coalition
Year
S
0.
S 0 5
0
1986
66
34
32
67
88
12
1985
66
31
35
64
96
2
1984
58
37
23
70
85
8
1983
63
35
21
77
92
7
1982
74
26
17
78
93
4
1981
75
24
2E
67
91
5
S - Support
0
- Opposition
Key Votes
Produce MX missiles (1985) Y
Cut federal subsidy for water projects (1985) Y
Weaken gun control laws (1986) Y
Cut back public housing construction (1986) Y
Aid Nicaraguan contras (1986) Y
Impose textile import limits over Reagan veto (1986) Y
Block chemical weapons production (1986) N
Impose South African sanctions over Reagan veto (1986) N
Interest Group Ratings
Year ADA ACU AFL-CIO CCUS
1986 5 81 21 78
1985 20 90 24 86
1984 10 79 15 56
1983 15 91 13 85
1982 5 91 5 86
1981 0 93 . 20 84
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