The Book of Bob - excerpts from Bob Packwood's diaries

Washington Monthly, Nov, 1995 by Jennifer Shecter

Packwood's diaries are filled with steamy tidbits, but they are also a guide to what needs fixing under the Capitol dome, A Monthly annotation

In a town of perpetual charade, Bob Packwood spent 26 years confiding his every thought--no matter how scandalous, lecherous, banal, or absurd--to a tape recorder. He turned to his diary, by ritual, every morning in his Senate office. Like a movie star sneaking a cigarette off-camera, Packwood used this time out of the public eye to record his thoughts with unsparing honesty.

Then, a wave of sexual misconduct charges rippled through the press and the halls of Congress. The Senate Ethics Committee subpoenaed Packwood's diaries, conducted an investigation, and ultimately recommended that he be expelled from the Senate. (On top of the original allegations, Packwood's attempt to alter some diary entries played a major role in the committee's decision.)

The public now has full access to these diaries, published in two thick volumes by the Government Printing Office. Although much of the media coverage has focused on Packwood's sexual peccadilloes--such as a hilarious moment when Packwood is so engrossed by a woman's skill at bridge that he can "hardly concentrate on [her] breasts"--the diaries tell other, more important stories: how money, friendships, and politics mix in Washington to produce policy; how politicians openly skirt campaign finance laws and abuse their power for personal gain; how even the most powerful can be desperately insecure.

These diaries highlight some of the windmills The Washington Monthly has been tilting at for more than two decades. It is as clear as ever that the serious flaws in our political process require immediate attention--a lesson that is particularly relevant now, as the House GOP leadership has pushed back campaign finance reform until next year.

The following excerpts, reprinted in their original version and chronological order, offer a rare glimpse behind the scenes into how the nation's capital really works and explain why, so often, it doesn't work. Except for explanatory notes and a few comments, we have left Packwood's words to speak for themselves--and for the state of the capital's institutions. The punctuation and spelling reflect that used by the Ethics Committee. THE PACKWOOD DIARIES

June 19, 1989: The American Iron and Steel Institute was in to lobby me for an extension of the voluntary restraints on steel. I let them in because Ron Crawford now represents them. Boy, if this isn't a group of overweight, stand pat, white, past middle age pedestrian men, I've never seen it. No wonder the steel industry is in bad shape.

November 9, 1989: Mike Kelly and I got to the Bill Furman breakfast. It was Furman, [Name Deleted], the former ICC Chairman or at least commissioner, Jim Beale, the lobbyist for Greenbrier, somebody from Westinghouse Credit Corporation, and a sixth person. And it was nothing but to thank me for what I had done on Trailer Train (?) and the investment tax credit--whatever it was I got for them in the tax reform bill--and of course Furman has said he'll join Tim Lee in helping keep Georgie solvent. It was a particularly delightful breakfast. Back to the office about 9:15.

January 18, 1990: A quick lunch with Cliff. It was a nice friendly lunch. He said, "Is there anything I can do?" I hit him up to give a job to Georgie, but he said, "Gosh, we've got that ICI client. It wouldn't look good." I said, "It

doesn't matter if we're separated." Well, Cliff said ... and this was after he was bragging about all the money he had, how much they're making, how much he's setting aside, what kind of trust he has for the kids and that he needs to work five more years until he can retire comfortably on his investments and income for the rest of his life, but not enough money for Georgie. It's funny. I hit [Name Deleted] up. He says `Yes.' [Name Deleted] a close friend but not as close as Cliff. The same with Saunders, same with Ron. They just say bang, bang, bang--yes. But not Cliff. That means next week I've got to turn to Saunders and then to Crawford.

August 3, 1990: [One staff member] handles all the things I don't like. All the social welfare stuff, the education, the handicapped, the blind, all those things that I have so little patience for and all those programs that I think probably are a waste of money....

August 27, 1990: I don't know if I want to go through it and lose, barren of my reputation, barren of money, or go out like Rocky Graziano, having two or three million dollars in this kitty and if no campaign reform is passed I can transfer it to some other kitty. I can become a lobbyist at five or six or four hundred thousand ... What I would like to do is get the Baby Bells to form their own telephone association, breaking away from the United States Telephone Association, maybe bringing GTE in with them, and then organizing lobbying at the grass roots like has not been seen in a telephone association before....

May 31, 1991: At 3:00 met with Bill Furman and a tall guy from Itell in San Francisco, a company that has 70,000 railroad cars that they lease. I can't remember his name. A good-looking guy. Basically this is the argument: they want to keep long trucks off the highways. They want to keep twin-doubles, the two 48-foot ones and the triples off the highways whenever they can. The thing I liked about Furman was that the approach that he made was purely one of economics. He said, "I know the polls show safety but I'm not sure safety is as tellingly proved as people are fearful." ... Well, I've often said I like the approach when somebody comes to me and says `we don't like this because it's adverse to our interests.'