A Q&A with Jim Webb: the senator sounds off on prison reform, life on Capitol Hill, and avoiding fights in bars

Washington Monthly, Dec, 2007 by David Francis

There is a fairness issue in here. The black community has been devastated by the way that drug laws are enforced. In part, I look at this as a former Marine. I was in a system that was highly disciplined but also believed in fairness and accountability. The only way you can make a system work, and have people respect it, is to have people believe that it's fair. And we have a system now that's not fair.

For instance, look at how much of the increase in incarceration rates has been driven by nonviolent offenses like drug possession. Or [a recent article] looking at reducing the crack cocaine sentences because the distinction between the crack cocaine and regular cocaine sentences was nonsensical. It's an issue that's really important in the black community. I didn't just spring this, I talked a lot about it during the campaign. Chuck Schumer let me share a hearing. I wanted to look at the economic impact of this as a way to get it going. But I'm gonna stay on it.

WM: Your name has been floated as a possible vice presidential candidate. Is that something you're considering?

JW: Yeah, two months from now they'll be talking about somebody else. This is sort of a phase people in Washington go through.

WM: Still, this VP speculation has grown to a fever pitch. How are you dealing with the public and the press, considering the profile you've had in the last year?

JW: My life really hasn't changed that much. There are some limitations in the way that you might be able to engage people in lively debate [laughs], but I've learned how to do that. I was at a bar on Saturday night, it was a Marine Corps birthday and two guys from my platoon in Vietnam were in, my son was up. There was one guy, there's always one at a bar, who came up and started, like, really trying to provoke me. My daughter Sarah is standing there and she said, "Dad, don't hit him. You're a senator now."

David Francis is a journalist based in Washington, D.C. He can be reached at dcfranci@comcast.com.