Bennett looks ahead--and back

Human Events, Jan 22, 1999 by Gizzi, John

When I encountered Sen. Robert F. Bennett (R.-Utah) in the Senate Office Building January 6, he was just about to be interviewed by a TV reporter. "I'm delighted,'' to told me, "to talk to a print reporter who will ask me about something other than impeachment."

Bennett (lifetime American Conservative Union rating: 82%), now chairman of the Senate inquiry into the Y2K problem, is probably best known as a member of the televised investigation into campaign finance chaired by Sen. Fred Thompson (R.Tenn.). One thing I wanted to ask him about was his stance on term limits. In his initial Senate race in 1992, Bennett had said he supported term limits for members of Congress and would probably step down after two terms. Last fall, he won his second term with 64% of the vote larger percentage than any of the four rolled up by his father, the late Sen. (1950-74) Wallace F. Bennett (R.Utah). Did he intend to retire, I wondered, when his present term was up in 2004?

"I don't want to start stretching the definition of words, such as when 'is' is `is, "he replied, "but when I ran in '92, I never made a firm commitment to retire after a certain period or signed any pledge, unlike [Idaho GOP Rep.] Helen Chenoweth and some of the others. [Chenoweth signed the U.S. Term Limits pledge vowing to retire after three terms and, although she now regrets that move and opposes term limits, will honor her pledge and step down in 2000.]

"When this term is up, I'll see how my health is, what the political situation is, and then make a decision as to whether I run again or not."

Bennett then recalled his father's rock 'em, sock 'em race against Democratic Sen. Elbert Thomas back in 1950. "Sen. Thomas was 67 and Dad, who was 51 at the time, made age an issue Bennett said. "He said if people in private business are required to retire in their mid-60s, why shouldn't the same standard be applied to senators" Bennett unseated Thomas.

Eighteen years later, as Wallace Bennett was seeking his fourth Senate term at age 69, political opponents and hostile reporters gleefully dusted off his old quotes. "And when Dad was finally confronted with them and asked how he squared his words in 1950 with running again at 69,' the present Sen. Bennett recalled, "he replied by citing Scripture: 'When I was a child, I spoke with the ways of a child. But now I am a man and have put aside my childlike ways."' He was handily reelected, retired in 1974, and died in 1993 at the age of 94, shortly after his son won his old seat.