Life After Congress is ‘Not at all Bad’ for Charlie Bass
BASS
Keene Sentinel
Jessica Arriens
Boston University Washington News Service
3/28/07
WASHINGTON, March 28—Former congressmen rarely fade into oblivion—and Charlie Bass is no exception.
The New Hampshire Republican, who lost his 2nd District seat to Paul Hodes in November, is eager to show off the impressive offices of the Republican Main Street Partnership, where he is now president and CEO.
He points to a circular conference room with views of the Washington Monument and National Mall, a back stairwell (“My own personal stairway to Starbucks”) and a roof exit (“In case I ever need to jump”).
“Much to my surprise, I discovered that there is life after Congress,” Bass said. “And it’s not at all bad.”
Bass’s ties to Congress are still strong, however, largely through his work at the partnership—an organization that promotes what it calls centrist Republican values like limited government, fiscal responsibility, lower taxes and strong national security.
The group started in the immediate aftermath of the GOP takeover of Congress in 1994, when Bass was first elected. A group of moderate Republicans, concerned with the party’s conservative shift, met to discuss ways to promote a moderate, bi-partisan agenda.
Warren Rudman, former New Hampshire senator and a board member of Republican Main Street Partnership, called the group an alliance of moderate Republicans, worried their party is drifting too far right, “who want to bring the party back to the center.”
Rudman said it is “too early to say” if the group will be successful. “It takes years and years for this kind of organization to have any kind of real impact.” But he predicted Republicans may be more willing to listen to moderate viewpoints, now that they are in the minority in Congress.
“We are fortunate to have Charlie Bass at the helm of Main Street,” said Rep. Chris Shays, R-Conn., also a member of the partnership. “His energy and commitment to the moderate cause will strengthen the organization and help us rebuild the center.”
Bass said he provides a weekly report on the issues the organization works on to the Republican congressional leadership and plans to work closely with moderates from both parties to promote a moderate Republican agenda.
Bass took over the partnership in late December, after being approached by founder Amo Houghton, a former New York congressman, and the partnership’s former CEO Sarah Chamberlain Resnick.
“They basically persuaded me that at this critical juncture it is important to have a congressman who could improve, or really create good contacts with the current members of Congress,” Bass said.
Bass said the group will be “actively supporting candidates that fit the rough parameters that we’ve established as the mission for this organization.”
The Republican Main Street Partnership Political Action Committee, which is not part of the non-profit partnership that Bass heads, has a goal of raising $1 million for moderate candidates. The two groups have “essentially the same mission,” said Bass, but because of legal reasons they are run as separate organizations.
“My job is to make sure that as a group we’re strong, we’re viable, and we make a difference in what happens to Congress over the next two years,” Bass said.
Though there are no more midnight floor sessions, or Saturdays spent on Capitol Hill, Bass’s post-congressional life has been busy. In addition to the partnership, he serves as a senior advisor to the Manchester law firm Devine Millimet, is on the board of the alternative energy company New England Wood Pellet, and was recently named a trustee at Franklin Pierce College.
“Just because I’m not a sitting member of Congress doesn’t mean I don’t have anything to offer the community,” he said, bristling at a remark about how his full schedule seems surprising.
“I’m only 54,” he said. “I’m not retired. I don’t qualify for Social Security.”
His work schedule is still much the same as when he was in Congress. Bass travels to D.C. Tuesday morning and leaves Thursday afternoon, renting the same apartment, running the same five-mile loop, and commuting on the same subways he did while in office. But that’s about where the similarities end.
“I don’t have to come every week anymore,” he said. “And I can make my own reservations and decide when I’m going to come and when I’m going to leave. Being able to control my own schedule is like being liberated.”
But Bass’s congressional influence is still strong, according to former legislative director John Billings. “I see members interact with Charlie still,” said Billings, who now works as a policy advisor for Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill. “They respect his global view of things.”
That respect may be rooted in Bass’s 12 years of experience, or simply his affable personality. Another former staffer, Kathleen Amacio, who now works as scheduler for Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., said that speaking with Bass made people feel like “you were back in New Hampshire with your next-door neighbor.”
But Bass’s own political leanings, what Billings classifies as a “quintessential centrist Republican,” also merit respect on Capitol Hill.
“That’s what a New Hampshire Republican is,” Billings said. “Down here [in Washington] we’re known as moderates. Up in New Hampshire, we’re just Republicans.”
Bass’s moderate Republicanism manifests itself in his association with Main Street. The group does not support a social agenda, believing that issues such as gay marriage or abortion should be decided by state legislatures, and stresses the need for strong environmental policy and increased stem cell research.
“I’ve always prided myself on being bipartisan, on being willing to listen to other points of view, be they Democrats or Republicans who disagreed with me,” Bass said. “And I will continue to be that way.”
Andrew Smith, director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center and associate professor of political science at the school, calls Bass a typical New England “Rockefeller Republican.” Moderate to liberal on social issues, and conservative on fiscal issues, it is a breed of Republicanism that stood in good standing with New Hampshire voters for a long time.
Then came November 2006, where Bass “was a non-ideological candidate in an ideological election,” Smith said. “He didn’t have any loyal core of supporters to fall back on.”
According to Smith, moderate Republicans are out of step with the national Republican Party, which has moved far to the right, fueled by socially conservative voters in the South and Midwest.
Groups like the Christian Coalition, a political organization that promotes a conservative social and economic agenda, have thrived off these voters. Roberta Combs, president of the Christian Coalition, said that to separate social issues from the Republican Party agenda would “split the party right down the middle. That doesn’t even make any sense.” To lose socially conservative voters would be disastrous. “Republicans cannot get elected without that block vote,” she said.
But Smith argues that the growth of social conservative power has come at moderates’ expense, a notion that Bass himself admits. “I come to the Republican Main Street Partnership, I think, at a crucial moment in its brief history,” Bass said. “We are now a minority of a minority in the Congress. The crucial issue is, do we matter? And the answer, obviously, is yes.”
But while the Republican Party itself is turning increasingly conservative, New Hampshire is leaning the other way. Smith predicts that within 10 years, the state will be solidly Democratic, because of a large influx of people from the mid-Atlantic region moving to New Hampshire for jobs, who tend to vote Democratic. If Bass decides to challenge Democratic Rep. Hodes in the 2008 election, Smith said he could have a hard time winning back the seat.
Smith said Bass would have a better chance of winning the governorship or a seat in the state Senate—but this all hinges on whether Bass himself decides to run another race.
Bass chuckles and smiles wryly as he answers questions about his political future. “I intend to keep my political options open,” he said. “I am making no plans at this point to run for any office, or rule out running for any office. And I really can’t say anything more than that because that’s the truth.”
Bass said he plans to remain active in politics, working on issues he has a “personal interest” in—telecommunications, energy and the environment. And while he does miss having the ability to vote in the House, and the initiatives he had to drop because of his defeat, Bass said those regrets are “tempered by the realization, or the understanding, that Republicans are no longer in charge, so therefore life for me would be much more frustrating and difficult.”
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