Democrats let Lieberman keep key chairmanship
Senator's support for McCain bid angered many
Senator Joe Lieberman, who angered many Democrats by publicly and enthusiastically backing Republican John McCain for president, kept his committee chairmanship yesterday after Senate Democrats declared that punishment was less important than unity.
They voted 42 to 13 by secret ballot that Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, should not be stripped of his chairmanship of the Homeland Security panel, but they condemned statements he made during the campaign criticizing President-elect Barack Obama.
"This was not a time for retribution; it was a time for moving forward on the problems of this country," Senate majority leader Harry Reid told reporters, adding, "We need to be unified."
Lieberman, the 2000 Democratic vice presidential candidate, said that the resolution passed during the closed-door meeting was "fair." He was ousted from his seat and chairmanship on an environment subcommittee, but said he will continue to work on global warming.
Lieberman partly credited Obama, who has preached unity and bipartisanship since the election, for the lighter penalty. Lieberman also publicly thanked a handful of senators for their support, including Chris Dodd of Connecticut, who said later that John F. Kerry of Massachusetts also spoke on Lieberman's behalf.
"We had a very open and constructive discussion about my status in the caucus," Lieberman said after the vote. "This is the beginning of a new chapter."
While asserting that some of the statements critical of Obama attributed to him "are simply untrue," Lieberman acknowledged "there are other statements I made that I wish I had made more clearly. And there are other statements I made I wish I hadn't made."
Other senators, however, wanted there to be consequences and argued that party loyalty was a requirement for leadership. Independent Bernie Sanders and Democrat Pat Leahy, Vermont's two senators, spoke against allowing Lieberman to keep the Homeland Security and Government Affairs post, the Associated Press reported. And two members of Connecticut's Democratic state central committee said they'll still ask it Dec. 17 to consider censuring Lieberman and asking him to resign from the party, the AP said.
Reid said he still doesn't understand why Lieberman did what he did, but also realizes that his vote has been crucial to pushing through important legislation. While Lieberman broke with Democrats over the Iraq war and was reelected in 2006 as an independent after losing the primary to an antiwar candidate, he has been caucusing with them on most other issues, in some cases providing the 51st and majority vote. During the campaign, however, he became one of McCain's most visible cheerleaders, and even spoke at the Republican National Convention.
"I defy anyone to be more angry than I was," Reid said. "I don't apologize to anyone for what we did today."
Lieberman and Reid had an awkward meeting just after the election, after which Reid said there had to be consequences for his disloyalty. Then, Lieberman upset Democrats by flirting with possibly switching over to the Republican caucus.
"The mood was very open. . . . People said what they thought. Criticism was leveled," Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska said after yesterday's meeting. "There was no apology. There was none requested." 