VansOpinion - BEREUTER ENDORSES DEMOCRAT KERRY

My good friend, Alan Jacobsen wrote this "Guest Editorial" on 19 August 2004 and submitted it for publication. A number of the newspapers in Nebraska's First Congressional District are still sucking-up to retiring congressman Doug Bereuter and might not print Al's article as written, if at all. Since I totally agree with his conclusions, I am using this means to let you read what a "Republican at Heart" Democrat has to say. Alan is a Lincoln business owner and a former Lancaster County Republican Party chairman. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Congress in 2000. Many of us wish he was our Republican candidate for congress this time. Give Alan a call at (402) 610-1188 and let him know your thoughts on this matter....and invite him back to the ranks of the G.O.P.

The timing of U.S. Rep. Doug Bereuter's letter to constituents, wherein he now denounces the war in Iraq as unnecessary, is suspect to say the least. For a congressman with Bereuter's foreign affairs credentials, it is difficult to understand what he hoped to accomplish, but it is obvious what the net effect of the letter will be: the promotion of John Kerry's presidential campaign. Worse yet, Bereuter's words will undermine the morale of 141,000 American troops honorably serving their country in the Middle East.

The letter brought back a flood of memories for me. Four years ago, during the campaign debate between us, Rep. Bereuter asked me for whom I intended to vote for president. The question was an effort to remind voters what I had always preached as Lancaster County GOP Chairman: that the first vote cast in Congress determines the Speaker and other House leadership. I responded that I had not decided yet. (For the record, I voted for George W. Bush.) After reading Bereuter's letter to constituents, I wonder if Republicans need to ask for whom he intends to vote this year, President Bush or Sen. Kerry.

In that 2000 debate, Bereuter successfully exposed my hypocrisy for running as a Democrat. In my view, Bereuter's letter to constituents exposes his own hypocrisy. In fact, he has stayed in Washington for three decades by hiding behind his party affiliation while paying lip service to the GOP platform. This letter simply exposes his true tendencies.

During that same campaign for Congress four years ago, I was being interviewed by Jim Fagan on KFAB. Jim suggested that Mr. Bereuter and I had an identity crisis. I asked what he meant. He said, "You are the Republican (referring to my positions and endorsements) and Bereuter is the Democrat (based on the same)." Jim was successful at exposing both of our hypocrisy.

It was said that Sen. Ed Zorinsky (a Republican-turned-Democrat) was the best Republican in the Senate. Likewise, for the last 26 years, Doug Bereuter has been one of the best Democrats in the House.

Doug Bereuter's letter has undermined the Republican Party, the President of the United States and, most importantly, the men and women serving in the Middle East right now. In addition, his actions are an insult to many of us who have immediate family and friends serving there. What purpose could this possibly have accomplished other than the self-serving ends of Doug Bereuter?

The timing of this letter is interesting. Why would Bereuter choose this particular time to make denigrating comments about our President by questioning his motive for the war on terrorism? I did not hear him setting forth an agenda for taking a different course of action over the last two years. As a long-time member of the International Relations Committee, why didn't he use his influence to garner more allied and world support for U.S. policy in the war on terrorism?

What I see is a congressman who hid behind his party label for 26 years while padding his own retirement nest egg. Constituents in Nebraska need to understand that Mr. Bereuter is not returning home to retire in Nebraska, but rather has taken a lucrative position in San Francisco where he will enjoy the monetary rewards of directing trade policies for 26 years that have helped China more than America.

This shameful parting shot by Mr. Bereuter should give the Nebraska Republican Party pause about their plan to name the conference room at the state party headquarters after a man who has, in effect, endorsed a Democratic presidential nominee and undermined the morale of American troops in a time of war. I can't imagine that it would take very long to replace the $15,000 he contributed to make the room his namesake.

Mr. Bereuter would have better served his constituents, his party and his country if he had saved his newly acquired opinions on Iraq for his memoirs.