'I intend to stand and fight'
Weld blasts Helms, urges Clinton to back nomination

By Frank Phillips and Scot Lehigh, Globe Staff,
07/16/97
Ending more than a month of diplomatic silence,
Governor William F. Weld yesterday declared war on US Senator Jesse Helms
for resorting to ``ideological extortion'' to block his nomination as
ambassador to Mexico and challenged President Clinton to stand up and
fight for his cause.

Amid speculation in Washington that the White House is
prepared to bow to Helms's objections and seek another position for Weld,
a combative governor said he would accept no other diplomatic posting,
and called on Clinton not to bow to Helms's highhanded tactics.

``I intend to stand and fight for the Mexico
ambassadorship,'' Weld said at a State House press conference.

``I hope and expect that the president does not plan to
give in to ideological extortion. I hope and expect that the president
will join me in a fight worth fighting. If he does not, then let the
president himself say so.''

Indeed, Weld is so determined to devote his full
energies to the defense of his nomination that at one point yesterday he
told aides his best course would be to resign as governor and pursue his
cause in Washington fulltime, sources said.

But by the end of the day, Weld decided instead to stay
in office at least for now even as he emphatically broke his
selfdescribed ``radio silence'' on the issue. One goal, said a top
adviser, was to ``put it on the president himself either to move forward
with the nomination or not as opposed to getting nickeled and dimed to
death with White House leaks.''

Weld's outburst was not wellreceived in the White
House, where Clinton aides expressed exasperation at the governor's
failure to notify them of his intention to speak out. His nomination,
particularly after yesterday's combative announcement, is increasingly
viewed as a lost cause though Clinton will follow through on his pledge
to nominate him, aides said.

But if laying down a challenge to Clinton was one of
Weld's goal's yesterday, the other was to challenge Helms directly,
laying out what Weld feels is the real issue behind the senator's
threats to block his nomination.

In particular, Weld scoffed at the idea that Helms
questions his suitability for the Mexico posting because of allegations
that he has an indifferent record in the war against drug trafficking.

Charging that that issue is ``complete phony baloney,''
Weld claimed the North Carolina conservative is merely using the drug
issue to disguise his ideological objections, which are rooted in the
governor's stands on social policies, particularly his advocacy for both
abortion rights and gay rights.

``Senator Helms's opposition has nothing whatsoever to
do with drug policy,'' Weld said. ``It has everything to do with the
future of the Republican Party. In plain language, I am not Senator
Helms's kind of Republican. I do not pass his litmus test on social
policy. Nor do I want to.''

A Helms spokesman, Marc Thiessen, rejected Weld's
attack as both selfserving and selfdefeating. ``If the governor wants a
fight, I guess he is prepared to lose,'' Thiessen said.

Weld has alienated the conservative wing of the party,
not only with his libertarian positions on some social issues, but also
by his predilection for picking highprofile fights with the party over
such issues. GOP sources say conservatives bitterly resent what they view
as Weld's use of them as a foil to advance his political career.

Weld yesterday rejoined that fight, saying he is
determined to underscore the price the GOP pays by marginalizing
progressives like him. Advocating for the place of progressives in the
party is more important to him, he said, than the fate of his own
nomination.

``If my words here today imperil my prospects, so be
it,'' the governor said.

Indeed, more than imperiling his chances, Weld's
remarks yesterday may have scotched them entirely, some observers
believe. Yesterday, US Senator John F. Kerry, who has been trying to act
as a negotiator with Helms, said Weld's ``frontal assault'' on Helms has
clearly changed the dynamic.

``Now that there is an open fight in the Republican
Party, it is not something that is as easily worked through by those on
the other side of the aisle,'' Kerry said.

As part of his challenge to Helms, Weld called on the
senator to grant him a hearing before the Foreign Relations Commmittee so
he could explain his record as a federal drug procecutor.

``If narcotics prosecution and investigation and
interdiction policy are an issue then by all means let's have a hearing
on it,'' Weld said. ``That's what hearings are for. To vent issues.''

Weld's dramatic change in strategy came after a long
day of meetings in the governor's office. At one point, his wife, Susan,
arrived at his office to join in the discussion.

Lieutenant Governor Paul Cellucci, who was making an
official tour in western Massachusetts, canceled his afternoon events to
rush back to the State House to confer with the governor, further
inflaming speculation that Weld would turn over the office to him.

Knowledgeable sources confirmed that Weld did raise the
prospect of resigning, but was talked out of it by his senior staff. Weld
did little to knock down that notion at his press conference when he
refused to comment when asked about the reports of his resigning as
governor.

News reports yesterday that the White House was
waivering in the face of Helms's objections particularly irritated Weld,
sources said. Also, yesterday, presidential spokesman Michael McCurry
seemed lukewarm when asked, at a White House press briefing, about the
progress of Weld's nomination.

Weld acknowledged yesterday that he had not spoken with
the White House about his plan to speak out. Still, his inner circle was
heartened by the return of his feisty self.

``Weld is best when he's fighting and this is good for
him,'' said one adviser, who added that Helms's challenge to Weld's drug
record raised the governor's hackles. ``Weld is not going to let this
thing go down the drain without defending his record as a prosecutor on
drugs.''

It was also clear that Weld wanted to define the battle
along the deep ideological fault lines of the national Republican Party.
Sources said Weld may be looking to regain a highprofile role as leader
of the progressive GOP wing, perhaps with an eye to a presidential run in
2000.

``Regardless of the consequences he felt it was
important to stand up and fight for the principle that no one should be
excluded from the party because of their beliefs,'' said one senior
adviser.

Democrats were doubtful that principle was really at
play.

``This is a political act, not a diplomatic act,'' said
Democratic consultant Mary Anne Marsh. ``His failure to check with the
White House or the secretary of state shows that.''

Still, Weld's sudden outburst at Helms stirred
admiration among some Republican activists.

``This is great,'' said Kevin Sowyrda, a Republican
consultant and Weld fan.`He is reexerting his role as leader of the
progressive wing of the party. For many of us, Bill Weld came back to
life today.''

Brian McGrory of the Globe Washington bureau
contributed to this report.


© Copyright 1997 Globe Newspaper Company.