Liberal "Lone Ranger" targets Bush
By DEVLIN BARRETT
Associated Press Writer
November 28, 2005, 11:21 AM EST
WASHINGTON -- Like a dysfunctional family that can't wait until the holidays to start bickering, Congress erupted this month over the Iraq war. It's a fight Maurice Hinchey has been itching to start.
The upstate congressman took a gamble in his 2002 re-election with his staunch opposition to the war. Three years later, he could have found some measure of vindication in a heated fight on the House floor Nov. 18.
Instead, Hinchey continued to buck not just the Republicans but even the war critics within his own party.
The House Republicans' effort "was just a complete fabrication and a farce, so I didn't want to participate in it at all," Hinchey said of the debate, which came just as lawmakers were about to go home for the holidays.
Hinchey, a 67-year-old former toll collector who sometimes parties with Levon Helm, the former drummer for The Band, had already decided what was wrong: Congress.
His solution: a full-throated congressional investigation that could lead to impeachment.
The House battle began after Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., recommended redeploying troops away from Iraq over a six month period. Republicans countered with the immediate withdrawal proposal, which Democrats called a cheap stunt.
When it came time to vote on immediate withdrawal, Democratic leaders urged members to vote no. The vote was 403-3 against, with Hinchey and fellow New Yorkers Jerrold Nadler of Manhattan and Major Owens of Brooklyn voting present, meaning they took no position. Rep. Jose Serrano of the Bronx was the only New Yorker to vote for the measure.
The tally revealed New York has the most strident war opponents in the House, even if the state's two Democratic senators, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles Schumer, generally support U.S. goals there.
Within the Empire State delegation, no one has risked more than Hinchey in opposing the war.
Just before the 2002 election, he voted against the war, even though his 22nd congressional district largely supported the decision to use the U.S. military to topple Saddam Hussein.
"A lot of people were saying I was unpatriotic, and I went to bed on a number of occasions saying if we lose the election, so be it," said Hinchey.
Within the state GOP, some thought Hinchey's position could end his improbable political career.
"Anyone you spoke to in Sullivan County couldn't believe he wasn't supporting this war," said Sullivan County GOP chairman Gregory Goldstein, adding, "I'm just sick of Maurice Hinchey bashing the president every chance he gets."
His Republican opponent in 2004, tax attorney William Brenner, charges there is an underlying political calculation to Hinchey's strong views on Iraq.
The district, which stretches all the way from Kingston to Ithaca, encompasses a number of large college campuses, and Brenner believes Hinchey used anti-war sentiment there to avoid other issues.
"His campaign was like a one-trick pony: I would talk about the economy and jobs and he went right back to the war," said Brenner, who is now seeking to challenge Clinton for her Senate seat in 2006.
David Lenefsky, a longtime friend of the congressman who also does legal work for him, said ever since Hinchey's days as a toll collector, he has always had "a streetfighter side to him."
"He's the Lone Ranger. He sees himself as fighting for the common good against special interests, and he never gets intimidated by anyone," said Lenefsky.
Hinchey denies he has a go-it-alone mentality.
"More than anything else, voters want someone who is honest, even if they don't agree with you. They will give you the benefit of the doubt," said Hinchey.
Most of his constituents, he said, now agree with his basic criticism of the war. The lawmaker, is still galloping well ahead of popular opinion within his district and his party.
"False information was imparted to the Congress, both orally and in writing, and I think it is the responsibility of the Congress to investigate as to whether or not these offenses are impeachable," Hinchey said.
The lawmaker with a gray pompadour still carries plenty of the tough-guy mien that began with his years as a self-described "teenage gangster" in New York City's Greenwich Village.
He was arrested in 1995 for carrying a loaded gun in his luggage at a Washington airport. A licensed gun owner, he insisted it was an innocent mistake and pleaded no contest.
In the summer of 2004, Hinchey had a mishap with a chain saw at his Hurley home, seriously injuring his right leg. He drove himself to a nearby hospital, where doctors operated and released him the next day.
"I told him to take that chain saw and throw it in the town dump," said Lenefsky. "But of course he won't."
On the Net:
Rep. Maurice Hinchey: http://www.house.gov/hinchey [1]