CALIFORNIA FOCUS
FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2018, OR THEREAFTER
FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2018, OR THEREAFTER
BY THOMAS D. ELIAS
“WILL FEINSTEIN SERVE OUT HER FULL NEW TERM?”
Things
were slightly bittersweet at Dianne Feinstein’s Election Night celebration in
San Francisco, which marked her easy reelection to a fifth full term in the
U.S. Senate, where she has been arguably the most influential Democratic member
for the last few years.
Her
power was most publicly obvious this fall during the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme
Court confirmation hearings, when she led off questioning as the ranking
Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Shortly after, she threw the
proceedings into chaos when she revealed accusations of highly questionable
sexual behavior by President Trump’s nominee.
So
there are few doubts about Feinstein’s effectiveness at age 85, the oldest
current senator. But all fall, as her aggressive reelection opponent Kevin de
Leon hammered at her cautious and always civil approach, one question loomed
over her campaign: Would Feinstein serve out her full new term?
For
sure, if Republican John Cox had pulled off a massive upset and won the
governor’s office, that question would have been answered in the negative. With
the conservative Cox in charge at California’s Capitol and ready to appoint a
GOP replacement if Feinstein’s seat ever became vacant, there’s no way she ever
would leave her office so long as she has breath.
But
the creatively liberal Democrat Gavin Newsom will now hold that office, so
Feinstein’s retirement option remains open. For Newsom, like Feinstein a former
San Francisco mayor, could be counted on to name a replacement who would vote
pretty much as Feinstein does: backing abortion rights, gun controls and free
trade policies.
Potential
appointees might include outgoing state Treasurer John Chiang and Pasadena-area
Congressman Adam Schiff, to name just two. The Democratic bench is deep, but de
Leon’s often aggressive attacks on Feinstein may have eliminated him from
future consideration.
Of
course, Feinstein never commented during the campaign on the possibility of
retiring before her term is up. In fact, she did little in-person campaigning around
California, in part because the Kavanaugh hearings kept her anchored to hearing
rooms and her office through most of the election season.
But
her top campaign aide, longtime consultant Bill Carrick made it clear she was
not contemplating that. “The thought of retirement never crosses her mind,”
Carrick said.
And
yet… There are all those red-eye flights to Washington, D.C. which every West
Coast senator must make, arriving exhausted in the early morning and still
having to do a full day’s business. There’s the somewhat dicey health situation
of her husband, financier Richard Blum, whose lung cancer treatments in 2016
caused her to miss the Democratic National Convention.
So
there may be reasons for her to want to retire. But there is also incentive for
Feinstein to serve out her term. For one thing, she was obviously frustrated
the last few years as Republican Charles Grassley of Iowa chaired the Judiciary
Committee, presiding over Supreme Court confirmation hearings that Feinstein
would have guided if there had been just two more Democratic senators.
With
Democrats looking like a strong possibility to take control of the Senate in
two years, Feinstein could look forward to most likely being in charge soon.
There’s
also the Intelligence Committee, which deals with America’s most sensitive
national security issues. Feinstein would be its senior member with Democrats
in charge.
But
the question of age remains. For many persons who reach advanced years, 90 can
be a benchmark time when they grow more fragile and less energetic. Feinstein
has never shown signs of fading strength or endurance, but all it takes is one
or two transient ischemic attacks (small strokes) to change anyone’s health
self-evaluation.
Feinstein
has shown no signs of ever experiencing anything like that, and plainly feels
she still has important work to do. Her major cause of protecting the
California deserts from development is threatened by Trump administration
policies. So are abortion rights and gun controls, which have been vital to her
since she witnessed the 1978 assassinations of former San Francisco Mayor
George Moscone.
The
upshot is that Feinstein won’t leave of her own accord unless she feels she’s
losing some of her abilities. That plainly is nowhere near reality today, but
how might she feel in two or four years?
-30-
Email
Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. His book, "The Burzynski Breakthrough,
The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch
It," is now available in a soft cover fourth edition. For more Elias
columns, visit www.californiafocus.net
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