RICH GALEN. March 13, When Rich came in, he asked Leslie what the news was on the problems.

Transcription

1 .,, RICH GALEN March 13, 1981 We went and had coffee early in the morning. When Rich came in, he asked Leslie what the news was on the problems. "Nothing in Ind1.anapoli,s but it was page one in Fort Wayne." Rich said "So Fort Wayne is ablaze. We've had some week." I said, "Aren't you glad you have a six year term so that all the crap will die out." "You are exactly right. Our whole strategy is based on the fact that we have six years. Dan's first reaction was to hold a press conference, get all the papers together and deny the whole thing. He was mad as hell. I tried to calm him down and told him he didn't need to do that. I thought we could see what happened and that we had plenty of time to deal with it gradually. The thing first broke in the Wilmington Delaware paper which has been after Tom Evans. Then not much happened with Tom. Railsback held a press conference, apologizing, asking his wife to forgive him and promising to cooperate. On Friday, the dam broke. Between 10 and 5, I had 63 calls from the press~ On Saturday, I had two calls and this week I have had very few calls. They shot way up and then right down again. Crane demands an investigational sex for votes in Washington. Then Phil Thanks a lot. Phil! So it's still in the papers. Any newspaperman who says he has to talk to Dan has been allowed to talk with him. We have not announced that everyone is welcome, but we haven't stopped anyone either. We're trying to steer a middle course between Railsback's mea culpa and a refusal to talk about it. (I had mentioned Stewart ~hl(1'\ ) Dan has told the media people everytliing he knows. And when they come back for a second interview I told them that he

2 Galen - 3/13/81 2 has told them everything he knows. And he has. I say to these newsmen in private. "What's with all this righteous indignation. I've seen you guys on the campaign trail and you're like a bunch of horny shriners. Let's walk through this thing hypothetically. You go to Florida with some congressmen for a meeting and the room reservations get screwed up so you have to double up. You are eating dinner and someone comes by and introduces you to a beautiful lady friend of his. You say hello, they leave and you say who was that good looking woman? You don't see them again. Later in the evening you find out that they are booked into the same house with you. What do you say? Oh, my god, pack my bags. I'm leaving. Think back to your college days. I've talked with Dan a lot about it and he didn't have anything to do with the woman. We're hoping someone will get caught on video tape with his pants down and then the whole thing will go away. I must say Marilyn has been a saint through all this. She even offered to testify. 'I can tell them he's no good after 10:00 p.m.' We have had 7 letters on the subject from the constituency in one week. But in Washington everyone wants to be Bob Woodward. Maybe I shouldn't have let the Post reporter in. They had it allover the front page with pictures on the second page. But we have a long time to deal with it. That's the difference between Evans and Railsback and us. They had to do what they did--go on TV and deny it--because they are already running for reelection." "We are all learning about the Senate. Everything about the House and Senate is different. They are like two different countries. It's like going to the Canadian parliament. The other night I took home the book on Senate.procedure. Nothing about the procedures are the same. You don't even clear a

3 Galen - 3/13/81 3 press release over here the way you do in the House. And the demands are incredible. For me, it's the phone calls. I can't get over the phone calls. I told the communications people that I want a headset. My arm gets tired holding the telephone all day. With a headset I could at least type while I'm on the phone. It affects all of us. Cynthia (Senator's personal secretary) has to tell Nancy to cut off her calls. She can't even get a letter typed. Everyone wants to talk to the Senator. One of the decisions every office has to make is who is going to get through to the Senator--constituents, for example. Not every constituent who comes through can see the Senator, or else he'll never do anything else. We talked about it and Dan said he would set aside some time everyday for constituents on a first come first serve basis. So we set 4-5 every afternoon and told people that they could come by then and see the Senator if they wished. Well, that didn't work out, because there's a basketball game in the House gym every afternoon at that time. So we made it 5:15-6:15. So the constituents came, and on one of ~ r / the first days, they were filling the office and spilling out down the corridor. Dan came through his private office door and said "What the hell are all those people doing lined up i~ the corridor. I said, 'those are your constituents.' 't.~cf\t Cl d,qy / used to. ~e you used to have ~. You represent eleven times the number you,",0" VIIt ~vt 1('(. A And the demands on him have not multiplied 11 times, they have multiplied 1000 times. All the trade associations that are interested in the work of his subcommittee want to see him and have him come to their receptions. Instead we. - of dealing with 2 TV stations and 3 newspapers, 9fte now deal. with TV stations 1\ and newspapers. That's just in the state. Newspapers allover the country want " to write about him, too." "He loves it. He's getting the feel for the place and digging into his

4 Galen - 3/13/81 4 committee work. Over in the House, when he saw the first ray of sunshine he'd be out on the golf course. But he's not doing that. He's had an incredible amount of information pushed at him and he's trying to absorb it. He's attending all his meetings. Except for one week of vacation at Thanksgiving he's been in the office every day. You can see him down on the floor talking to the other Senators. He's not rushing into foolish things. He's said he's not going to speak up in the AS Committee for 6 months, while he's learning. The other day Senator Stennis--the most senior man in the Senate, I guess-- threw his arm around him and told him that he had a great career to look forward to in the Senate and how lucky he was. I think he feels that way, when too. His mind is working and he's getting more interested in things than/he was in the House. When we were campaigning, we didn't think of that. I don't think we knew what kind of Senator we were foisting on the people of Indiana. It's a lot more fun getting into office than it is being in office. That's drudgery. fwm. Frankly, we wondered whether he would take to thejsenate p~e he got here. But he has. AlrI think we're going to have us a Senator." U He said, too, with respect to Dan's career. Marilyn has been very supportive. ~She's very smart, she's a lawyer. She enjoys going to things 110k e spec1a 1 s h ow1ngs 0 f Elo 1za b et h T ay l' or s mov1es. She l1 kes good'~s -== l1 ke that. Why shouldn't she? She's been five years without a husband. She's been great. But she could bring the whole thing to a screeching halt with one word." Re Lugar" relationships - "We've had a few problems with bruised aad egos, but nothing serious. By March or April, we'll start cutting back our speeches in the state, because the Lugar campaign will be on. We've had that understanding from the first minute we talked about the relationship. Also we have tried to stay out of each other's committee area. If we want to make a

5 Galen - 3/13/81 5 statement on foreign affairs we'll put it out under the Armed Services Committee. If he wants to make a statement about Labor matters, he'll put it out under the Banking Committee. That way, we'll both keep our expertise, neither of us will step on the others turf. Since we're bound to disagree down the road, it's helpful if we don't fight on the same turf." He said staff was not settled. " Mark Miles went back to Indiana. couple of the LA's are in the ~I syndrome." don't know whether I want to stay in Washington' A Re Lugar staff relationships - "I walked into the Lugar office and said can anyone find me a senator that looks like Chuck Grassley?" They said 'do you want to hear the jokes about the 19th hole.' 1 said, 'No thanks, I've got enough troubles. '"