Republicans in Congress have taken the lead in fighting a threat to restoration, a cause he was first to take up years ago.
By BILL ADAIR and CRAIG PITTMAN
Published May 14, 2003
WASHINGTON - If there is one environmental issue that U.S. Sen. Bob Graham can call his own, it's the Everglades.
As governor, he launched Florida's initial effort to save the River of Grass. As senator, he helped line up federal support for an ambitious $8-billion restoration project.
But while Graham, 66, has been running for president, congressional Republicans have taken the lead on the hottest Everglades fight in years.
Gov. Jeb Bush meets today with key congressional leaders to discuss a bill that would delay a key deadline for cleaning up pollution in the Everglades.
But Graham won't even be in the room. Florida's most popular elected Democrat did not even know Bush planned to visit until a reporter told him.
U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale, and his GOP colleagues in the House have repeatedly upstaged Graham on the Everglades bill. Last month Shaw and other Republicans, including House Appropriations Chairman C.W. Bill Young of Largo, were calling and writing state legislators, bluntly urging them to reject the bill.
They worried that the measure would give members of Congress from other states an excuse to back out of a commitment to pay for half of the $8-billion restoration project, the largest environmental restoration in the world.
The bill passed anyway, and they focused their attention on persuading Bush to veto it. When a federal judge held an emergency hearing on the issue in Miami, Shaw was in court to tell the judge the bill was full of "weasel words."
Meanwhile, Graham's strongest stand has been to suggest everyone get into a room and talk it out. That was in a letter he and Sen. Bill Nelson sent the governor nearly a month ago. Since then, Graham has been largely absent from the debate.
"He's got his own priorities," Shaw said. "I'm sure his mind is elsewhere."
Graham said Tuesday if he were governor he would veto the bill, which would delay the deadline for cleaning up phosphorus in the Everglades from 2006 until 2013 and perhaps longer. Graham said he hasn't urged a veto because Bush has said he plans to sign it.
"He's made a pretty firm public statement that he will not veto it and will sign it," Graham said.
Bush again said during a visit to Clearwater on Monday that he expects to sign the bill. On Tuesday, he said he planned to consult with scientists and lawyers before making a final decision.
Graham is now trying to get back in the fight. He sent a letter to President Bush on Tuesday, urging him to reiterate his support for the restoration project. But the letter says little about whether he likes or dislikes the bill. Graham's lukewarm stance disappointed some environmental advocates.
"What a terrible letter," said the Sierra Club's Everglades committee chairman, Alan Farago. "If he is not paying attention, it is a terrible letter - if he is paying attention, and he wrote this, it is worse."
Graham said no one should question his devotion to the Everglades. "I have been engaged in the Everglades for 25 years," he said. "My commitment to Everglades restoration is unassailable."
The senator said Tuesday that he chose to send his latest letter to President Bush - the man Graham hopes to push out of the White House - because only the president could bring all sides together.
"I think we're going to have to be leaning heavily on the president who, as a candidate and as president, indicated he was a strong advocate for Everglades restoration," Graham said. "Now is the time for all strong advocates to come together and avoid a divorce."
But Shaw disagreed. "This is Jeb's show," he said.
It has certainly not been Graham's show, a point driven home by a bit of political hardball two weeks ago. Graham was trying to put together a meeting of all the main players on the Everglades issue, but it was canceled after Rep. Charles Taylor, R-N.C., who chairs a key House subcommittee, announced he could not attend.
The next day Taylor, Shaw and other Republican representatives sent the governor a letter urging him to veto the bill. Graham was not invited to sign the letter.
Even some of Graham's Democratic presidential rivals have jumped into the Everglades fray. Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, have all written to the governor.
Shaw said he did not invite Graham to today's meeting because, "I don't know whether the governor wants to meet with Bob or not. . . . If (Graham) wants to put together his own meeting, he is welcome to do that."
- Times staff writers Steve Bousquet and Lisa Greene contributed to this report.
