The country lost a great example over the weekend when former U.S. Senator Tom Coburn died from prostate cancer. He was 72.
Like anyone, he had a mixed record. For example, he didn’t support same-sex marriage, which I believe was as misguided at the time as I do now.
But he also left behind a legacy of principled support for limited government and thrifty use of taxpayer funds as well as having the character to develop friendships with people with whom he profoundly disagreed.
That’s how I’ll remember him.
In 2008, at the tail end of the Bush Administration that had turned a budget surplus into a half trillion dollar deficit, Coburn was concerned the Republican Party had lost its way and pleaded with his party to return to its conservative roots.
“Regaining our brand is not about ‘messaging,’” Coburn wrote in The Wall Street Journal. “It’s about action. It’s about courage. It’s about priorities.”
“Most of all, it’s about being willing to give up our political careers so our grandkids don’t have to grow up in a debtor’s prison, or a world in which other nations can tell a weakened and bankrupt America where we can and can’t defend liberty, pursue terrorists, or show compassion,” Coburn wrote.
Coburn’s hawkish views on the federal budget feel all but forgotten at the moment. Since he left the Senate in early 2015, the federal deficit has doubled, while the debt has shot up almost $5 trillion.
Coburn had a deserved reputation as a pain in the butt to his colleagues — when he was opposed to something, he didn’t back down and masterfully wielded procedural gimmicks to get his way.
Coburn had staff dedicated to combing the federal budget for objectively wasteful programs, which he published in a regular report.
Some highlights from a 2013 report included a $10,000 piece of performance art by linemen and electrical technicians from a Texas power company, $65 million in funds that were supposed to go to Hurricane Sandy relief but went to advertisements instead, and a nearly million-dollar investigation into the origin of romance in popular culture that was at the time focused on the song “Call Me Maybe” and the book “Twilight.”
According to former staffers writing in The Hill, a Coburn amendment attached to a spending bill required a watchdog agency to report annually on duplicative programs that has led to $260 billion in savings.
But for all of his principled stands that infuriated colleagues, presidents and members of the media, he was a man of high integrity who Democrats saw as a reliable legislative partner on issues of common interest.
He worked closely with Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., to shape many of the nation’s cybersecurity laws and policies, as well as other good-government measures. But his best known bipartisan partnership was with former Senator and President Barack Obama.
Obama and Coburn could not have been more different in terms of politics, but they looked for ways to work together. It shouldn’t be noteworthy that two people who disagreed with each other politically had a strong relationship — but it is.
Sadly, it was politically toxic for Republicans to show any respect to Obama–remember the grief former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie got for shaking Obama’s hand at a disaster site of all places — but it spoke to Coburn’s character. Coburn was no pushover and was often critical of Obama’s policies as president, but he was respectful of him as a person.
“I think he’s a genuinely very smart, nice guy,” Coburn said, according to Politico, adding that Obama was “special.”
At a time when our government spending is as out of control as the way we talk about people with whom we disagree, we would all be wise to remember the lessons taught by the late Sen. Tom Coburn.
1) The money our government spends now will be the burden of our kids and grandkids.
2) It’s appropriate to attack ideas, not people.
Matt Fleming is a member of the Southern California News Group’s editorial board. Follow him on Twitter: @FlemingWords
