JACKSON - How's this for progress: Sixty years ago Life magazine named Mississippi senior Sen. Theodore Bilbo the worst member of the U.S. Senate. Last week, Time magazine named the state's senior Sen. Thad Cochran one of the 10 best.
What a contrast in personalities: Cochran, the mild-mannered, soft-spoken, courtly, Southern gentleman, widely respected by colleagues; Bilbo, the ranting racial demagogue, whose hate venom embarrassed even fellow Southern senators.
The caption on Time's piece calls Cochran "the Persuader," zeroing in on the same point this column made on March 5, that the $29 billion Katrina recovery package squeezed through Congress before its Christmas recess would not have happened had not Thad, as Senate Appropriations chairman, attached it to the must-pass defense budget.
That was less than the $35 billion Cochran and other Gulf Coast lawmakers had desperately sought in a trimmed down list of the region's essential needs, but more than double what President Bush and his leaders had proposed.
When Louisiana's delegation early on after Katrina had asked for $250 billion to rebuild the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast, there was a backlash among GOP congressional conservatives who put aid for Louisiana and Mississippi on hold while they went on a spree of budget cuts.
The usually easygoing Cochran, writes Time, decided to flex his muscle as Appropriations chairman and crack the anti-Gulf Coast barrier by using the defense bill, already on a fast track, as the only device to get aid for his suffering Gulf Coast region.
As Time describes it, Cochran herded Republican senators into a closed door meeting and flatly announced that the defense bill wouldn't pass unless it included money for the Gulf Coast. Moving quietly along with his fellow Mississippi lawmakers as well as Louisiana colleagues, he sold the $35 billion package to a reluctant Congress.
Though it was eventually trimmed down to $29 billion Cochran says, "it was a substantial appropriation at a time we badly needed to start the recovery."
Always modest, Thad insisted to me in a phone call that he was being given "too much credit" for the breakthrough on the Katrina package. He expressly mentioned Gov. Haley Barbour's help with GOP leaders in the House, and Gulf Coast Democrat, Rep. Gene Taylor, for his constant plugging.
But Cochran makes clear what post-Katrina federal recovery aid nailed down thus far is little more than a down payment on what is needed. "It's a long-term challenge, and we still have a lot to do," he says. One hopeful sign, he added, is that President Bush is now responding in a positive way.
As he had told Time, Cochran doesn't often call news conferences, preferring to persuade lawmakers privately. Even in Mississippi, the 68-year-old Republican solon gets far less print than his ubiquitous colleague, fellow GOP Sen. Trent Lott.
Last week, after Time's 10 Best senators story came out, I began trying to track down Thad, knowing Congress was still on Easter break. His Washington office said he was overseas, either in Iraq, Jordan or Italy, three countries he and several other senators were visiting. Staffer Mary Cates would have him call me if possible.
Sure enough, at week's end, good ol' Thad calls from Italy, saying he was on his way back to the States. A few days before, he had been in the Iraqi hot spot of Fallujah ("They made us wear helmets and body armor.") and dined with eight Mississippians deployed there. "I wanted to make sure we were supplying them with what they needed," he added.
His visit to Jordan, Thad said, was to re-enforce the close relationship between the U.S. and the Jordanians "and express our appreciation for their contribution to the security of our forces in the Middle East."
A recent news story on Cochran's $1.2 billion request for additional funds to provide housing for displaced Katrina families implied that he was wedded to the concept of the tiny "Katrina cottage" designed by an architect for the governor's recovery commission. But he is not.
"We need to have a wide range of options and let the local folks decide … but the main thing is we have to get these people out of the FEMA trailers," he said.
Awaiting Cochran when he got back to Washington was another tough round of battling for Katrina recovery money, this time with a $31 billion price tag on it, including the controversial $700 million to relocate the CSX railroad line across the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
But at least the cramped FEMA trailer dwellers can have hope for better days, with the chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee on their side.
