Senator John Breaux on Dealmaking and Persuasion

Episode Summary

Senator John Breaux represented Louisiana’s Seventh District in the U.S. House for 14 years, then served three terms in the U.S. Senate, where he helped lead the bipartisan Centrist Coalition. He tells Adam how a young man from Crowley, Louisiana, won a seat in Congress at 28, and why he believes relationships, likability, and a willingness to talk to the other side are what get things done.

Senator Breaux says no one in his family was involved in politics, but he was always running for office in high school. He started college in engineering until, he says, his professors told him he kept trying to make two plus two equal five or six, so he switched to political science and history. After working for Edwin Edwards, at one point, he says, basically as a driver, he ran for Congress to replace Edwards when Edwards ran for governor. He says he was 27 when he announced, facing about 10 candidates old enough to be his father or grandfather, on the slogan “Experience makes the difference,” since he was the only one who had worked in a congressional office in the district and in Washington. He says he won in a runoff, crediting help from the incoming governor and the local officials he already knew.

He says personal contacts cannot be learned from a book, recalling countless barbecues and suppers with local officials. He calls it a huge mistake when members of Congress cancel town hall meetings to avoid tough questions, arguing that a good explanation of a vote can win back some support. Polls show how people feel, he says, but are not necessarily the right answer, because members gather more information through hearings and debate. If you vote against the polls, he adds, you had better be able to defend it. He recalls getting editorial after editorial back home after voting against Bork for the Supreme Court, and says he was still reelected the next time.

Senator Breaux believes people have to like you, pointing to Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton as likable leaders, and says the best thing you can do with your enemy is make him your friend. He recalls learning from Bella Abzug, a very liberal congresswoman from New York and a fellow Democrat, that people in her district thought she was too conservative. Saying neither party has a monopoly on good ideas, he describes blending the best ideas from both sides into a middle approach, the idea behind the Chafee-Breaux caucus, later the Breaux-Snowe caucus, which he says had about 10 members, five Democrats and five Republicans, and was called the Centrist Coalition. He worries the middle in Congress is shrinking.

Persuasion starts with talking, he says: if you have dinner with someone on a Friday night, it is pretty difficult to stab them in the back on Monday morning. He says a member who can show leadership five votes from the other side becomes an effective negotiator, recalling how Trent Lott, whom he describes as a Republican leader at the time and now his partner in business, accused him of bringing Olympia Snowe, Jim Jeffords, or Susan Collins to his side in a 50-50 Senate. He credits the almost daily conversations between Lott and Tom Daschle with making the 50-50 Senate function, and recalls Bill Clinton inviting Republicans to the White House even as they sought to impeach him.

Senator Breaux counts wetlands restoration in Louisiana and Medicare Part D among his successes, but says he wishes he had done more on healthcare, and that commissions he says he chaired on Social Security and Medicare reform could not win enough support for recommendations he calls tough. His lesson is to keep working at it, recognize when the votes are not there, and not give up. His advice to listeners is to get involved rather than sit on the sideline and complain: “Show up and do your work and show up every day.”

What You’ll Learn

Get on-the-ground experience, Senator Breaux says: working for a candidate or in a local office teaches what no book can, and his own work in a congressional office backed up his first campaign slogan, “Experience makes the difference.”

Invest in personal relationships, Senator Breaux says: he cannot overemphasize personal contacts, he credits the local officials he already knew with giving him a base to start from, and he says the personal relationships built at barbecues and suppers end up equating to votes.

Face the people who disagree with you, Senator Breaux says: skipping a town hall to avoid tough questions is a huge mistake, and a good explanation of a hard vote can win back some support.

Take a position and be able to defend it, Senator Breaux says, even when it is unpopular back home, as his vote against Bork was, drawing editorial after editorial.

Understand what motivates the other side before you try to persuade them, Senator Breaux says: neither party has a monopoly on good ideas, and if you have dinner with someone on a Friday night, it is hard to stab them in the back on Monday morning.

Keep working when the votes are not there, Senator Breaux says: recognize when the numbers just are not there this time, as they were not for his Social Security and Medicare reform efforts, but do not give up.

About Senator John Breaux

Senator John Breaux is a Louisiana Democrat who served in Congress for more than three decades. Born in Crowley, Louisiana, he graduated from the University of Southwestern Louisiana, now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and the Louisiana State University School of Law. Elected to the U.S. House in 1972 at 28, the youngest member of Congress at the time, he represented Louisiana’s Seventh District for 14 years, then won Russell Long’s Senate seat in 1986. In the Senate, he served as chief deputy whip, chaired the Special Committee on Aging, and helped lead the bipartisan Centrist Coalition. In 2020, he and Trent Lott joined the lobbying firm Crossroads Strategies.

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