After two decades in Washington, U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss bids D.C. adieu

ALBANY — With just days left in office, U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., settled into a seat in The Albany Herald’s third-floor conference room Monday morning and glanced around.

“It’s hard to believe that 20 years ago I sat in this same conference room and talked about running for the House of Representatives,” Chambliss said. “Boy, how time flies.”

Chambliss went on to serve four terms in the House before being elected to the Senate in 2002, when he defeated incumbent Democrat Max Cleland. Chambliss, 71, served two terms in the Senate before declining to run for a third term. His seat will be filled by Republican David Perdue.

Chambliss said he and Perdue have spoken often since November’s election, and he has given the incoming freshman senator some advice.

“He doesn’t have to be in a hurry, he’ll find out pretty quickly who he can work with on the Democratic and Republican sides. Republicans don’t have a patent on good ideas; Democrats don’t have a patent on good ideas,” Chambliss said. “He’ll have to find a sweet spot between the two to move the needle toward the middle. That’s where the best options are to get things done.

“David is a smart guy with an excellent business background and is exactly what we need in Washington to get the job done. I wish he had gotten on the Armed Services committee, but I am happy he is is on the Ag Committee.”

Chambliss then glanced back at his two decades in office and mused about what he had learned over that span.

As the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s Vice Chairman, Chambliss said it is important that the government pay close attention to the threat of terrorism which seems to be sweeping across the globe.

“Through my involvement on the intelligence committee, there are things that keep me awake at night. Home-grown terrorists scare me to death,” he said. “We are able to pick up on a lot of activity that happens around the world that is directed at the United States domestically overseas, but home-grown terrorists, like the Boston bombers, are much more difficult to pick up on … the attacks on the Canadian Parliament were home-grown. And that’s what scares me to death.

The senator then railed against President Barack Obama’s executive decision to normalize relations with Cuba, which has been under U.S. sanctions and a trade embargo since the early 60s.

“Anybody that thinks that the Castros are all of a sudden going to be friendly and trustworthy is dreaming.” Chambliss said. “Should we normalize relations with Cuba at some time? I clearly think it would be in their and our best interest to do so. But this is a major policy change, and for the president to do it administratively rather than going through Congress, particularly when there had been an ongoing discussion for the past 18 months, and not engage with congress on this was a real mistake on his part.”

Chambliss, however, stressed that the idea of lifting the embargo anytime soon is a pipe dream.

“Congress established an embargo on Cuba and that embargo is not going to be lifted,” he said. “So the president may think he is going to be able to have a friendly relationship with Cuba, but to think we will have a free flow of trade is wrong, because Congress is not going to break the embargo anytime soon.

“It’s still an oppressive country, the Castros keep their thumb on anybody down there who exhibits a democratic philosophy. An influx of U.S. dollars won’t change that. The sad part about this deal is that we got nothing in return as far as human rights go.”

As he walks away after 20 years in Washington, Chambliss has a few regrets, but not that many.

“Two things stick out to me. We had an opportunity to address our long-term debt and were stymied by the administration,” Chambliss said. “It is imperative that the issue of the debt of this country be addressed. Just last week, our total debt surpassed $18 trillion. We cannot leave the astronomical debt our polices have generated up to our children and grandchildren to fix.

“The other is we didn’t do more on cyber-security and that was driven home last week by the Sony hacking. The administration is blaming the North Koreans but there are countries better at it such as Iran, China and Russian. I hope it woke some people up. This is a big deal, a really big deal. Why the administration did not reach out to Sony is beyond me.”

As his career in government comes to an end, Chambliss said that he and his wife, Julianne, will relocate from Moultrie to Atlanta, where he will join an as yet to be announced law firm.

“I can get more done in Atlanta,” he said, “But I will not be a lobbyist.”