Los Angeles Times
June 20 2005
PROFILE | ADAM SCHIFF
Congressman Is Gaining a Name in Foreign Affairs
By Johanna Neuman, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON – According to conventional wisdom, there’s no surer way
for a young congressman to destroy his career than delving into
foreign policy. Voters don’t care about it, the old hands say, and
time spent on what’s happening overseas is time squandered.
Democrat Adam Schiff may be the exception that proves the rule. Now
in his third term, the Burbank congressman seems to spend more time
on foreign affairs every year. Yet in each of his two reelection
campaigns, he’s held on to more than 60% of the vote.
Indeed, focusing on a foreign policy issue helped Schiff win his seat
in 2000, defeating Republican incumbent James Rogan in what is still
the most expensive House race ever. Since then, he has maintained and
extended his interest, without apparent political cost.
To be sure, the foreign policy issue that Schiff rode to his first
victory is one with exceptional appeal in his particular district –
the charge that, between 1915 and 1923, rulers of the Ottoman Empire
carried out a campaign of extermination that claimed about 1.6
million Armenian lives. California’s 29th Congressional District is
home to more Armenian American voters than any other in the state,
and they have pressed to have the episode officially branded as
genocide.
The present-day Turkish government denies genocide occurred, saying
Armenian fatalities stemmed from attempts to quell civil unrest.
Using parliamentary maneuvers he honed in Los Angeles as a prosecutor
and in Sacramento as a state senator, Schiff has rescued the issue
from defeat at the hands of a Republican majority.
On June 8, he won a major concession from House leaders, who agreed
for the first time in five years to vote on a bill in committee
recognizing the genocide. Schiff won that pledge by attempting to
amend the State Department authorization bill in two ways – one
seeking a historic study of how genocide could be prevented and
another seeking diplomacy to get Turkey to stop blockading another
Council of Europe country, Armenia.
That prompted frantic efforts by Turkey’s lobbyists – who include
former House Speaker Bob Livingston (R-La.) – to cut a deal that
would avoid embarrassing the Turkish prime minister, who was visiting
Washington that day and paid a call on President Bush on June 10.
The play to an Armenian audience was one of the focal points of the
2000 congressional campaign in California’s 29th District. Rogan took
to punctuating his stump speeches with cries of Getzeh Hayeruh –
“Long Live Armenia.”
Schiff raised the ante by delivering a whole speech in Armenian, one
syllable at a time.
Between them, the two candidates spent an estimated $15 million on
the campaign. Schiff won with 53% of the vote. Ever since, he has
taken the lead in the fight for recognition of the Armenian genocide
and made himself a prominent Democratic voice on foreign affairs.
For years the Armenian issue has languished in Congress, stymied by
vehement Turkish opposition and by the reluctance of American
presidents to antagonize an important ally.
That hasn’t stopped Schiff.
Last year, he spent hours in the parliamentarian’s office crafting an
amendment to the foreign aid bill that would pass parliamentary
muster. The gambit worked – up to a point. The House voted to bar
Turkey from using foreign aid funds to lobby against recognition of
the genocide, which Armenian advocates took to be tacit recognition
of their claim.
But then, under administration pressure not to upset Turkey, Speaker
J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) made sure the provision was removed early
in the process. This year, Schiff capitalized on current strains
between Washington and Turkey, which did not allow U.S. troops to
cross its territory to invade Iraq.
More recently, American officials have chafed at Turkey’s reluctance
to let American military operations expand at Incirlik Air Base.
Schiff saw hopeful signs in February, when the U.S. ambassador to
Armenia, John Evans, openly used the term genocide in a speech at UC
Berkeley, and added “I think we, the U.S. government, owe fellow
citizens a more frank and honest way of discussing this problem.”
Schiff, born in Framingham, Mass., is the son of a Jewish clothing
salesman who moved to California when Schiff was 9. His father is a
Democrat and his mother is a Republican. “Maybe that’s why I’m a
moderate,” he says.
Schiff ran for the Assembly in 1994 against Rogan and lost. But two
years later he won a state Senate seat. He rose to chairman of the
Senate Judiciary Committee and developed a reputation for thoughtful
tenacity.
Though not a flamboyant personality – staffers joke about his lack of
charisma – Schiff has continued to build a reputation as a skillful
tactician, even as a Democrat in a Republican world.
Since House Republican leaders take an uncompromising attitude toward
the Democratic minority, Schiff often can do little more than seek
modifications to Republican bills. And he can sometimes needle GOP
colleagues into what he sees as more balanced action.
In one Judiciary subcommittee, the chairman called five hearings on
gay marriage. Schiff, outraged that the subcommittee did not hold a
single hearing on the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, said, “Mr. Chairman,
I don’t think we should stop at five hearings. I know there are
issues we could discuss like Abu Ghraib, but honestly I think we need
more hearings on gay marriage.”
The chairman called no further hearings on gay marriage.
Potentially more important than such skirmishing, Schiff is trying to
help Democrats develop a longer-term vision on foreign affairs. He
frequently appears on television defending Democratic positions
against conservatives.
“When Fox News asks me how much credit Bush should get, I say that
the spread of democracy has been a core Democratic value since
Woodrow Wilson,” Schiff said.
Schiff is carving out a position as a leader of a centrist Democratic
national security bloc, a group he calls – in a deliberate parody of
right-wing neo-conservatives – the neo-progressives.
He has organized a national security caucus and led efforts to
prevent scientists from the former Soviet Union from spreading
nuclear and biological secrets. “He’s really emerging as one of the
key leaders in the House on national security,” said Will Marshall,
who heads the moderate Democratic Leadership Forum.
“For a long time, particularly in the House, it has been a little
lonely to be a Democrat who specializes in security. Members too
often regarded it as the other party’s issue. Adam sincerely believes
the Democratic Party has to reassert its leadership on national
security.”
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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
Emerging leader
Adam Schiff’s wife’s name is Eve. She apparently is not as amused by
the coincidence as he is and resisted various Garden of Eden
suggestions for their children’s names, Alexa and Elijah.
– At Stanford, Schiff majored in political science and pre-med.
Accepted by medical and law schools, he chose Harvard Law,
calculating that it would be a better launching pad to public
service.
– He clerked for a federal judge and spent six years in the U.S.
attorney’s office in Los Angeles.
– At a park in Glendale, longtime Armenian backgammon players were
shocked when Schiff challenged them to a game and won. It’s a game he
first played in junior high school.
– As a California state senator, Schiff, a consistent supporter of
the state’s Armenian genocide resolution, won state funds for a
documentary film on the subject. In Congress, when he arranged for a
screening, one of the speakers told the crowd he wished “genocide
deniers” had seen the film. From deep in the audience a voice rang
out, “Oh, we’re here, congressman, we’re here.”