Alan Simpson Interview (page: 6 / 9) Statesman and Advocate	Print Interview

What legislation are you proudest of? What means the most to you?

Alan Simpson: The immigration bill. I used to try to pretend it wasn't, but it happened again two nights ago in L.A. I'm in this restaurant. This waiter is all over me, he's obsequious, not a nice guy. And I'm alone. Just eating off of one of these people who've sent me off to speak. And it was fun, just being alone. This guy came up, nice guy. He said, "Simpson, I'm legal. I'm a citizen of the United States because of you. I was one of the guys that was legalized under your bill."

Get the Flash Player to see this video. There were 2.9 million human beings who were brought out of the dark, who were living in an illegal society -- they were living illegally in a legal society, and nobody knew they were illegal. They were working in jobs. Some of them were businessmen. So when we put together the Simpson-Rodino, Simpson-Mazzoli bill, we said, "Anyone here before the date -- we set the date -- January 1st, 1982, is hereby given amnesty, and can remain in the United States. Come forward, get temporary papers. Then temporary resident, then permanent resident." And about once a month one of those 2.9 million people from somewhere come up to me in a cab and they say, "Hey, I'm here. Here I am. And you did that. " And I saw at Harvard the other day, beautiful couple, boy and a girl, different race, and this young man said, "My two parents were legalized under your bill." And she said, "My two parents were legalized under your bill, and we're just here to thank you." And they're both Harvard students. I said, "God, I've taken a lot of crap in life, but every time I get one of those, you know, that's it." So that is truly the most gratifying. And it happens quite often. Cab drivers jump out to say, "Hey Simpson, is that you?" I say, "Yeah." "Well, I was living the life of Reilly, except I wasn't legal, and now, since then..." and then they tell you what they're doing.

[ Key to Success ] The American Dream

That was the best one. The Clean Air Act works. Allowance trading, we've cleaned up a lot of America. So those two, and I was right in the middle of those, with both size-15 feet.

What do you say to a young man or woman who comes up to you and asks, "What do I have to do to be successful in politics? To make a difference?"

Alan Simpson: You have to love people, genuinely so. To the point where your poor spouse and your children are saying, "Look, you spent more time with that guy in the airport than you spent with your daughter." You have to watch that, as you're doing it -- there's a very sensitive balance -- which we did, because I never went to the U.S. Senate until the two boys were 19 and 21, and Susie was 15. So we made that conscious choice, not to screw them up too bad by dragging them to Washington. Susie was great, she was a triumph. But I tell them, "Look, go get successful in something else."

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Don't just sit and say, "I want to be governor someday," or "I want to be senator, and I know I will, because it's an obsession." I said, "Any time you look obsessed you're going to lose." Show me a hundred-percenter on anything and I'll show you a guy I want to stay away from. It doesn't matter where the issue is. So I tell them, "Look, if you want to be in journalism, or architecture, or labor, do something -- or electrician -- do that. And let people see that you are good at that, or a success at that." And then they will say, "Well now, he wants to go to the legislature, be on the city council or the school board. Well, why don't we put him on there? I mean, he's doing all right in what he's done there." And that's how it works. But I said, "Don't just wander around saying 'I want to be governor,' because you won't ever get there." I can assure you, you won't get there. People will get away from you. They'll think you're nuts. They'll think you're Napoleon, waiting to be crowned. So that's what I tell them. Go do something, whatever it is, do that successfully. Or do it the best you can. Whether it's successful or not isn't the issue. Do it the best you can, and they'll spot that. Then they'll elect you. These people say, "Well, I ran for something, but nobody would help me." Well, there's probably a reason. Probably they weren't a damn, or they didn't stimulate anybody. Or "I couldn't raise any money." Well, why not? Probably because who wanted to lay money on them? So some guys got it and some guys don't. But do something first and then let them grace you with a very intimate type of a thing. They're voting! That's your name on the ballot, and they're either rejecting you or accepting you. Pretty intimate type of thing. But it's very gratifying.

[ Key to Success ] Preparation

In this era, when it costs so much money to be a candidate, where you are subjected to so much public scrutiny, such invasion of privacy, how do you get good people to commit to public service? How do you get good people to run for public office?

Alan Simpson: They're right downstairs. There are how many down there? Three hundred young people from all over the United States, and I'll bet 50 of them have come up to me in the last day saying, "I'm going to run for public office." I say great. They all know one thing now, though. They know that their life is going to be carefully examined. But when you're 18, and you've done what they've done, I think that's tremendous. They're the best and the brightest in this country, and there can't be too many guys in there who have shot mailboxes and are on federal probation! So what a joy. They know they're going to have to be on their best behavior. They'll probably miss a little of life in that process, but it will help them. At the Kennedy School, the Institute of Politics, our job is to try to inspire young people to public life. How do you do that? Show them other people who do it. Bring Jim Sasser, who now is the ambassador to China. Bring in Sam Nunn. Bring Bill Bradley. Bring Bill Cohen. Nancy Kassebaum. People who've done it. Succeeded.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. It's like anything. It's like journalists are offended that they get tarred with the jerks in their profession. And politicians are offended that we get tarred with the jerks in my profession. And some of the discussion down here on, who is this person that's tainted this whole profession? Well, those are the people that get all the notoriety. The rest of them just slog along and get tarred with it. So you know, I think it's great. They do think the present situation in Washington, however you wish to describe that, is troubling. Whatever it is. And they have their views, just like everybody in America. And they say them just as clearly as everybody in America. You know, "Tripp is a fink... Starr is a fink... the President's a fink... Hillary's a fink... Lewinsky's a fink... Ginsburg is a fink..." They all -- five percent of them all have that view -- but they sort it out pretty well. But nobody has missed the fink route. They haven't missed anyone. No one is off the hook. And I tell them that humor is the universal solvent against the abrasive elements of life, and if they have that they can accomplish anything. It opens doors and then you drive a truck through the door. Humor, just humor, real humor, not the fake kind, not the roast kind where you're slicing somebody up. Not the talk show kind of crap where you're just making fun of everybody.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Learn to forgive yourself, time after time after time, because you'll need to do that. Especially in politics, not be hard on yourself, and just -- and I never felt I was, you know, statesman or whatever. But I was honored to be the assistant majority leader. Honored to be Bob Dole's assistant for 10 years. What an honor. What a man. That the American people never got to know who he was. Well, that was a shame. They -- you know -- if he'd just been -- he was who he was, but the handlers, you know, were giving instructions. That's a devastating thing. But Bob Dole is one of the classiest men I ever met in my life. I'd have gone, you know, in a military term, I'd have gone over the hill with him in a minute. And so is Elizabeth. And so is George Bush. I would go over the hill for him in an instant. And Barbara Bush. And that's not like me to say that. I'm not a gung ho guy. But these are decent people, who the American people never knew, and that's their tragedy.

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