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Lott to retire by year's end
BOWING OUT: Sen. Trent Lott will become the sixth Senate Republican this year to announce retirement. The Mississippi senator says it's time for 'something else' after 35 years in office. Bush says he will be missed.
By Johanna Neuman, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, the No. 2 Republican leader in the Senate, announced Monday that he will resign before the end of the year.
With his wife Tricia at his side at a news conference in Pascagoula, Miss., Lott said that after 35 years in the House and the Senate, "It's time for us to do something else."
The departure by year's end means that Lott, whose home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, could accept a position lobbying his former colleagues one year after he leaves office under the current law, instead of waiting for two years, as is required under the new Senate ethics law that goes into effect in January. Lott told the Biloxi, Miss., Sun-Herald that the Pascagoula home was his "nest egg," and sued his insurer, State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., to pay for rebuilding.
Lott, 66, a former majority leader in the Senate, may be best remembered for remarks he made at Sen. Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party, when he saluted the South Carolina senator with comments widely interpreted to be supportive of segregation. Lott later apologized for his "poor choice of words," which he said "conveyed to some the impression that I embraced the discarded policies of the past. Nothing could be further from the truth."
The White House publicly distanced itself from Lott, and the loss of support eroded his base, forcing him to step down as majority leader. Lott wrote a book, "Herding Cats: A Life in Politics," in which he said that President Bush's cold shoulder was "devastating ... booming and nasty."
Lott called Bush on Sunday to tell him of his decision. In a White House statement Monday, Bush said Lott "has always been a leader -- someone his colleagues have known they could count on to stay true to his principles." The president said Lott's "immense talent will be missed in our nation's capital."
Calling his years in Washington "a wild ride," Lott said Monday that he was "proud" of his achievements and was leaving with "no malice, no anger" -- though he has said in the past that being in the Senate minority is not as much fun as being in the majority when you "like to get things done."
Saying that he might like to teach, Lott speculated that perhaps he could manage his son Chet's musical career, and had submitted his name for head football coach at Ole Miss to University of Mississippi Chancellor Robert Khayat.
"I don't know what the future holds for us. A lot of options, hopefully, will be available. I've always thought I might like to teach some -- as the son of a schoolteacher, why wouldn't I want to do that?
" 'You may have played pretty good football on the corner of Lake Avenue and Morgan Lane in Pascagoula, but you ain't going to be a football coach,' " Lott said the chancellor told him. "So I guess that's not an option."
A former college cheerleader, Lott's job in the Senate often required him to cajole colleagues into voting leadership's way. One of his colleagues, Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, was unstinting in his praise for Lott's roles as majority leader, minority leader and whip.
"It's hard for me to imagine the United States Congress, and especially the Senate, without Trent Lott being a part of it," Grassley said in a statement. "Sen. Lott has been both a leader and a maverick. He knows the ins and outs and all the maneuvers of the legislative process. Nobody worked the whip process better. He's fought for legislation that respects the principles of less government and more freedom. He's fought hard, and won big, for his constituents. He brings tremendous energy and drive to his work, and I'll greatly miss Trent Lott as a colleague."
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a Republican, announced that he will appoint a replacement to serve for the next year, and would hold the election to fill the remaining four years of Lott's term in November of 2008, when Mississippi voters will also be voting on whether to re-elect the state's other senator, Thad Cochran. Mississippi has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1982, when John C. Stennis defeated Barbour.
BOWING OUT: Sen. Trent Lott will become the sixth Senate Republican this year to announce retirement. The Mississippi senator says it's time for 'something else' after 35 years in office. Bush says he will be missed.
By Johanna Neuman, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, the No. 2 Republican leader in the Senate, announced Monday that he will resign before the end of the year.
With his wife Tricia at his side at a news conference in Pascagoula, Miss., Lott said that after 35 years in the House and the Senate, "It's time for us to do something else."
The departure by year's end means that Lott, whose home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, could accept a position lobbying his former colleagues one year after he leaves office under the current law, instead of waiting for two years, as is required under the new Senate ethics law that goes into effect in January. Lott told the Biloxi, Miss., Sun-Herald that the Pascagoula home was his "nest egg," and sued his insurer, State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., to pay for rebuilding.
Lott, 66, a former majority leader in the Senate, may be best remembered for remarks he made at Sen. Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party, when he saluted the South Carolina senator with comments widely interpreted to be supportive of segregation. Lott later apologized for his "poor choice of words," which he said "conveyed to some the impression that I embraced the discarded policies of the past. Nothing could be further from the truth."
The White House publicly distanced itself from Lott, and the loss of support eroded his base, forcing him to step down as majority leader. Lott wrote a book, "Herding Cats: A Life in Politics," in which he said that President Bush's cold shoulder was "devastating ... booming and nasty."
Lott called Bush on Sunday to tell him of his decision. In a White House statement Monday, Bush said Lott "has always been a leader -- someone his colleagues have known they could count on to stay true to his principles." The president said Lott's "immense talent will be missed in our nation's capital."
Calling his years in Washington "a wild ride," Lott said Monday that he was "proud" of his achievements and was leaving with "no malice, no anger" -- though he has said in the past that being in the Senate minority is not as much fun as being in the majority when you "like to get things done."
Saying that he might like to teach, Lott speculated that perhaps he could manage his son Chet's musical career, and had submitted his name for head football coach at Ole Miss to University of Mississippi Chancellor Robert Khayat.
"I don't know what the future holds for us. A lot of options, hopefully, will be available. I've always thought I might like to teach some -- as the son of a schoolteacher, why wouldn't I want to do that?
" 'You may have played pretty good football on the corner of Lake Avenue and Morgan Lane in Pascagoula, but you ain't going to be a football coach,' " Lott said the chancellor told him. "So I guess that's not an option."
A former college cheerleader, Lott's job in the Senate often required him to cajole colleagues into voting leadership's way. One of his colleagues, Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, was unstinting in his praise for Lott's roles as majority leader, minority leader and whip.
"It's hard for me to imagine the United States Congress, and especially the Senate, without Trent Lott being a part of it," Grassley said in a statement. "Sen. Lott has been both a leader and a maverick. He knows the ins and outs and all the maneuvers of the legislative process. Nobody worked the whip process better. He's fought for legislation that respects the principles of less government and more freedom. He's fought hard, and won big, for his constituents. He brings tremendous energy and drive to his work, and I'll greatly miss Trent Lott as a colleague."
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a Republican, announced that he will appoint a replacement to serve for the next year, and would hold the election to fill the remaining four years of Lott's term in November of 2008, when Mississippi voters will also be voting on whether to re-elect the state's other senator, Thad Cochran. Mississippi has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1982, when John C. Stennis defeated Barbour.
Hey, Dubya himself was a cheerleader. 
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