The Afterlife Of Bob Packwood -- Former Senator Who Fell From Grace Appears Content To Be Timber Lobbyist

WASHINGTON,D.C. - Former Sen. Bob Packwood is back on Capitol Hill, rubbing elbows with old colleagues.

During last summer's budget debate, the former Finance Committee chairman re-emerged as an expert on tax issues.

But despite some recent success as a tax lobbyist, the Oregon Republican enjoys greater name recognition than clout.

On Wednesday, it will have been two years since Packwood resigned his Senate seat amid charges of sexual misconduct - and a year since he registered as a lobbyist for a group of family-owned timber companies in Oregon.

Packwood, who turned 65 last month, doesn't appear to be girding himself for a comeback, observers said. Instead, he is enjoying a comfortable semiretirement that allows him time to pursue hobbies, including squash, and ponder a move home to Oregon.

"His spirits are excellent . . . amazingly so," said Jack Faust, a Portland, Ore., lawyer and longtime Packwood political associate. "He says his ambition is to come back and live in Oregon. I don't know how soon, but it's definite."

For the time being, Packwood seems content to work within Washington's formidable influence industry. Part of the reason for Packwood's success as a lobbyist is institutional loyalty, acquaintances said.

"He's just one of the club," said Chandler Keys, a lobbyist at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association who has worked with Packwood. "He's a senator."

To the extent that Packwood has made a comeback in Washington, he has been aided by the media. Reporters who covered the budget debate flocked to him because he made himself accessible and explained complex policy in simple terms.

But in several prominent news stories, the circumstances of Packwood's resignation was not mentioned - a sign that elected officials' misdeeds are quickly forgotten in Washington, one observer said.

"The statute of limitations has expired on that one," said Larry Sabato, a government professor at the University of Virginia. "He's done his community service, and in Washington that includes lobbying."

Some news reports overstated Packwood's role in raising the exemption for estate taxes this year. In an article July 28, for example, The Washington Post identified Packwood as leader of a coalition opposing estate taxes.

But several lobbyists and Republican leaders said Packwood played no greater role than most members of the anti-estate tax coalition, which included more than 75 industry groups.

"I haven't had an occasion to talk to him - not that I wouldn't," Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., said last week. "He's certainly a brilliant expert on that subject."

Although they downplayed his influence on their work, Senate leaders agreed that Packwood remains a respected member of their community - even if he no longer is in office.

"Bob Packwood has an enormous intellect," said Sen. Don Nickles, R-Okla., assistant majority leader. "I never looked at him as a lobbyist, and still don't."

Alan Sobba, a lobbyist who helped begin the anti-estate tax coalition three years ago, said Packwood "was an important piece of it but not an overly important piece."

Others said Packwood's involvement had relatively little impact. None contacted could remember a specific moment when Packwood took leadership of the group.

"He was just really helpful in general," said Jamie Wickett, a lobbyist for the National Federation of Independent Business. "I can't remember any specific instances."

Still, several praised Packwood's skills as a lobbyist. The same ability to explain complex tax matters to reporters serves him well when dealing with former colleagues.

"It comes by nature to him to be somewhat of an educator," Keys said. "He's very good at that."

But Packwood's actual effectiveness as a lobbyist is hard to measure. Tax legislation the Finance Committee produced this year did almost nothing to help the handful of family-owned businesses that hired Packwood.

The 1997 tax act gradually raises the exemption for estate taxes from $600,000 to $1 million by 2006. Any assets exceeding the exemption will continue to be taxed at rates of 37 percent or more.

The change might save some small businesses, but family-owned timber companies that have expensive cutting and milling equipment still are liable to be closed and sold by heirs to pay estate taxes.

Some of Packwood's clients reportedly rebelled when they heard about the proposed change. They suggested opposing the higher exemption, fearful that it might soften support within the coalition for further estate-tax cuts.

But Packwood persuaded them to go along, saying it was an important breakthrough.

"It does very little for our company, but it is a first step in what we are pushing for: total repeal," said Steve Swanson, a Packwood client who is vice president of Superior Lumber in Glendale, Ore.

Swanson said he planned to retain Packwood "for as long as it takes." But it's unclear whether the former senator plans to make lobbying a new career.

Some who know Packwood think he plans to use the estate-tax issue to broaden his base of clients and add to his income by signing up a variety of family-owned businesses.

But Faust, a former chairman of Packwood's re-election committee, downplayed that idea. He said Packwood sees lobbying as a way to make a living and keep his hand in politics, but nothing more.

"I don't think he has any plan to make a huge income off it," Faust said. "I think he has expectations of making a decent income. I don't think he has grandiose expectations."

For the first six months of 1997, Packwood's firm, Sunrise Research, reported lobby income of about $60,000 - less than what Packwood would have earned in the Senate, where members are paid $133,600 per year.

Packwood declined to be interviewed for this article.

But he has given other indications that he intends his lobbying practice to be a transitional job:

-- Other than the timber businesses, Packwood's client list has just two other entries: Freightliner, the Portland truck maker, whose president, Jim Hebe, contributed to Packwood's defense fund; and Bergman, Horowitz & Reynolds, a law firm in New Haven, Conn.

-- Rather than contribute to office holders, Packwood continues to dole out charitable contributions from his 1998 re-election fund, which still has more than $300,000.

-- His one-room office is in the basement of a low-rise office building in a northwest Washington neighborhood two miles from the K Street corridor of lobby firm headquarters.

Since leaving the Senate, Packwood has expressed no regrets about his departure.

"He doesn't dwell on that," Faust said. "Our discussions are always on what's going on in the future."

Copyright 1997 Newhouse News Service