European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 14, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes saturday. February 14,1987 columns James j. Kilpatrick Public financing might cure breakfast club evils the recipe so i was said called far a layer of scrambled eggs topped by three strips of Bacon topped by More scrambled eggs. The lobbyists were expected to cat the eggs. One Day they could expect to bring Home some Bacon. This was eggs bunt san named for the senior sen Ator from Texas who briefly proposed to sell his culinary concoction to 40 friends who would pay $10,000 a year for the privilege of having breakfast with him once a month. The distinguished Host incidentally chairs the Senate finance committee. The genial gentleman from Texas was nothing if not obliging. If More than 40 customers signed up he would hold to breakfasts a month. The Check could be paid in instalments 15,000 now  by june t. The guests would talk about matters of Trade and taxation and anything else anyone wants to  he would be relying upon his guests for advice and assistance. The proceeds would go into a fund for his re election in 1988. For a couple of Days it looked As if Bentsen might have to hire a hostess to seat the crowd but Ihen the Story of his invitation got out. Suddenly twas no fun any More. The senator be intently Dis banded his breakfast club returned the payments and confessed that when t make a mistake it s a  Well n Malis Moribus and All that. Maybe Good Laws will Spring from bad practices. Maybe. It is Possi ble barely possible that Public reaction to eggs benue a May provoke some serious action on the whole business of financing congressional elections. If i sound pessimistic it s because i am pessimistic. Re publican Sens. John Chafee of Rhode Island and Wil Liam Roth of Delaware expect to continue their $5,000 clubs. Majority Leader Robert Byrd of West Virginia reportedly will carry on his Little intimate  Bentsen s mistake was not a mistake in kind but in degree. It was he 10 grand lha did him in. They do things big in Texas. 1 know the senator As a Fine decent and honorable Man. Why did he get himself in this embarrassing mess it is because the astronomical costs of a Senato rial Campaign drive even the bos men to acts of desperation. The same unhealthy situation obtains in the House. Members no sooner take their seats than they must begin worrying about financing their next Cam Saign. Money is the Mother s milk of politics. Money us television spots and newspaper ads Money buys direct mail solicitations Money buys staff and Money pays the rent and except for those fortunate members who have no opposition at the Polis Money becomes William Safire an obsession. What a the big Money boys buy not eggs surely. They buy Access. 11 is As simple As that. The system May have apparent aspects of prostitution or of bribery but the appearance is deceptive. If anyone were o offer Lloyd Bentsen $ 10,000 to vote for a specific Tariff on textiles Belsen would throw the bum out. Bent sen s Vole is not for Sale. Bui his ear is for rent. Nobody likes the situation. For members the inces Sant Hunt for Campaign contributions is tiring and de grading. For the big donors the constant Dunning gets expensive. The voting Public reads of breakfast clubs and political action committees and its cynicism deep ens. A Hundred proposals for election Reform have been advanced. Last August the Senate voted 69-30 for a Bill sponsored by David Boren of Oklahoma. The Mea sure would have imposed Light ceilings on the sums that political action committees pics could contrib Ute to individual candidates. The Senate then voted 58-42 for an amendment sponsored by Rudy Bosch wit a of Minnesota. His Bill would have limited contributions to political parties. Nothing came of either proposal. Rep. David obey of Wisconsin favors Public financing of House and Senate campaigns. The idea is gain ing favor. Proponents argue that Public financing would cure the evils of breakfast clubs and political action committees. One version of Public financing would Cost the taxpayer an estimated 187 million a year for House campaigns $49 million a year for sen ate races. These Are affordable sums. At some Point Reform plans run headlong into the first amendment of the Constitution which guarantees every citizen a right of free speech a right Pecan Back with his Money. No Reform plan yet hoi cracked the problem of limiting Freedom in a free society. The problem May Well be insoluble. When Money talks a congressman listens. C us Wiki Piem synth Erie Mcfarl me was disappointed As Csc adviser my frequently expressed View of Robert c. Bud Mcfarland has been that of a Man out of his depth As National Security adviser bitterly disappointed at never receiving the respect and acclaim accorded to a Kissinger or Brzezinski who was Strain ing to match the strategic achievement of a China opening or a Camp David agreement with his own reaching out to moderates in Iran. Bud s lawyer Leonard Carmen i is a Friend of mine from the Nixon Yean. He told me i was harsh in my estimate of the Man and his motives and pointed to Bud s willingness to Brave testimony under oath before Congress and a special prosecutor unlike other key Csc military colleagues 1 suggested an interview. On Jan. 22, As Snow fell in Washington Bud Mcfear pan showed up at the Washington Bureau of the new York times a Block from his office when i was in new York my assistant found him politely glum. He Eft a note in handwriting As Graceful As his speech is convoluted suggesting we try to resolve our misunderstandings. We met a week or so later for the first of what i Hope will be a series of Alk in his office Al the George town Center for strategic and International studies. A few jays later he scheduled a second longer session for monday of this week but that turned out to be the morning he attempted suicide. He is now recuperating ill lie same naval Hospital that cared for it col. Oliver North s mental problems a decade ago and where the first Secretary of defense James Forristal jumped out a Tower window 3 Genera Tion ago. Some impressions follow. How he started and tried to Slop in Iran dealings Israel s Ariel Sharon was rebuffed on this twice by Secretary of state Al Haig in May 1981 and May 1982, i was told by Haig who brought Bud into the administration. When a former Haig aide Michael Ledeen broached the idea of an Iran opening to Bud in april 1985, Mcfarland let him sound out prime minister Peres unofficially assuming an approach to Iran would be Well received by Israel which it was. By the end of 1985, Bud considered his strategic probe had been a mistake and had degenerated into a hostage Ransom and thought he turned it off. Why he then quit the while House Mcfarlane was neither a personal Friend of Ronald Reagan a like William Clark nor a Man of Independent achieve ment like George Shultz or Caspar Weinberger. When state and defense clashed Mcfarland did not have the clout o resolve the issues or gel the president to de cide. Chief of staff Donald Regan certain of his own foreign policy judgment and eager to dominate wanted a nobody in that Job and a nobody was what he got to replace Mcfarlane. Why he came Back for a secret trip to Tehran last May he was out of the bureaucratic cocoon for the first time and not doing Well. Pundits derogated his record i think William Casey s urgings and the presi Dent s worry about hostages offered him an Opportunity to recoup his reputation in a grand Roll of the Dice. Why he became depressed after his dealings were a imposed he at first tried to protect the president then the Blunder was Given the color of scandal by the con tra diversion and he became the Only Central figure providing information. Don Regan blamed him for the whole mess and contradicted his testimony. The anti Reagan crowd revises him As a Cowboy pro Reagan stalwarts called him the new John Dean Bud had no friends at All. And i think he is still protecting the president on plenty. Did he really try to kill himself yes and no. If he made a conscious decision beforehand he would not have used valium Bud May not be Clausewitz but he is not inept. Feeling abandoned and whips wed blam ing himself for All the consequences of nil errors he impulsively gulped Down the whole bottle of pills and returned to the arms of bureaucracy this time in a Hospital. In our talk i asked How a former National Security adviser privy to the nation s ultimate secrets could put himself in the hands of iranians whose agents in Beirut tortured secrets out of their Cia hostage before killing him. Was that Security Gamble courageous or Foolhardy did he Lake a cyanide capsule along they had More to gain from working with us he said tightly. I waited and he added some of the preparations were Grote so  i think this desperate and disillusioned Marine on his misbegotten Mission to Tehran was prepared to kill himself for his country. This week s surrender to impulse was what psychologists Call a cry for help Bud was not prepared to kill himself for him self