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THE FRANKLIN COVER-UP -- CHILD ABUSE, SATANISM, AND MURDER IN NEBRASKA |
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APPENDIX B: BOBBY AND ME It is impossible to understand the Franklin scandal and its cover-up, without knowing the environment created in Nebraska when Robert Kerrey was governor, 1983 to 1987. It was an atmosphere of permissiveness for the rich and powerful, to do mostly as they pleased. Some of what follows, I probably should have said some time ago. Now, the prospect of Bobby Kerrey holding the highest office in the land means that I, who am knowledgeable about Kerrey in a way that probably no one but the closest of his cronies is, have no choice but to speak out. I could say much more, but I think the following episodes, in addition to what I have said in Chapter 6, are enough to shed important light on Bobby's character. *** I have always called him "Bobby" or "Roberto." Bobby has always called me "John-boy." Joseph Robert Kerrey and John William DeCamp. We go back about twenty years. Bobby had just returned from Vietnam with one and a half legs and the Medal of Honor and was trying to sort out his physical pain and mental bitterness toward the Vietnam experience. I came back from the Nam about a year later and went almost directly into the Nebraska Senate as one of the youngest state senators in the United States. Bobby had been a Navy lieutenant on special duty in Vietnam with the SEALS. I had been an Army infantry captain in the south, in the Mekong Delta, on special assignment to John Paul Vann and a program called CORDS, which was run by then Deputy Ambassador to Vietnam, William E. Colby. Colby would later become head of the Central Intelligence Agency, under Presidents Nixon and Ford. I functioned as an infiltrator and analyst for CORDS, which in fact was more CIA than anything. Officially, CORDS was the pacification program. But that's another story. In the early 1970s, I was aware of Bobby because of his war protest activities and his Medal of Honor. He was aware of me because of my high profile and controversial activities as a state senator. One of the first things I did in Nebraska, following my return from Vietnam, was to sponsor a legislative resolution, which some viewed as a war protest, but which in reality was an attempt to open dialogue on the Vietnam War issue and to educate the politicians in the United States as to what was really occurring in Vietnam. The essence of my plea in the legislative resolution was this: Let us win or get us out of this war. Do not keep us in the position of not being allowed to win and not being allowed to lose, swinging in the wind. For the first time in its 100-year history, the Nebraska Legislature voted not to allow any discussion on a resolution. It also forbade any hearing on the resolution to be held within the walls of the Nebraska State Capitol. This was how volatile this issue was back in 1971, and how adamant the elected officials in Nebraska were against anybody daring to question the propriety or value of the Vietnam War. I was hurt and discouraged by this action and what I viewed as the stupidity of the Legislature, in refusing to want to learn about the issue. As I sat at my Senate desk, licking my wounds after the vote to ban any hearing on the topic, Lincoln Star reporter Don Walton came up. "Pretty discouraging, wasn't it?" Don asked. "Yeah," I muttered angrily, "these bastards think they can suspend the First Amendment by some vote of this legislature that effectively says the Vietnam War does not even exist. No wonder they call them hayshakers. They love to wallow in their own ignorance. Sad thing is, they might actually learn something about the Vietnam War -- they might even learn to understand why there are war protests." Don Walton bent over my desk and whispered in my ear, so no one standing around would hear. "The way I read that resolution the Legislature just passed," Don said, "was that they were not allowing any discussion on your resolution to occur inside the walls of the State Capitol. I did not see anything in that resolution that said you could not hold a hearing outside the Capitol, on the front steps." Don smiled. I perked up. In a flash, I knew what he meant. Defy the Legislature. Hold a hearing of our own right on the steps of the Capitol. Invite one and all to come and participate. Have any senators attend who wanted to. Let the others chicken out if they wanted, but make sure everyone got counted. And that is exactly what I did. I announced the hearing would take place on the "north steps of the Nebraska State Capitol." The press did the rest. On the day of the hearing, the Capitol steps were barren of people, except for more law officers, undercover police, FBI agents, and CIA operatives than had ever been assembled in Nebraska at one time. The only senators who dared to come sit on the steps of the Capitol to participate in the hearing and listen to testimony were: Senator Terry Carpenter, the firebrand from Scottsbluff, who had gained national attention by nominating a non-existent "Joe Smith" for President at the Republican National Convention years ago, to mock the nomination process at conventions; Senator Ernie Chambers, who has gained state, national, and international attention for his unwavering defense of the rights of African-Americans; Senator P.J. Morgan, now Mayor Morgan of Omaha; Senator Wally Barnett, who later became Nebraska State Fire Marshall; and myself, Senator John DeCamp. As we five sat there at our make-shift hearing table on the steps, I felt disappointed. We were going to be made fools in front of the state and national press, because of the failure of the people to care enough to show up for the hearing. And I was going to be the biggest fool of all. Then we heard a distant rumble. Slowly it grew louder. As we looked north from the Capitol steps, we could see the street filled by a mass of human beings moving straight toward us. It was the most moving sight of my life. There they were, several thousand people marching on the Capitol, covering the street for blocks behind the leaders. Men in wheel chairs who had lost limbs or worse in Vietnam; combat veterans who came back shattered in spirit or mind, who had been cynical about everything but afraid to express it; students from the University of Nebraska by the thousands; and businessmen and housewives by the hundreds. In the front, leading the parade, was a young war hero named Bob Kerrey. *** The event turned out to be the largest hearing ever held by the Legislature, up to that time. As ideas were shared, those who supported the war and those who opposed it, including many on both sides of the issue who had fought in it, came together for the first time and communicated. It was awesome. Part way through the hearing, a group of Vietnam War veterans moved up to the podium and began depositing medals they had earned for acts of heroism. This was their way of repudiating the war, and for them it was a catharsis. Years later, there were rumors that Bob Kerrey was one of those who deposited a medal in the "coffin" some of the vets brought to the hearing to put the medals in. Kerrey has always denied this. In 1982, when Bobby was running for governor, his participation in the event became an issue with potentially damaging political consequences. At that time, I discussed the matter with Bobby, as he sought to minimize the damage his opponent, Governor Charles Thone, was doing to him for having attended and thrown away his medal. I remember Bobby's pleading discussion with me in my office at the Capitol, as the issue heated up. I had publicly admired and praised him for his participation because, back in 1971, it was a sign of courage. Now Bobby pleaded, "For God's sake, you're killing me. Just let the issue drop. Besides, I don't think I was even there." He declared that he had been in Peru visiting his brother at the time of the hearing, so he could not have been there. I was dumbfounded. But as Bobby grew more insistent that he had not been there, I started to become confused about the matter myself. I complied with his request, taking his word, and publicly said that I must have been mistaken to say that Bobby attended the hearing. Recently, I decided to see what records there were of that special hearing, twenty years ago, where Bobby now said he was not present. In the files of the Lincoln Journal, I found a May 6, 1971 article, which identified Congressional Medal of Honor winner Bob Kerrey as one of the main speakers at the rally. The article said, "A Nebraska native and Vietnam Congressional Medal of Honor winner, Robert Kerrey, in a prepared statement said that the 'Viet Cong or North Vietnamese troops are angelic compared with the ruthless Americans.'" I checked the files of the World-Herald. They also report Bobby as a speaker at the hearing. Two days after the event, Bobby wrote a letter to the Journal in which he said that what he meant was that " ... the evidence of atrocities in Vietnam is sufficient to support an argument against all wars. ..." *** Over the next several years, we had little contact. Bobby entered the restaurant business and -- with a little help from a law I helped amend, that let an individual obtain more liquor licenses than were allowed until then -- began to do quite well. He became a significant personality in Lincoln, the state capital. Meanwhile, I was having more legislative success than I had dreamed possible. It is quite something, to look back at the headlines from that era, in the same World-Herald that today is trying to destroy me for defending the Franklin victims: "'Gladiator' DeCamp is Tall in Capitol Arena: Fast-Moving Senator Wields Vast Influence" -- from March 26, 1978. "Kingpin or Carpenter-like, John DeCamp Wields Power in Legislature" -- from April 1978; here, C. David Kotok chronicled what he called my "rise to legislative kingpin." My influence on events was such, said Kotok, that "The 1978 Legislature even has been dubbed 'the DeCamp session' by some." The authors of those two articles, Kotok and Frank Partsch, today write most of the World-Herald's editorials, many of which have viciously attacked me. Bobby and I next had quite a bit to do with each other in 1982, during the Nebraska gubernatorial race. I was there when the state's leading powerbrokers anointed Bobby as the next governor, in fact it was I who suggested they anoint him. That is a fascinating story, but let me first give a little necessary back ground. Starting in the mid-1970s, a debate over the structure of Nebraska's banking industry emerged as the issue which would dominate state politics for a decade. Officially dubbed "Multi-Bank," the issue was a turf battle of monumental proportions, over who was going to own the banks in Nebraska, and what competition was going to be allowed in the purchase of existing banks. On one side were the "Independents," who advocated ownership of banks by individuals. The Independents were very strong in Nebraska, as in many rural states. On a per capita basis, as I recall, we probably had more banks than almost any other state in the United States. On the opposing side were the "Big Banks," particularly those based in Omaha, the state's largest city. Nebraska law forbade holding companies, which could own many banks. If holding companies were allowed, the big banks would naturally start buying up a lot of small banks -- "Multi-Bank." That was the issue. In 1976, I won the chairmanship of the Senate Banking Committee, which controlled banking, finance and insurance in Nebraska. That is, I thought I won it. I know today that I was merely the bright young legislator selected by powerful men in business and politics, to aid their efforts to change the banking structure in Nebraska. I believed at the time, that the banking structure changes I was proposing, which would allow the big banks to get bigger, were good for Nebraska. I thought they were necessary, as well as probably inevitable. It was this battle over bank structure, that next brought Bobby and me together. In 1978, the banking forces I supported determined that we had likely assembled enough senators in the recent election, to pass the Multi-Bank structural changes. But we had to be sure that if we passed the legislation, we could get it signed by the governor. A veto would be fatal. It was possible to get a majority of votes to pass the legislation, but electing enough senators to override a governor's veto might take two or three elections, or forever. It would be much faster and cheaper, the big boys concluded, to control the governor. Accordingly, at a very private meeting between a Nebraska congressman named Charles Thone; the state's then-premiere lobbyist, Jim Ryan; Omaha National Bank President and CEO John Woods; Omaha National Vice President Don Adams; and myself, certain agreements were reached. The meeting was held at John Woods' personal residence in Fair Acres, Omaha, in a quiet "servants' quarters" outside the main house. The understanding was clear, that we would work to make Charles Thone governor. And Charles Thone, who said he strongly believed in our Multi-Bank bill, gave his iron-clad pledge that he would sign it, just as soon as we could "put it on my desk." But the best laid plans of mice and men go oft awry, and that is what happened with the new governor, Charles Thone. Charlie liked being governor. Charlie was cautious. Charlie did not want to do anything that made anybody unhappy. The last thing Charlie needed after being in office for a couple of years, was to have a controversial issue on which he had to play King Solomon, which would make one or another powerful group hate him, no matter what he did. Multi-Bank was exactly that. The two contending groups of banks financed almost all major political races in Nebraska -- on both sides -- for almost a decade. Politicians would pledge their support to either the Independents or to the Big Banks, led by Omaha National (later to merge with First National of Lincoln to become FirsTier), as the first step toward running for public office, particularly for the Legislature. Some politicians came to believe that they would never really have to cast a vote on the issue, because there would never be enough votes to get the bill passed. Therefore, they could promise to support Multi-Bank, without having to worry about a final vote or signature on the bill. Charles Thone was apparently one of those. As long as the bill never reached his desk, he could promise till the cows came home that he would sign the bill, but he would never be held accountable. But on a fateful day in 1980, something happened in the Legislature that nobody dreamed possible. It had never happened in the first one hundred years of Nebraska history. There was a tie vote, 24 to 24. Nebraska's unicameral Legislature has 49 Senators, but on this day, Senator Ernie Chambers decided to sit on his hands, rather than vote for what he regarded as one bunch of evil-doers against another. Then, in an act of dubious legality, Lieutenant Governor Roland Luedtke cast the deciding ballot in favor of the Big Banks. Never before had a lieutenant governor voted on anything. Governor Charles Thone was in a dilemma. If he signed the bill, he incurred the wrath of the powerful independent bankers. If he did not, he betrayed the promise he had made to John Woods and the Omaha business community, who were intent on this piece of legislation. Charlie did the smart thing. He left town and criticized Luedtke for having improperly voted for the bill. Luedtke responded by putting on the hat of Acting Governor, and signed the bill into law. The story did not end there. On instructions from Attorney General Paul Douglas, who favored the independent bankers, the newly passed law was not entered into the statutes. It was as if it had never passed. In the next year's legislative session, the Big Bank forces came back with guns blazing. Led by me on the floor of the Legislature and in the Banking Committee, we marched the legislation slowly but surely through three legislative votes and to a final showdown with Governor Thone. We had a bare majority, but nowhere near enough votes to override a governor's veto. On a spring day, as Charlie was dreaming of an easy reelection, as the newspapers were saying that he was unbeatable, being a Republican governor in a Republican state, who had done nothing really right or really wrong, we laid the newly passed legislation on Charlie's desk. John Woods sent clear messages to Charlie Thone, that he was expected to live up to his promise to sign the legislation. But the Independent Bankers had their own ace in the hole. They had the leading independent banker in the state meet one-on-one with Charlie and "explain the facts of life." The facts were these: 1. That if Charlie signed the legislation he would be politically dead, because ... 2. The Independent Bankers would organize a referendum on the newly passed legislation and put the issue on the ballot in the next election, where ... 3. As Charlie, we and everybody else knew, it would almost certainly be defeated, because the voting public was inclined to support the Independents. Charlie would be done for. Charlie got the message. He vetoed the bill. With that veto, Charlie's political doom was sealed, and the door was opened for Bob Kerrey to be the next Governor of Nebraska. Until then, Bobby was still frying hamburgers at his restaurant, and was no closer to the governorship, to Debra Winger, or to Hollywood than the local movie theater. John Woods was adamant. So was super-lobbyist Jim Ryan. Charlie Thone must be eliminated. It was time to come up with other candidates. To my suggestion that they seriously consider supporting me for Governor, the answer was unanimous. I was too controversial. I had too much political "baggage." I would not like being governor. I was too effective as a legislator and besides, as everybody knows, except for signing bills, the Governor of Nebraska is not as powerful as independent legislators. What they said was probably true. They wanted me as their power broker in the Legislature. I suggested we get behind a young man named Bob Kerrey. For a couple of years, there had been talk about Bobby. I had even dreamed, as I told Bobby many times, of running for Governor, with Bobby as Lieutenant Governor. I knew others were encouraging Bobby, too. From that meeting on, it was a done deal. Jimmy Ryan and Omaha National Bank Vice President Don Adams were assigned the task of meeting with Bobby privately to sort out whether he would support Multi-Bank legislation. Bob Kerrey filed as a candidate. A lot of people found it remarkable, that Democrat Bob Kerrey had the heavy support of the normally totally Republican Big Bank establishment. In November 1982, Kerrey became Governor of Nebraska. His first public appearance as Governor was to testify before my Banking Committee for Multi-Bank. Shortly thereafter, he signed the bill into law. *** Though the support of John Woods and the Omaha business community was the most critical factor in Kerrey's election, there was another force in Nebraska politics at the time, whose support was believed to be practically indispensable to winning the election. This was the pro-life movement. The vocal head of the pro-life group, Senator Bernice Labedz of Omaha, was more than just another state senator and more than just another pro-life leader. She was the matriarch of the Democratic Party. She was close friends with both of Nebraska's U.S. Senators, J. James Exon and Edward Zorinsky, for each of whom she had worked as office manager. Her support for a candidate guaranteed tens of thousands of votes. Bernice wanted to support Bobby Kerrey, but she was not going to support anybody who was not pro-life. Bobby knew he needed to do whatever he had to, to win her support. Only with Bernice on board, and with the backing of the Big Bankers, could Bobby do the impossible -- win election as a Democratic governor, in a solidly Republican state. Bobby wrote a letter, for distribution as a true representation of his stand on the abortion issue. Dear Bernice, In the months ahead, your advice and support will be critical to my ability to provide new leadership for our State. Your courageous leadership in advancing respect for human life, promoting a strong family and a decent society, has been an inspiration to me as well as thousands of our fellow Nebraskans. We have a common commitment to use our God-given abilities to defend and protect the sanctity of human life. There is no value I hold more dear than the conviction that every society should have as its first priority the protection of the life of its members. ... Since becoming a candidate for Governor, I have consistently stated my opposition to abortion. As recently as May 14, 1982, in both the Omaha World-Herald and the Lincoln Journal, I stated, "I find abortion to be morally repugnant." It was in the Omaha World-Herald on May 14, 1982, that I also stated clearly that my position was not "pro-choice." I believe the unborn to be human life and entitled to all the protections the State can legally offer for the preservation of life .. I believe there are many important challenges that face us over the next few years. Reducing the number of abortions in our State and working with you toward the elimination of the need for even a single abortion will be of a highest priority. I am confident working in partnership with you in the years ahead will be one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Best wishes, (signed) Robert Kerrey Following her rule that "a man's word is his bond," Bernice rolled out the political machine of the pro-life movement, in favor of Bobby and away from Charlie Thone. But in 1991, when Senator Bob Kerrey decided to run for President of the United States, the political winds had changed. Polls showed that only a candidate who would have the support of the pro-choice movement, stood a chance to beat George Bush. Bobby's first substantive act in his presidential campaign was to repeat a pattern I had seen during the years I worked with him. He repudiated everything he had previously said on the subject of abortion, acknowledged that he had been essentially fibbing in his pro-life statements, and admitted that he had given the previous false commitments purely for the purpose of getting elected. Campaigning in New Hampshire, Kerrey was quoted in the October 17, 1991 World-Herald, regarding his letter to Senator Labedz: "It was a political act, yeah, and an act about which I feel very little pride. ... The whole issue of not just abortion but many of the other emotional issues in 1982 were extremely difficult. I didn't know what public policy was for certain, should be for certain, and -- as a result -- I was all over the map." *** The Multi-Bank legislation was not Governor Robert Kerrey's only foray into state banking law. In 1983-84, the state's banks were experiencing severe problems. In the summer of 1984, Kerrey called a special legislative session to deal with these problems, but specified that it would not deal with the most notorious of them, Commonwealth, whose collapse he himself had precipitated with his infamous press statement of October 31, 1983. As the Legislature convened, however, Kerrey expanded the session to handle a completely new proposal of his own crafting, which did bear on Commonwealth and State Security. Kerrey's crony Bill Wright was involved. Kerrey's new proposal was for a special form of interstate banking, in which only one out-of-state banking group would be allowed to take over Nebraska financial institutions. It would be arranged so that this single out-of-state group, a Colorado based combine with which Kerrey's associates were secretly working, would quietly take over Commonwealth and State Security, in return for the interstate banking monopoly. I had been sponsoring legislation to allow legitimate interstate banking, but this was not legitimate. It was clear to me that the reason for the Kerrey administration's approach to Commonwealth, was to cover up a multitude of sins related to State Security, owned by Kerrey's intimate Bill Wright. I met with Bobby. We talked intensely. I made clear that I would support a competitive and reciprocal interstate banking proposal, which I thought would help all Nebraskans, not one that would be used to bailout individuals involved in what I felt was corruption. I mentioned for the first time to him, face to face, the role of his friend and adviser Bill Wright. When we ended our discussion, I thought Bobby would abandon his idea, and accept an interstate banking proposal along my lines. A legitimate interstate bank bill, however, could not be used by Bobby and his friends for their personal purposes, related to Commonwealth and State Security. From that standpoint, Kerrey, directed by Bill Wright, had to push through his peculiar form of interstate banking. Led by his chief of staff, W. Don Nelson, Kerrey lined up enough votes to bypass my Banking Committee and railroad his bill through the Legislature and onto his desk where he could sign it. Or so he thought. They had their votes lined up. It required 25 of the 49 to pass the legislation. Most senators knew less about the legislation than a sow knows about Sunday. But by using the most traditional political methods, carrot and stick, the Kerrey administration had gotten commitments from twenty-six senators. They were ready to roll. Roll they did, using the most powerful lobbyists and the heaviest pressure the administration could put on. Through a technicality, I was able to stop them dead in their tracks. I invoked a procedural ruling, which forced them to have thirty votes to ever get to a vote on the bill itself. They had twenty-six votes, not thirty. Bobby was angry. Immediately after the vote, I left for the Republican National Convention in Dallas. When I got there, reporters were calling me for my response to Bob Kerrey's latest action. "What action was that?" I inquired. "Bob Kerrey has declared you a 'non-person' whose existence he will no longer recognize in any way," they said. "How can you declare somebody a ghost?" I asked. "How does Bob Kerrey think he has the authority to declare me a 'non-person'? What planet is he living on that he thinks he has this incredible power?" I thought for a minute. Bobby was riding as high as any governor ever had in Nebraska. Movie star Debra Winger was now living in the mansion with him part time. All Nebraska was in love with Bobby and Debby. Camelot was here, and Nebraskans were lapping it up. There were pictures of Bobby fluffing up a pillow, smiling and saying, "Just fluff up your pillow and dream about it" -- his response when asked what it was like to date Debra Winger. I knew the press was in love with Bobby, and that anything I said had to be simple and not susceptible of distortion. "Bobby has to learn that there is more to being a governor than macho and movie stars," I told the press. Later, when I returned to Lincoln from Dallas, I learned from a close friend of mine and of Bobby, a prominent lobbyist, that immediately after the legislative vote in which I stopped his banking proposal, Bobby stormed out of the Governor's office and down to the doors just outside the Legislature, where he yelled out a threat: "I know you lobbyists worked for John DeCamp to stop me on this. Well, I promise you one thing. DeCamp is 'dead meat.' Do you hear me? DeCamp is' dead meat.' I mean it!" When I was an infantry captain in Vietnam, the phrase "dead meat" was well known. It was what a soldier, usually an enlisted man, threatened an officer with just before "fragging" him. "Fragging" was a live grenade tossed into the tent, living quarters, or restroom facility of another soldier, most commonly an officer. Live grenades usually kill or maim people. Bobby knew that. His foot was most probably blown off by a live grenade that either the enemy threw or, as he himself has indicated, one of his own men accidentally dropped near him. Originally no one dreamed Bobby would be recommended for a Medal of Honor. Recently disclosed records show that as the Pentagon attempted to "popularize" the war, the word came down to create more heroes, to recommend more wounded for medals. Since there were more places to fill on the list, Bobby's name suddenly popped onto the bottom of it. This may be a crude way of putting things, but since the Medal of Honor is being cited by the press as the apparent best evidence of Bobby's qualifications to be President, it is legitimate to discuss it. And I do not think Bobby would deny this. In 1984, Bobby knew that this lobbyist would deliver the message that I was "dead meat," which he did. It occurred to me that I might be dealing with an emotionally disturbed individual. I had no doubts, as to how important the legislation was to help bailout and cover up the State Security scandal, in which Bobby and his friend Bill Wright were involved. And I knew how detrimental such legislation would be to the rest of Nebraska's million and a half citizens. A governor or legislator does not go completely nuts over a proposal the way Bobby did, unless he has something personal at stake. And I was well aware of what Bobby and his friends had hanging on their interstate banking plan. The more I learned about State Security, the extent of the thievery that had occurred there, and the fact that the publicity about Commonwealth was being used as a smokescreen to protect State Security from a deeper probe, the more at odds Bobby and I became. As I kept the heat on with continual demands for an investigation of State Security, Bill Wright left town. When the press confronted Kerrey as to why Wright was gone, an angry Kerrey snapped, that Bill Wright was "driven out of town by John DeCamp." Finally, the Legislature agreed to allow my Banking Committee to investigate the State Security situation. Eight hundred pages of committee investigation record what happened, and I have covered the highlights in Chapter 6. This investigation did not get well under way until the final year of Kerrey's governorship. It is my belief, that the reason Robert Kerrey did not run for reelection, was because of this investigation and where he thought it would lead. The best evidence I can give of this, is what happened after the November 1986 election. Kerrey did not run for reelection. I was defeated for reelection to the Legislature. Bobby and I sat down for a heart to heart talk. I had not yet issued the committee report. I had determined to wait until after the election, so that it would not appear that I was using it as a campaign tool. Bobby wanted to know what I was going to say about him in the report. "As far as I am concerned," I told Bobby, "I have no reason to go after you. You have already been hurt enough, by having to drop out of the Governor's race. I have no reason to pick on you, because it was really Bill Wright who masterminded the State Security swindle, though you obviously played a role in it. I am not out to hurt you. We both have been hurt enough and blamed enough." As far as I was concerned, Bill Wright was the key villain, and that is what I said in the State Security report. Perhaps I felt a bit sorry for my old friend who left half his leg in Vietnam. *** Two years later, Bobby and I had occasion to get together again for some very serious business. I received a request from a close friend of mine, a lobbyist, that Bobby wanted to meet with me privately to discuss something before he made his decision on running for the United States Senate. We met in the lobbyist's office, for a long discussion. "Are you going to run ?" I quizzed him. "I don't know. You think I should? What are you going to do if I do?" "You mean," I said, "am I going to try to hurt you?" "Yeah, I guess that's what I mean. What are you going do?" "Bobby," I said, "I told you before that I think State Security was one terrible scandal, with thousands of victims. I believe absolutely Commonwealth was a cover-up for State Security. But I don't think you were the main perpetrator of it. Sometimes we can be the victim of our own friends," I told him, somewhat charitably. "We get in so deep before we even know it, just a degree at a time, trying to help this guy or protect that one from embarrassment. That's what got Nixon in Watergate ... trying to protect his friends. I truly believe Nixon did not know what the blazes was going on, but he was already in so deep, he had to take the fall for all the others because he was the 'officer in charge.' "I think you did wrong in handling the whole thing -- Commonwealth and State Security, but you weren't the mastermind. Bill Wright was. That I know, despite your denials. "But," I continued, "just so you know exactly what I am going to do, so that you do not have to be looking behind your back all the time, here is exactly what you can expect: "First, I will not do or say anything publicly that will hurt you. You had your punishment already, having to drop out of the governor's race. "Second, with respect to the State Security issue specifically, and Bill Wright and all the thefts and crimes and cover-ups I know and believe occurred there, I will say nothing more than to tell people they can look at the official reports. "In short, Bobby, I will do nothing to hurt you." Then I was pressured and begged, by the highest elected and unelected officials of the Republican Party in Nebraska, to "trash" Kerrey during his U.S. Senate race, by making public everything I knew about him. Governor Kay Orr herself appealed to me to speak out. I refused, not just once, but again and again. With hindsight, I believe I should not have stayed silent. Ultimately, someone hired a writer named Jack Hart, to go through the records of my legislative investigation and write a series of articles to establish the extent of the Commonwealth/ State Security scandal and the culpability of Robert Kerrey. Hart's articles were essentially accurate, as far as they went, and I have quoted from them in Chapter 6. I lived up to my promise to Bobby completely. And when the election was over and Kerrey had secured his U.S. Senate seat, a hand-written note from Bobby confirmed that fact. *** So, why make an issue of Kerrey and Commonwealth and State Security now? Because too much is at stake. Patterns associated with Kerrey from his earliest days in public life, which were accentuated in the Commonwealth/State Security affairs, are being repeated now in the Franklin matter, and have the possibility of being amplified onto the national level, if Robert Kerrey became President. What are those patterns? 1. Abuse of public positions for one's own financial benefit. This is an invariant of Kerrey's career, from his first appearance in student politics at the University of Nebraska in 1964-65, where he was censured by the Student Council for pocketing profits from a Student Council program he was in charge of. We saw the same thing again in Commonwealth/State Security and the NIFA loan scam. 2. Shifting political position 180 degrees with the prevailing winds. When it was fashionable to be against the Vietnam War, Kerrey led the parade. When it became a political liability, he chucked his opposition overboard, and lied about it. When he needed votes and he could get them by denouncing abortion, he did so. When he thought the best way to get votes was to be pro-abortion, he embraced that position. In the lead-up to the Gulf war, Bobby was strongly against it. When it was clear that the war was popular, Bobby decided he had been "uninformed" before and switched his stance. I saw this happen so many times, I used to call him "Flip flop Bobby" to his face. 3. Acting as a puppet of forces behind the scenes. Bobby got his start in political life because John Woods and the Omaha business community anointed him to pass their Big Banks bill. While governor, he danced to the tune called by them and by Bill Wright. Today he is controlled by a small circle which includes: John Gottschalk, publisher, Omaha World-Herald, and Kerrey business partner; William Wright, the individual who milked State Security's depositors of millions; Joe R. Seacrest, owner and publisher, Lincoln Journal newspaper; Bill Hoppner, his Chief of Staff who was effectively governor during the first years of Kerrey's administration, until he left the state to go work for Bill Wright in California; and Warren Buffett, billionaire from Omaha and the new CEO of Salomon Brothers. These are the men who will tell Bobby when to open his mouth, and what to say, so much so that I will make a prediction: Look for Bobby to start taking stands for population control. His financial angel Warren Buffett is a fanatic on the issue, and funds the most radical population reduction groups in the country. 4. Operating with the protection of a corrupt press. The press can turn truth into falsehood, and lies into truth -- such is its power in Nebraska, and also nationally. The media should be the ultimate check and balance of our other institutions of government in this country. Three times in my short life -- the McCarthy era, Watergate, and Iran-Contra -- it was the press that finally exposed the truth and kept our Constitutional system of government in place, rather than the institutions of government themselves that are assigned that purpose. In the case of Commonwealth and State Security, Robert Kerrey had a relationship with the two major news sources in Nebraska, the Omaha World-Herald and the Lincoln Journal, that guaranteed presentation of a distorted and false picture of Commonwealth and State Security. His personal and business relationships with the owners and publishers of the Lincoln Journal guaranteed that truth would be sacrificed to convenience. And his business and personal relationship today with the World-Herald publisher guarantees even more certainly that same result from the World-Herald. Lest anyone doubt the latter, consider the "open mike" incident of November 1991. Kerrey found himself on a podium in New Hampshire, sitting next to fellow-candidate Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas. Not realizing a microphone was on, he told Clinton a dirty joke that was offensive to lesbians and homosexuals, whom he has otherwise supported. Some of the nation's press attacked him for his crudity. But here is how the World-Herald, run by his business partner Jack Gottschalk, covered it in an editorial entitled "Kerrey, Too, Deserves Apology." Bob Kerrey is right when he says he shouldn't have repeated the crude story he told Bill Clinton in a private conversation in New Hampshire. Nonetheless, it would be unjust if this stupid, minor, blown-out-of-proportion incident were to hurt Kerrey's campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. The World-Herald gave a tortured argument, that Kerrey was only telling Clinton the joke as an example of jokes which should not be told. At that, I had to laugh, because of a sense of deja vu. It was one unforgettable thing about politicians close to the Kerrey administration, that they habitually used a dirty or racial joke to open a conversation. Bill Hoppner, now chairman of Kerrey' s presidential campaign, was the master of masters, when it came to telling the raunchiest sexist or ethnic joke. And this particular joke, Bobby Kerrey himself told years before, only then he used my name instead of Jerry Brown's! Bobby's friends at the World-Herald, however, concluded: The senator on Tuesday apologized to anyone who took offense at the story. It was the proper and political thing to do. The way the story developed, however, Kerrey may be the target of a carefully crafted sabotage operation. Perhaps someone should apologize to him. I sent the following letter to the editorial board of the World which, naturally, did not print it. Everybody suspected -- but now we know, don't we? It really was the World-Herald directing the Franklin Grand Jury. For doubters, read the 20 November 1991 editorial titled, "Kerrey, Too, Deserves Apology." That's right, Bob Kerrey tells dirty jokes about lesbians, and gets caught. Immediately, the World-Herald decides that Bob Kerrey is the victim because the evil people dared to catch him committing his dirty joke routine. The World-Herald editorially attacks the accusers and labels Kerrey as the "target of a carefully crafted sabotage operation." And demands that his victims apologize to him. In Franklin, the child-victim accusers were labeled as the bad people and the people they accused were the "target of a carefully crafted hoax." Go ahead, World-Herald, tell us dumb Nebraskans that you did not write the script for the Franklin Grand Jury. *** As I told People magazine in their November 25, 1991 profile of the candidate, Bob Kerrey has a magical ability, to make s-- smell like apple butter. Charisma? He has more than anyone I have known. I think he imitates Jack Kennedy even better than Jack Kennedy at times, in the way he speaks and smiles. He also has a practiced method for touching up his image. I have seen Robert Kerrey resort more brilliantly, success fully, and often than any other politician, to what I call the Pre-emptive First Strike Confession. If you are about to be compromised or tarnished by your own record, act swiftly, before a scandal develops. Make a tearful confession to a friendly press conduit about your "youthful indiscretion" or your "regrettable shortsightedness." Take something that could and maybe should destroy you politically, and turn it into an asset. When Bobby needed to clean up his image on banking matters in order to attack George Bush's handling of the S&L crisis, he staged a confession to Kotok of the World-Herald, that yes, perhaps, being new to politics and all, he had relied a tad too much on the advice of Bill Wright in the Common wealth/State Security affair. When it appeared that his repudiation of his 1982 anti-abortion letter to Senator Labedz might be used against him in the presidential campaign, given his current pro-abortion views, Bobby explained that back then, "I didn't know abortion from a load of hay." I dare the national press to go through the record of Bob Kerrey and see how many Pre-emptive First Strike Confessions he has made on major matters. Then, compare this with any other politician. Kerrey will win hands down. With his flip-flops and prevarication, his personal aggrandizement, his manipulation by forces behind the scenes, and his protection by a controlled press, we are in for some very rough times, if Joseph Robert Kerrey ever becomes President of the United States. I have warned you. I hope I never have to say, "I told you so."
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