There’s a wise old saying that no one in politics or elected
office is indispensable. But Republican senator Jon Kyl of Arizona comes pretty
close.
Now that Kyl is
retiring after 8 years in the House and 18 in the Senate, his absence will be
felt instantly. He knows more about more issues than anyone else in
Congress—ranging from missile defense to the estate tax. His influence was
magnified less by his position as Senate minority whip since 2007 than by his
ability to deal respectfully with both Republican and Democratic senators, even
those with the biggest egos.
For conservatives, Kyl was their
link to the Republican leadership in Congress. He was trusted like few others.
Jim DeMint of South Carolina, who worked as a Senate outsider to foster
conservative issues, told me Kyl was his “advocate on the inside.” Kyl’s
conservatism was undiminished by the seductions of Washington. He wasn’t part of
the Washington social scene.
Kyl never packaged a set of rules for gaining influence on
Capitol Hill. But after covering Kyl for years and interviewing him numerous
times—twice recently—I’m taking the liberty of formulating five Kyl rules. I
doubt he’ll object.
Rule one: Know more. “If you know a lot about a subject,
people will listen,” he says. After Kyl’s farewell speech on the Senate floor
last week, Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama said, “I serve on the Armed Services
Committee, and I’ve found he knows more about those issues than I do.” Kyl has
never been on the committee.
Kyl’s insistence on absorbing the details of complex issues
was the key to what he regards as his proudest achievement: defeat of the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1999. Ratification had been considered a cinch.
But senators gradually deferred to his “personal involvement and deep subject
matter expertise,” says Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy. The
treaty was beaten, 51-48.
Now Democratic senators and the Obama White House are getting
ready to seek ratification in 2013—once Kyl has left the Senate.
Rule two: Don’t seek credit. Kyl adheres to the sign that
President Reagan had on his White House desk: “There’s no limit to what a man
can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.” As number two
in the Republican leadership, Kyl says, “A lot of times it’s better if somebody
else takes the lead.”
He was appalled by the “sequester” requiring deep cuts in
defense. “I probably wouldn’t have voted for it if I weren’t in the leadership,”
he says. When Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire asked to lead the fight to
restore the spending, he turned the issue over to her without hesitation.
Well before he became whip, Kyl was adept at handing off
issues. In 2006, Time wrote, “he has succeeded by mastering a tactic
that is crucial in a body in which any one member can bring the place to a halt
as a ploy or out of pique: subterfuge.” Kyl told the magazine that “you can
accomplish a lot if you’re not necessarily out in front on everything.” And he
has.
Rule three: Don’t get a big head. Kyl learned this from his
father, a GOP House member from Iowa for six terms. (Kyl moved to Arizona for
college, then stayed.) When they parked at the county fair in Bloomfield, Iowa,
Kyl senior pointed to the man in charge of parking. “He does that better than
anyone else,” his father said. “Everybody can do something better than you
can.”
This example, Kyl says, “always made me appreciate other
people and think I’m not such a big shot. . . [so] just don’t get a big head.”
Kyl hasn’t. Quite the contrary. He’s known for his humility.
Rule four: Treat everyone decently. Kyl isn’t unique in
following this rule. He’s just practiced it more consistently. Like avoiding
self-puffery, he learned it from his father. The lesson “was about human
nature,” he says. “You’re not going to change human nature.”
From all appearances, treating people decently comes
naturally to Kyl. But it also produces results. People respond more favorably.
“You can best accomplish [your goals] by being a decent person to those around
you,” he says. If someone disagrees with him, he doesn’t take umbrage. “He
treats all people alike,” a colleague says. He’s a listener.
Rule five: Keep your principles. Kyl sees himself as Dick
Cheney to Mitch McConnell’s George W. Bush. When he was being considered as
Bush’s vice presidential running mate, Cheney told Bush he was “really, really
conservative.”
Kyl is very, very conservative. His mild, reasonable manner can
fool people. Heritage Foundation president Ed Feulner saw him as the “bridge”
between the conservative movement and Republican congressional leaders.
