Mike Gravel 08 - Great, or the Greatest

 

 

 

 

 

 


For those interested in the political process and the upcoming election. We are dedicated to broadening awareness of Mike Gravel, his issues, his campaign and his progress.  Please join the discussion and broaden our awareness.

Maurice Robert "Mike" Gravel (IPA: /gɹəˈvɛl/) (born May 13, 1930), is a former Democratic United States Senator from Alaska, having served for two terms, from 1969 to 1981. He is primarily known for his efforts in ending the draft following the Vietnam War and for having put the Pentagon Papers into the public record in 1971. He is currently a candidate for the 2008 Democratic nomination for President of the United States.

 

Early life

Gravel was born in Springfield, Massachusetts to French-Canadian immigrant parents, Marie Bourassa and Alphonse Gravel, a painting contractor. There, he was raised in a working class neighborhood and educated in parochial schools as a Roman Catholic, attending Assumption College Preparatory School. He has a sister, Marguerite, who became a nun.

Gravel studied for one year at American International College in Springfield, then enlisted in the United States Army in 1951 and served in West Germany as a Special Adjutant in the Communication and Intelligent Services and as a Special Agent in the Counter Intelligence Corps until 1954. A dyslexic, who talks about his learning disability openly, he attended Columbia University's School of General Studies in New York City, where he studied economics and received a B.S. in 1956. He drove a taxicab to support himself.

Gravel moved to Alaska in 1956, without funds or a job, looking for a place where he could be a viable candidate for public office. He found work in several areas, including real estate sales, brakeman for the Alaska Railroad, and a successful property developer on the Kenai Peninsula.

Gravel married Rita Jeannette Martin, who had been Anchorage's "Miss Fur Rendezvous" of 1958, on April 29, 1959. They had two children, Martin Anthony Gravel and Lynne Denise Gravel, born circa 1960 and 1962 respectively. Meanwhile, he ran unsuccessfully for the territorial legislature in 1958. He went on a national speaking tour concerning tax reform in 1959, sponsored by the Jaycees. He ran unsuccessfully for the Anchorage City Council in 1960. He ran for the Alaska House of Representatives representing Anchorage in 1962 and won.

State legislator

Gravel served in the Alaska House of Representatives from 1963 to 1966, winning re-election in 1964. During 1965 and 1966, he served as the Speaker of the House. He did not run for re-election in 1966, instead choosing to run for Alaska's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, losing to incumbent Democrat Ralph Rivers.

In 1968 he ran against the 81-year-old incumbent Democratic Senator Ernest Gruening, a popular former governor of the Alaska Territory who was considered one of the fathers of Alaska's statehood, for his party's nomination to the U.S. Senate. Gravel's campaign was based on his youth, his heavy use of well-produced television advertisements, and by being deliberately ambiguous about his Vietnam policy (Gruening had been one of only two Senators to vote against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution). Gravel unexpectedly beat Gruening in a tight result in the primary and went on to win the general election, gaining 45% of the vote against 37% for Republican Elmer E. Rasmuson and 18% for Gruening, who ran a write-in campaign as an Independent.

U.S. Senator

Gravel served on the Environment and Public Works Committee throughout his Senate career. He also served on the Finance and Interior Committees and he chaired the Energy, Water Resources, and Environmental Pollution subcommittees.

Nuclear issues

In the late 1960s and early 1970s the Pentagon was in the process of performing calibration tests for a nuclear warhead that, upon investigation, was revealed to be obsolete. The Cannikin tests involved the detonation of nuclear bombs under the seabed of the North Pacific at Amchitka Island, Alaska. Gravel opposed the tests in Congress and organized worldwide environmental opposition to their continuation. The program was halted after the second test.

Nuclear power was considered an environmentally clean alternative for the commercial generation of electricity and was part of a popular national policy for the peaceful use of atomic energy in the 1950s and 1960s. Gravel publicly opposed this policy in 1970. He used his office to organize citizen opposition to the policy and to persuade Ralph Nader's organization to join the opposition.

Vietnam War and foreign policy

See also: Gravel v. United States

In 1971 Gravel played a key role in the release of the Pentagon Papers — a large collection of secret government documents pertaining to the Vietnam War — which were made public by former Defense Department analyst Daniel Ellsberg. Gravel inserted 4,100 pages of the Papers into the Congressional Record of his Senate Subcommittee on Buildings and Grounds. These pages were later issued by the Beacon Press as the "Senator Gravel Edition" — the most complete edition of the Pentagon Papers to be published. The "Gravel Edition" was edited and annotated by Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn, and included an additional volume of analytical articles on the origins and progress of the war, also edited by Chomsky and Zinn.

Also in 1971, Gravel embarked on a one-man filibuster against legislation renewing the military draft. Using various parliamentary maneuvers, Gravel was able to block the bill for five months before President Richard Nixon and Senate Republicans agreed to allow the draft to expire in 1973.

Six months before United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's secret mission to the People's Republic of China in July 1971, Gravel introduced legislation to recognize and normalize relations with the PRC.

Alaskan issues

In 1973, Gravel introduced an amendment to empower the Congress to make the policy decision about the construction of the Alaska Pipeline. The amendment passed the Senate by a single vote. The pipeline has been responsible for 20% of the U.S. oil supply.

In opposition to the Alaskan fishing industry, Gravel advocated American participation in the formation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). For two years he opposed legislation that permitted the U.S. to unilaterally take control of the 200-mile waters bordering its land mass. The legislation was passed, and the United States has signed but never ratified the UNCLOS.

He helped secure a private grant to facilitate the first Inuit Circumpolar Conference in 1977, attended by Inuit representatives from Alaska, Canada, and Greenland. These conferences now also include representatives from Russia.

In the early 1970s Gravel supported a demonstration project that established links between Alaskan villages and the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, for medical diagnostic communications.

Gravel authored and secured the passage into law of the General Stock Ownership Corporation (GSOC), Subchapter U of the Tax Code, as a prerequisite to a failed 1980 Alaskan ballot initiative that would have paid dividends to Alaskan citizens for Pipeline-related revenue.

[edit] Run for Vice President

Gravel actively campaigned for the office of Vice President of the United States during the 1972 presidential election. At the 1972 Democratic National Convention, he was nominated by Bettye Fahrenkamp, the national committeewoman of Alaska. The senator then addressed the convention and won 226 delegate votes, coming in third behind Senator Thomas Eagleton of Missouri, who was convention Presidential nominee George McGovern's choice, and Frances "Sissy" Farenthold of Texas, in chaotic balloting after many delegates were unsatisfied by McGovern's choice.

[edit] Re-election to Senate in 1974

In 1974 Gravel was re-elected to the Senate, winning 58% of the vote against 42% for Republican C. R. Lewis.

[edit] Loss of Senate seat in 1980

In 1980 Gravel was challenged for the Democratic Party's nomination by State Representative Clark Gruening, the grandson of the man Gravel had defeated in a primary 12 years earlier. Gruening won the primary. As an incumbent candidate in 1968, Gravel had never established a firm party base; a group of Democrats, including future governor Steve Cowper, led the campaign against Gravel, with Gravel's actions against 1978 and 1980 lands bills in Alaska a major issue. Another factor may have been Alaska's primary system, which allows unlimited cross-over voting across parties and from its large unaffiliated electorate. In any case, Gravel would later concede that by the time of his defeat, he had alienated "almost every constituency in Alaska." Gruening went on to lose in the general election to Republican Frank Murkowski.

 Career after leaving the Senate

Gravel took the 1980 defeat hard, recalling years later: "I had lost my career. I lost my marriage. I was in the doldrums for ten years after my defeat." Sometime in the early 1980s, he and his first wife Rita were divorced; she would later be the recipient of all of his Senate pension income.

During the 1980s, Gravel was a real estate developer in Anchorage and Kenai, Alaska, a consultant, and a stockbroker. One of his real estate ventures, a condominium business, was forced to declare bankruptcy and a lawsuit ensued.

Beginning in 1989 he reentered the world of politics. He became founder and head of The Democracy Foundation, which promotes direct democracy.

Gravel led an effort to get a United States Constitutional amendment to allow voter-initiated federal legislation similar to state ballot initiatives. He argued that Americans are able to legislate responsibly, and that the Act and Amendment in the National Initiative would allow American citizens to become "law makers".

Gravel married his second wife, Whitney Stewart Gravel, circa 1984; they live in Arlington County, Virginia. They have the two grown children from his first marriage, Martin Gravel and Lynne Gravel Mosier, and four grandchildren. In the 2000s, Gravel suffered from serious health issues, requiring three surgeries in 2003 for back pain and neuropathy; in 2004 he declared personal bankruptcy. After that, he began taking a salary from the non-profit organizations he was working for. Much of that income was lent to his presidential campaign; in 2007, he declared that he has "zero net worth."

[edit] Barnes Review controversy

In June 2003 Gravel gave a speech on direct democracy at a conference hosted by the American Free Press. The event was cosponsored by the Barnes Review, a journal that endorses Holocaust denial.Gravel has said repeatedly that he does not share such a view, stating "You better believe I know that six million Jews were killed. I've been to the Holocaust Museum. I've seen the footage of General Eisenhower touring one of the camps. They're [referring to the Barnes Review and publisher Willis Carto] nutty as loons if they don't think it happened". The newspaper had intended to interview Gravel about the National Initiative. Senator Gravel recounts the background to the event:
"He [Carto] liked the idea of the National Initiative. I figured it was an opportunity to discuss it. Whether it is the far right, far left, whatever, I'll make my pitch to them. They gave me a free subscription to American Free Press. They still send it to me today. I flip through it sometimes. It has some extreme views, and a lot of the ads in it are even more extreme and make me want to upchuck. Anyways, sometime later, Carto contacted me to speak at that Barnes Review Conference. I had never heard of the Barnes Review, didn't know anything about it or what they stood for. I was just coming to give a presentation about the National Initiative. I was there maybe 30 minutes. I could tell from the people in the room (mainly some very old men) that they were pretty extreme. I gave my speech, answered some questions and left. I never saw the agenda for the day or listened to any of the other presentations."

 

[edit] Political positions

Main article: Political positions of Mike Gravel

Mike Gravel has announced positions on issues relevant to the upcoming Presidential election and matters of general political controversy in the American context. Regarding health care, Gravel has stated that he is an advocate for 'a national, universal single-payer not-for-profit health care system' in the United States which would utilize vouchers and enable citizens to choose their own doctor. In veterans affairs he has proposed to index veteran health care entitlements to take full account of increases in the costs of care and medicine. He supports a drug policy that legalizes and regulates all drugs, treating drug abuse as a medical issue, rather than a criminal matter. With regards to immigration he has declared that he favors a guest worker program. Senator Gravel supports the FairTax proposal that calls for eliminating the IRS and the income tax and replacing it with a progressive national sales tax of 23 percent on newly manufactured items and services. (The tax is progressive because all taxes on spending up to the poverty level are refunded to every household.) Senator Gravel has advocated that carbon energy should be taxed to provide the funding for a global effort to bring together the world's scientific and engineering communities to develop energy alternatives to significantly reduce the world’s energy dependence on carbon. Senator Gravel in principle does not object to the use of embryonic stem cells for medical research purposes. He is avowedly pro-choice on the issue of abortion and women's reproductive rights. He supports constitutional amendments towards direct democracy.

Some of his political leanings and convictions may also be learned from the content of his 1972-published manifesto, Citizen Power.

Presidential bid in 2008

On April 17, 2006, Gravel became the first candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the 2008 election, announcing his run in a speech to the National Press Club. Short on campaign cash, he took public transportation to get to his announcement.

Gravel's campaign is based primarily on his ardent support for direct democracy (the National Initiative). He opposes tax loopholes for the rich which he says shift the tax burden onto the middle class and the poor. For this reason he believes that a better tax policy would be based on a progressive retail sales tax. He also emphasizes his support for a national sales tax and abolition of the IRS, withdrawal from the war in Iraq within 120 days, a single payer national health care system, and term limits.

[edit] Appearances

Gravel has campaigned almost full time in New Hampshire, the first primary state, since his announcement. He addressed the Democratic National Committee's Winter Convention in early February 2007 and was one of the participants in the Democratic Presidential Candidates forum in Carson City, Nevada later the same month.

On April 26, 2007 he took part in the first Democratic presidential debate at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, South Carolina. During the debate he suggested a Democratic bill requiring the president to withdraw from Iraq on pain of criminal penalties. He also advocated positions such as opposing preemptive nuclear war. He stated that the Iraq War had the effect of creating more terrorists and that the "war was lost the day that George Bush invaded Iraq on a fraudulent basis". Overall, Gravel gained considerable publicity by shaking up the normally staid multiple-candidate format. However, it did not improve his performance in the polls; a May 2007 CNN poll showed him with less than 0.5 percent support among Democrats.

In early March, Gravel was not invited to an upcoming New Hampshire Presidential Debate. It was a joint effort from CNN, Hearst owned WMUR-TV and the Union Leader. After the South Carolina Presidential Debate and heavy lobbying from supporters, CNN reversed its decision. During the June 2 debate, which lasted two hours, he was asked 10 questions and allowed to speak for five minutes and 37 seconds, much less than the others.[4]

Again on July 23, 2007 during the CNN-YouTube presidential debates, Gravel, responding to audience applause when he had complained of a lack of airtime, addressed the audience, saying, "Thank you. Has it been fair thus far?" 

On August 9, 2007, Gravel was invited, among five other candidates, to talk about gay rights issues on the Logo network who were sponsoring an LGBT debate. Gravel was noted as one of the two most outspoken candidates for gay rights, along with Congressman Dennis Kucinich.

In August, 2007, at a gay pride event in New Hampshire, he was asked where he stood on the issue of gays in the military, and responded, "When Clinton got to be President, well, the first he's doing is standing there on two legs waffling back and forth, oh, don't tell us you're gay. What are you talking about? If you had any knowledge of history, ancient history, in Sparta they encouraged homosexuality because they fight for the people they love. And if it's your partner and you love them, you're prepared to die for them, and that's the same ethic you see in the military today. It's not the country. It's my partner. Go see the movies on war, and it's always the person next to me who is in my foxhole with me. Well, I got to tell you, extend that a little further and you'll see why the Spartans trained their people to be homosexuals, because they're better fighters."

On October 1, 2007, Gravel was interviewed on PBS. He described himself as an ordinary guy, and would be more likely to take the train than fly in a private jet. He explained that other leading nations, including Russia, spend just 3%-4% of their budget on defense, while the US defense budget is more than all other nations combined. He then rhetorically asked 'What are we afraid of?'. He explained that the defense budget is associated with the military industrial complex. He stated that the US military is internationally competitive, but the US schools and health care system are not. Gravel said that someone once referred to him as a "breath of fresh air".

 

 

 

 

 

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