Sam Nunn condemns ‘shameful’ attack on daughter, says Harry Reid wanted her out of Senate race
Sam Nunn on Thursday condemned as "shameful" that TV spot from Republican U.S. Senate candidate David Perdue that accuses Michelle Nunn and the foundation for which she worked of giving money to terrorist-linked organizations.
“It’s shameful. Particularly when you know that everybody in the opposition campaign knows that that’s not true,” her father, the longtime former U.S senator, said in an hour-long interview. “It’s not like they believe it. There’s too much these days of anything that works, regardless of what lines it crosses.”
Michelle Nunn’s father also said his daughter, the Democratic nominee for Senate, has little obligation to support Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., should Democrats maintain the chamber in November – given that Reid, in the spring of 2013, asked her not to run for Sam Nunn’s old seat.\
“They said they had their eye on another candidate,” Sam Nunn said. Presumably, that other candidate would have been U.S. Rep. John Barrow, D-Augusta, whom many Democrats were attempting to lure into the contest at the time.
Michelle Nunn, her father said, rejected the advice to withdraw. Barrow declined to enter the race.
Sam Nunn’s remarks were part of a full-court press by Nunn campaign to combat the effects of a 30-second spot that accuses the daughter of one of the nation’s foremost security experts of funneling money to questionable Islamic groups, through the Points of Light Foundation, a volunteer organization founded by former President George H.W. Bush.
Neil Bush, chairman of the Points of Light Foundation, likewise denounced the accusation as "shameful" last month – after his father endorsed Perdue. In a TV ad released last week, Michelle Nunn looks directly into the camera to denounce what she called "a terrible lie."
The topic first came to light in a Nunn campaign memo that examined areas that could cause problems for the first-time candidate. But fact-checking operations of several newspapers have looked into the resulting accusation, including the AJC's Politifact, and have debunked it.
“Look, that ad is nothing more than a report of what’s in their campaign plan. My question is, why aren’t we asking them to reveal the details around the fact that that organization is on their approved list?” Perdue told our AJC colleague Nicholas Fouriezos today.
Today’s sit-down with Sam Nunn was his most extensive yet on the topic of his daughter’s U.S. Senate candidate.
In addition to the TV attack and Harry Reid, the elder Nunn also said that, when choosing a senator, Georgia voters ought to be thinking long-term – well beyond the Obama administration.
Below is a partial transcript:
Insider: So what does Sam Nunn have to say about these accusations that his daughter gives money to organizations linked to terrorism?
Sam Nunn: Sam Nunn quotes Neal Bush. Neil Bush said this kind of smear for political gain, at the expense of the Points of Light organization and all its volunteers, is shameful. I don’t think there’s anything more powerful than that. I don’t think there’s anything I can add to that.
Insider: A father’s outrage might be more powerful than that.
Sam Nunn: It’s shameful. Particularly when you know that everybody in the opposition campaign knows that that’s not true. It’s not like they believe it. There’s too much these days of anything that works, regardless of what lines it crosses. I think the whole approach in television, and 30-second ads – I sure the Supreme Court would overrule legislation that said no more 30-second ads, but if I were up there, I’d give it a shot.
Insider: Have you been tempted to call David Perdue?
Sam Nunn: No. I think Michelle is handling it very well. I think her firmness and her response, labeling it a complete fabrication – a lie, and her delivering that message directly herself is the way to go. I think she’s done it very well.
I don’t know whether it’s backfired yet in the polls, but I think that, over time as people absorb it, see her response and see what Neil Bush said about it, I think it will backfire on her opponent’s camp.
Insider: Have you talked to people down in Perry? She’s going to be down there for a debate on Tuesday. What do they think about it?
Sam Nunn: One of my friends down there, who’s supporting Michelle, says he has a lot of friends supporting her opposition. He says his friends supporting the opposition are just laughing about it – and that’s been for the last two or three weeks. They think it’s basically preposterous. But there are some people who will believe it. And that’s the reason they’re running it.
It’s like the 13th chime on a clock. It not only casts doubt on that particular chime, but on everything else that emanates from that source. Which is true. I think that over the next three or four weeks, I think it’s going to dilute the effectiveness of his other ads.
Insider: You were once a young male candidate. Michelle is a young female candidate. Do you see any difference in how you and she are treated in a campaign?
Sam Nunn: When I’ve been with her, which is quite a few times, I think she’s been treated with great respect by men and women. I think people, when they hear her, they’re not saying this is a female – I don’t see them grading her in that direction. Obviously, there are an awful lot of women will say this is a great opportunity to elect a really well qualified woman who deserves it on the merits. But frankly, there are an awful lot of men who are doing that, too.
Insider: You’re the one responsible for raising your daughter in Bethesda, Md. Does that make less of a Georgian?
Sam Nunn: If everyone who has been in Georgia less than 25 years, which is how long she’s lived here as an adult, votes for her – I think we’ll be in pretty good shape.
Perry was always home. We couldn’t get her to go to Washington after the [1972] election. She’d just cry every time we talked about going to Washington – because she loved her grandmother, she loved her friends in Perry.
Insider: What did you bribe her with?
Sam Nunn: It was snow. She’d always seen snow on TV, but had never seen it in person. That was a senatorial answer to a five-year-old. So we rent a house. End of November goes by, end of December goes by. January goes by. No snow, no snow, no snow. In February, she has gone to Georgia to stay with her grandmother for two or three days. It snows 17 inches in Perry.
Insider: Do you ever run into the Perdue family?
Sam Nunn: I’ve known them for a long time. I’ve known [former Gov.] Sonny [Perdue] when he was in the Legislature and I was in the Senate. I know David – I knew his dad when he was school superintendent [in Houston County]. The Nunns and Perdues have always been friendly.
Insider: Will they be friends after this?
Sam Nunn: I hope so. I hope so. I think politics – it destroys a lot of friendships, but if we keep it within the bounds of the debates we ought to be having, then we should be able to maintain friendships and have disagreements with people.
Sam Nunn said he wouldn't be at Tuesday’s debate in Perry between his daughter and David Perdue – a board meeting of his Nuclear Threat Initiative will keep him in Washington. But he thinks the three Nunn/Perdue confrontations now on the calendar will matter – particularly when it comes to Michelle Nunn defining herself as an independent Democrat. To continue:
Insider: What did Nunn get?
Sam Nunn: Nunn got 51.7 percent – 51 or 52 percent. It was close. But the debates had a huge effect in that campaign.
…My first term in the Senate, I served [with] three presidents and four vice presidents. In her first three years, she's going to serve with two presidents. Georgia has a history of electing people to stay in the Senate – if they do a good job.
And it has a big effect on the state over time. People don't think about it, but I think that's one of the real important things here – her ability, if she gets elected this time, and if she continues to get elected….
Insider: We haven't elected younger people to that spot lately.
Sam Nunn: I think it's important. Michelle's opponent says he will serve only 12 years. I understand there's a debate about term limits. But to me, that's unilateral disarmament. That's like saying you basically will never be a major committee chairman.
Appropriations, Armed Services and Foreign Relations and Finance – people seek those committees. I think it's important for the state.
For an awful lot of people who may think Michelle is the best candidate, but who don't favor the president or don't favor the majority leader – I think those people need to think longer term.
The whole history of Georgia, and one of the great strengths of our economy, are military bases as well as things like the CDC – it goes to the question of not only having people stay there long enough and gain seniority, but also respect.
So to me, saying you're going to get elected and serve 12 years is basically unilateral disarmament on that very important point. People who don't like President Obama, but do like Michelle, I think really need to think seriously on this.
Insider: And the argument that this race is about control of the U.S. Senate?
Sam Nunn: My view on control of the Senate is, nobody controls the Senate –whether they've got 50 votes or 51 or 52 votes in the current atmosphere. Even if you've got 60 votes, the last two votes you need to kill a filibuster – they demand so much of the majority leader. Governance in the Senate doesn't work unless people on both sides of the aisle can work together – and unless they say they are going to work together.
Will this election change the whole thing? No. It's going to take Democrats and Republicans, all over the country, over the next several election cycles, who say they want to work together.
…The ability to have a functioning U.S. Senate, where people work together, in my view is absolutely crucial economically, and it's absolutely crucial in terms of security. When countries around the world, whether it's North Korea or Iran or whatever, when they see a dysfunctional Washington -- if they have any kind of itch, they feel like it's time to scratch it.
I think she ought to work with President Obama. She'll work with another president in three years. Whether it's Democrat or Republican, you really try to carve out areas where you can work. To have a campaign that's major focus is accusing your opponent of being willing to work with the only person that's president of the United States – if those kinds of campaign tactics win over and over again, then Washington is going to remain dysfunctional.
And the danger to America, economically and security-wise, will grow. I just don't think people think about it enough.
About the Author
Jim Galloway, the newspaper’s former political columnist, was a writer and editor at the AJC for four decades.
