A WRITE-IN CANDIDATE HAS TOUGH JOB AHEAD

Timothy Clower hopes the term-limits issue will help against the much better- known U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns.

Look for U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns to coast back to Congress for a seventh term after this fall’s elections.

That’s what bothers campaign foe Timothy Clower so much.

Stearns, R-Ocala, promised in 1988 to serve six terms. But he’s running for a seventh two-year term this fall.

“He doesn’t keep promises,” said Clower, a Democrat who is running as a write-in candidate. “That makes him a liar.”

Stearns explains it this way: He backs limits, but only if they apply to all members of Congress. Stearns voted to make that happen, but his colleagues didn’t, so no term restrictions are in place.

With business still to finish, Stearns wants voters to send him back to Washington on Nov. 7.

He won’t have to do much coaxing.

For starters, Clower must depend on voters penciling in his name. And write-ins fare poorly in Florida. A third candidate in the race, write-in hopeful Barbara Elliot of Bradenton, said she plans to drop out.

It’s even tougher for unknowns such as Clower, whose only run for office was to get a county slot seven years ago in Tennessee. He lost.

Clower hopes to boost his chances by having voters just write in “Tim” on the ballot. Elections officials say that’s OK.

Another problem for Clower, a Jacksonville taxi business owner, is that Stearns is in a district cut out for his brand of politics.

The district runs from west of Jacksonville, south through most of Lake and all of Sumter County. It’s also one of the most conservative districts in the country. Voters regularly back GOP candidates in races there.

That’s good news for the man who owns one of the most right-wing records in Congress. The National Journal magazine says Stearns took conservative positions on at least eight of 10 foreign, social and economic votes in 1998.

And finally, in such a large, diverse district, campaign funds are crucial to reach voters. Half the voters are in Lake County or around Ocala, and a third live west of Jacksonville.

Clower — who proclaims he is just “A Simple Man” on his Web site — raised about $200, all but $10 of it from his own pocket, he says.

Stearns, on the other hand, has one of the richest campaign war chests in Congress, at well more than $1 million. He’s also a self-made millionaire who made his riches on motels, restaurants and real estate.

The Air Force veteran focuses on military issues and that surely sits well with the older veterans in his district.

“Stearns should have this seat as long as he wants it,” according to the Almanac of American Politics 2000 by Michael Barone.

Stearns, 59, ran unopposed in 1998 and squashed a Democrat in 1996 with 67 percent of the vote.

During the 106th Congress, Stearns voted to impeach President Clinton, pinch federal arts funding to fight wildfires and torpedo a St. Johns River initiative. He failed on all counts.

But as a subcommittee chairman overseeing the issue, Stearns scored a big success with veterans health-care legislation.

A major measure of his passed the House easily Thursday. The bill helps retain Veterans Hospital workers with pay raises and pushes a pilot program to expand care for veterans living far from facilities.

“This measure will address the growing problem at the VA of recruiting and retaining health-care professionals,” Stearns said.

He said this is the kind of work he wants to continue.

“The best way to get re-elected is to do a good job,” Stearns said.

He is also pushing for deregulation of the utility industry and sponsored measures protecting genetic privacy and a cloning ban. Locally, Stearns is working on bringing a U.S. Post Office to The Villages.

Stearns lost in his one GOP House leadership race in 1994, and has voted against House Republican leadership wishes a number of times since, most notably opposing favored trade status for China.

Among his critics, environmentalists regularly pan Stearns for one of the worst voting records in Florida’s delegation.

But anti-tax groups and business lobbyists love him. The National Taxpayers Union and the National Federation of Independent Businesses consistently rate him as a friendly legislator.

As for Clower, he knows what it’s like to eke out a living. He has been on food stamps but managed to work his way up into owning his business.

Clower, 46, said Stearns is out of touch with folks like himself when he votes to give tax cuts, while kids go without health care. Clower said he wants to open up access for seniors to get prescription drugs, something he chides Stearns for not working on hard enough.

The two also differ in two key areas: abortion and campaign finance reform. Stearns opposes abortion, and Clower supports abortion rights. Clower, a Navy veteran, says he backs any measure that gets large, unregulated contributions out of the political process. Stearns tends to favor full disclosure reform measures but opposes contribution and spending caps.

Obviously, Clower backs term limits.

And that’s the main thrust for this long-shot candidate, who said he didn’t run under the Democratic Party banner because he didn’t get to the state capital in time and because he didn’t have the thousands of dollars for the qualifying fee.

“Your word should be your bond,” Clower said of Stearns’ broken term-limit pledge. “He didn’t keep a promise.”

Originally Published: September 22, 2000 at 12:00 AM EDT