Jeffords Writes of Path to Independence

MONTPELIER, Vt. — In a book detailing his path to independence, Sen. James M. Jeffords says he had many doubts and countless arguments before he abandoned the Republican Party and gave Democrats control of the Senate.

His wife, Liz, “thought it was a bad idea,” he writes, and so did his son Leonard. Longtime chief of staff Susan Russ also fought against the switch.

But Jeffords announced his decision May 24, declaring the GOP had simply become too conservative for him. “I was not elected to this office to be something I am not,” he said.

The announcement came one day after Jeffords flew home after a gathering of Republican colleagues.

“I was a tangle of emotions,” he writes in “My Declaration of Independence,” scheduled for release Wednesday.

“It was gut-wrenching trying to explain what impelled me to think of leaving the party, handing control of the Senate to the Democrats and wresting it from my friends and colleagues,” he writes. “By the time I left the meeting, I had agreed to rethink whether I really could decide the course of the Senate by myself.”

In an interview Monday, Jeffords said the doubts he suffered on the plane were his last. He said he is more confident than ever that he made the right decision--especially since Sept. 11.

Jeffords said having the Democrats control the Senate has made a dramatic difference in how Congress has responded to the terrorist attacks and the war.

“We have seen compromises that would not have happened. The moderates are back in a significant position to make a difference.”

He said the economic stimulus package, anti-terrorism package and airline safety legislation “are different or will be different because the Democrats are in charge of the Senate.”