Upstate Maverick Is Quiet 9/11 Watchdog
By VINCENT MORRIS
REP. BOEHLERT: GOPer on probe panel.
June 10, 2002 - WASHINGTON -
Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, a quiet Utica Republican who is
largely unknown to most of New York City, is the state's only
representative in the top-secret probe of Sept. 11 failures by the CIA and
FBI.
While other large states, such as Florida and California,
hold several spots on the critical intelligence committees, New York has
just Boehlert representing it.
"It's just not something I usually have much to say about,"
said Boehlert, 65, in an interview last week as Congress officially began
it's investigation into Sept. 11-related screw-ups.
"We do almost all of our work behind closed doors," added
Boehlert, who is the fourth-ranking GOPer on what is easily the House's
most secretive committee. Boehlert is known for bucking the Republican
leadership - and the White House. He opposed large parts of President
Bush's energy plan because he said it's tilted toward big oil companies
and refineries. And Boehlert voted "no" on impeaching Bill Clinton.
More recently, Boehlert has taken the lead on the
scientific investigation into why the World Trade Center towers collapsed;
now he's spearheading an effort to improve any future disaster-recovery
efforts.
The unlikely watchdog to America's sleuth sector is a
10-term lawmaker first elected to Congress in 1982 after serving as a
congressional staffer. He escaped the latest redistricting scuffle without
a scratch.
On the Sept. 11 attacks, Boehlert said: "We need to find
out what went wrong so we can make sure it never happens again."
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