Ex-Congressman Skelton gives insights, marks achievements

Reviewing his 34 years as the 4th District congressman from Central and Southwest Missouri, Isaac Newton "Ike" Skelton IV is gratified to have witnessed history on some occasions and to have made it on others.

His defeat by Harrisonville Republican Vicky Hartzler last Nov. 2 was tough at the time, but he has begun work in Washington as a corporate strategist for a Kansas City-based law firm and was philosophical during a Tuesday interview.

"It was a good run," Skelton said from his Husch Blackwell office in the nation's capitol. "I was blessed to be able to do it. Next to Clarence Cannon (who served from 1922-'64), I was the longest serving Missourian in the House of Representatives."

Noting he was among 63 House Democrats beaten last fall, he said, "I thought I had a good campaign, but it was a political tsunami across the nation.

"Looking back, I have no regrets."

Having chaired the House Armed Services Committee for four years, the Lexington native said his most satisfying accomplishments included securing the B-2 Stealth Bomber and Predator drone for Whiteman Air Force Base in Johnson County.

Skelton is also proud of sponsoring the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act, requiring the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard to practice "jointness" by sharing information and cooperating closely.

"Jointness has become part of the culture of the American military," he said. "An admiral had bemoaned to me that before aircraft carriers could go on a bombing mission, they had to fly in orders from the Army and land on the carriers.

"And I said, 'You're kidding me!'"

Asked how things are done behind the scenes in Congress, Skelton said, "You find a serious problem and then do your homework.

"It's like when you're a lawyer trying a case. You have to know everything there is to know, more than the other people. That's how you persuade people to agree.

"As Armed Services chairman, people listen to you intently. But it's still best to be fair and tell them just as it is. A lot of people in Congress wanted the B-2, but I worked the hardest and had the best arguments. "

He required military schools operating under the National Defense University to upgrade their curricula. "I felt that anybody who goes to war college should study as hard as I did in law school," said Skelton, 79.

"I helped build up Fort Leonard Wood (in Pulaski County). You can drive through there and see the sailors, coast guardsmen, soldiers and marines being trained in the new buildings.

"I have many good memories about Nevada and Vernon County. You have a lot of wonderful folks there who were always so encouraging and supportive."

Skelton said the late Lynn Ewing Jr. was among his best Nevada friends, as is U.S. District Judge Ortrie Smith of Kansas City, whose 1995 appointment to the federal bench Skelton sponsored.

A close congressional colleague was Rep. Gene Taylor of Bay St. Louis, Miss., one of 10 Democrats on Armed Services defeated last year. "I was lucky to serve with six really good chairmen, of whom Ike was the most outstanding," said Taylor, who guided the Seapower Subcommittee.

"He took the qualities of intelligence, empathy, character, knowledge and the desire to do a great job and meshed them together. He gave each one of us an opportunity to do the job with the understanding that he was responsible for the total package."

Taylor said Skelton's wife Susie, who died in 2005, worked effectively to enhance morale, recreation and personnel's welfare on military installations. "I never saw any sign of partisanship," he said.

"Ike would quickly point out to anybody that there wasn't any room for that in what we did. He treated every single man and woman in uniform like they were his kids.

"I just keep scratching my head. What were the people of Missouri thinking?"

Skelton attended President Harry S. Truman's inauguration in 1949 and earned an associate's degree at Wentworth Military Academy and College before taking bachelor's and law degrees at the University of Missouri.

After private practice and work as a Lafayette County prosecutor, he was an assistant state attorney general and then a state senator from 1971 until running for Congress in 1977. Two years ago, Skelton married his second wife Patty, who joined him as the grand marshals of the March 12 St. Patrick's Day Parade in Lexington.

He made a full recovery from a back injury suffered when a van carrying him and other congressmen overturned near Baghdad Airport in late 2005. Skelton is a distant descendant of frontiersman Daniel Boone (1734-1820).

Describing his new job, he said, "It's mostly policy work.

"I'm not lobbying. I make recommendations to people and give strategic advice on how to deal with the government and other things. It's challenging and a long way from what I did (early in his career) in Lexington."

In a statement on the Navy SEALS raid on the home of Osama bin Laden early Monday in Pakistan, Skelton said, "On 9-11, I went to the Pentagon while the fires were still burning and witnessed the destruction brought about by Bin Laden and his fellow international criminals.

"Now his death should have a chilling effect on other al-Qaida members because they must know they are next. It makes me proud, humbled and awed to know the last thing Bin Laden saw on this earth was a trained, armed, ready and willing member of the United States military.

"God bless America!"