Anti-war Republican seeks votes

Conservative and unassuming, Rep. John Duncan Jr. (R-Tenn.) has been casting votes to end the war since its first authorization — an initially challenging position that has gotten easier of late.

 “It’s an easier thing for me than for some who have changed their minds,” Duncan said in a recent interview. “I have spent four and a half years on radio and on television, writing letters explaining my position.”

{mosads}The 11-term lawmaker said he’s troubled that Democrats are exploiting votes to politicize the war. Still, he said, when it’s time to cast ballots, it is more important for him to convey the message that the war was the wrong path than use a vote to express frustration.

"It bothers me that they are trying to make a political show of it,” he said, referring specifically to the Senate’s all-night debate on the war.

Duncan’s opposition began with the first vote to authorize military force in Iraq. Before the vote, he was called to the White House to meet with officials such as then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and former CIA director George Tenet to discuss the administration’s plans.

After the congressman inquired as to the Iraqi military’s funding and learned that most of it was spent on protecting the Hussein family, he concluded that an offensive was unnecessary. Duncan also argued that there was insufficient proof to support the charge that Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.

“Saddam Hussein was no threat whatsoever,” Duncan said. “This war went against all conservative principles.”

While more members of his party have come around to his point of view, Duncan once described the first vote in 2003 as his “most difficult.”

The former Army National Guard captain said his constituents were surprised at his decision given his conservative credentials.

“I don’t have any big military bases in my district, but the people are very patriotic … they were shocked by my initial vote,” he said. “They didn’t agree but they respected my opinion.”

Duncan said that while he has come across people who have expressed anger toward him, the majority of voters in his district understood and accepted the move.

The political consequences have been few. Last year he was challenged from the right by a retired engineer, Ralph McGill, whom Duncan said ran almost entirely on the war issue. Duncan received more than 77 percent of the vote.

Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.), whose district runs parallel to Duncan’s, said the senior lawmaker’s unusually diligent constituent services largely are responsible for the voters bringing him back again and again.

“The voters can give him a pass on Iraq because of his incredible constituent services. No one has better constituent service than Jimmy Duncan,” Wamp said, adding that John Duncan Sr., replaced by his son following his death in 1988, set that precedent. “There is not a Boy Scout ceremony or a funeral that the Duncans don’t [respond to].”

Wamp said the pace maintained by his fellow Tennessean when working in the district is unique and impressive for any member, let alone one as senior as Duncan.

A loyal conservative who typically votes with the GOP, Duncan has been known to vote against his party on spending issues. He voted against the creation of the Department of Homeland Security because of the high price tag; he also voted against raising the federal debt ceiling and against allowing the federal government to review library records.