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Mark Souder and Bribery

Posted By Christopher Guerin On In politics & government | 10 Comments

I know Mark Souder and have two distinct memories of the former congressman. In the late eighties, when Senator Dan Coats was the only other senator to stand up with Jesse Helms the day he launched the culture wars with his denunciation of the National Endowment for the Arts, Souder was Coat’s chief of staff. As President of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, I was visiting D.C. and stopped by Coats’ office for a social visit. As we were chatting, a sweaty Souder in shirtsleeves came in and handed Coats a newspaper clipping. The look on Souder’s face was glum and vindictive.The clipping, with several yellow outlinings, was an op-ed piece I’d written months before in defense of the NEA and somewhat critical of Coats and others. Coats (again this fall a candidate for the senate) began to jab his finger at the clipping. “I’m trying to save the NEA,” he yelled, “and this kind of thing doesn’t help in the least!” Souder, having arranged this ambush, was delighted. (To his credit, Coats calmed down and we ended up having a reasoned argument on the issue and eventually agreed to disagree and parted cordially.)

The second memory is more telling and still, to this day, takes my breath away. Mark Souder accused me of trying to bribe him.

Not long after Souder was elected to the 3rd congressional district in Indiana, he began to repeat Coat’s criticism of the NEA. Now, one of his staunchest financial supporters was on my board of directors. I asked him to arrange a meeting with Souder and several of my friends in the arts, which the board member did. He also attended.

We solicited Souder’s support and Souder, in the presence of his biggest donor, said everything we wanted to hear, including, “I believe there is a Federal role for support of the arts.” At the end of this quite cordial meeting, Souder ask if I would send him a Philharmonic poster, so that he could have it up in his D.C. office. “I like people to see I’m connected to home,” he explained.

Not longer after, Souder led the now infamous midnight raid of freshman congressmen on Newt Gingrich’s office demanding the NEA be de-funded and put out of business. In response, I sent Souder a brief letter suggesting that having a Philharmonic poster on his office walls might mislead people into thinking that the Philharmonic supported his position on the NEA, and to please send it back.

He called me three weeks later, splutteringly angry.

“I campaigned on getting rid of the NEA,” he said.

“Then why didn’t you say that at our meeting?” I replied.

I don’t recall everything else he said, of course — he is not a man of few words — but these words have stuck. “So,” he said, “The poster was a bribe.”

“Excuse me,” I said, “What did you say?”

“A bribe.”

Then, a moment later, he said, “You know, it’s a federal crime, trying to bribe a U.S. Congressman.”

Though I suggested to him that what he was saying was ridiculous on its face, and reminded him that he had asked me for the poster, he continued the bullying.

Of course, it was all meant to intimidate me. He was afraid that I had embarrassed him in front of his biggest donor.

Why, when hypocrisy is the thing we detest most in our politicians, is it the thing they practice most often?

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Christopher Guerin [4]

Christopher Guerin is the author of two books each of poetry and short fiction, a novel, and more than a dozen children’s books. If he hadn’t spent 26 years as an arts administrator, including 20 years as President of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, perhaps he’d have worked a little harder getting them published. His consolation resides in his fiction and poems having been published in numerous small magazines, including Rosebud, AURA, Williams and Mary Review, Midwest Quarterly, Wittenberg Review, RE: Artes Liberales, DEROS, Wind, and Wind less Orchard. His blog, Zealotry of Guerin, features his fiction and poetry, including his sonnet sequence of poems after paintings, “Brushwork." He is the V.P. of Corporate Communications at Sweetwater Sound, Inc., the national music instrument retailer.
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