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JFK era gave Fawcett his first hint of politics

Democrat says Congress has ditched oversight role, administration is drifting

Dick Foster, Rocky Mountain News

Published October 18, 2006 at midnight

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COLORADO SPRINGS - Running for Colorado's 5th Congressional District as a Democrat would seem an exercise in futility.

The district's lopsided Republican electorate has scared away all but token Democratic opponents for decades.

So why would a retired military officer seemingly well-aware of the odds, especially since his master's degree is in quantitative analysis, jump into the race for a seat that Democrats have never won?

Jay Fawcett says he has many reasons: an administration adrift and unable to solve problems; a Congress that has abandoned its role of oversight; and a Republican opponent that promises more of the same.

"More and more what I saw was a Congress that wasn't working," he said of his decision to run.

"It's not doing its job. Checks and balances are part of the Constitution, and I'm very concerned that we've heard this (questioning the administration's war policy) described as treasonous activity," he said.

"No, sir, that is not treasonous. It is loyalty to do your job. Sometimes it's not popular or easy, but if you step forward as a leader, you serve the people."

Fawcett's life has been one of service. He graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1977 and served 20 years on active duty, including service in the first Gulf War in 1991, before retiring in 1998.

He currently works as a defense contractor supporting U.S. military installations in Colorado Springs.

"I've always been interested in government, and in serving," he said.

A serious student of history, Fawcett is a lifelong Democrat.

"What I saw, studying FDR and the New Deal, was a Democratic Party that was interested in solving problems and giving people opportunity to achieve the best they can achieve. And that's always been my view of what the United States has been all about - hope and opportunity," he said.

Fawcett, 50, was a child when JFK was president.

"That's my first memories of politics. I think John Kennedy was able to inspire America to achieve great things. We need to do that again," he said.

Fawcett's life is the quintessential American story.

The older of two sons, he grew up in the river valleys and mill towns of southwestern Pennsylvania, where his father was a steelworker and his mother a nurse.

His father worked at the Clairton works, the steel mill portrayed in the Vietnam War movie The Deer Hunter.

His parents impressed on him the importance of hard work and service to the country, he said.

His father, one of 11 children, did two hitches in the Army in the 1950s, then came home to work in the mill.

"My dad was 33 years old when he got his GED," Fawcett said.

Fawcett wanted to be a fighter pilot, and a junior high school counselor helped him plan his high school curriculum to earn an appointment to the Air Force Academy.

"My dad worked in a steel mill. I had an uncle who told me I'd never get in because my dad didn't know anybody and didn't have any money," he said.

"I was 17 years old when I got on an airplane for the first time in my life and came to the Air Force Academy. I would like to think that everyone could have an opportunity to do that," he said.

Fawcett never became a fighter pilot, but he flew for five years as the weapons officer in the F-4 Phantom.

The Air Force also sent him to Cornell University, where he earned a master's in quantitative analysis.

In a return trip to the Air Force Academy as a staff officer, he met his wife-to-be, Susan O'Connell, a real estate agent who worked in the office of one of his friends.

He adopted her daughter and they have a son.

When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, Fawcett deployed to the Persian Gulf and served with the 101st Airborne Division's command staff as it fought Saddam's army during the 1991 Gulf War.

Fawcett's experience and opportunities have driven his political philosophy.

"The purpose of government is to solve problems and enable people," he said, contradicting the conservative Republican credo of Ronald Reagan that "government is the problem."

"There were people I grew up with who had opportunities to get low-cost loans to go to college. They had opportunities to achieve great success. That's all part of who we are as Americans," he said.

Fawcett assails the thinking that government is an obstacle and that criticizing the current administration is somehow un-American."We don't need people to go to Washington to spout dogma. We need people to think," he said.

He sees serious problems across a spectrum of issues: health care for Americans, the environment, education, immigration, Iraq and the war on terrorism, mounting federal debt and quality care for veterans.

"The idea is to have discourse, to listen to different viewpoints and arrive at workable solutions," he said.

"One of the first things they teach you about leadership in the military is that you'd better be ready to listen," he said. "If you just talk all the time, you're not going to be able to assess what's happening. You're not going to be a good leader."

Jay Fawcett

Democrat

MEET THE CANDIDATE

• Age: 50

• Occupation: defense contractor, U.S. Northern Command

• Education: Bachelor's degree, U.S. Air Force Academy; MBA in quantitative analysis, Cornell University.

• Family: Wife, Susan; two children

• Experience: Air Force officer, 20 years; Bronze Star for combat service in Gulf War, 1991. No prior elected office.

• Web site: fawcett4congress.com

NOW, REALLY MEET THE CANDIDATE

• It's only rock 'n' roll: He likes Led Zeppelin. Toss out the softer stuff.

• No stories, please: A student of history, Fawcett was urged toward "shorter answers" after beginning his explanation of the differences between the military academies with an account of the Peloponnesian War.

• Fly this! Fawcett is in constant debate with his ex-Navy campaign manager, Wanda James, over which service has the best fighter pilots.Source: Campaign Staff.

On the Issues: Iraq and immigration

• On Iraq:

Lamborn: Calls Iraq the central front in the war on terror. Says that withdrawing U.S. troops would send a terrible message to terrorists. Supports President Bush's plan to continue U.S. troop presence in Iraq until it can train and deploy its own police and security forces effectively.

Fawcett: Says terrorists are without countries and must be tracked down using intelligence resources and specialized troops, not by invading and occupying countries. Would withdraw U.S. troops to Iraq's borders to secure them, train Iraqis and begin diplomatic and economic efforts with neighboring countries to secure the region.

• On immigration:

Lamborn: Opposes amnesty for those already in the United States. Supports efforts to secure the border, including construction of a border fence to stop the flow of illegal immigrants. Supports using a universal identification system to protect legal immigrants and their potential employers.

Fawcett: Says all current immigration laws should be enforced, including those prohibiting employers from hiring illegal immigrants. Neither opposes nor supports amnesty but calls for a national debate, saying any proposed solution must meet three tests: Is it enforceable? Does it address realistically how to deal with several million illegal immigrants already in the country? Is the cost reasonable?

Election coverage

• Colorado's seven seats in the U.S. House are up for grabs Nov. 7. Stories profiling the major party candidates in those races will appear this week. The third installment today is the 5th Congressional District.

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