Sen. Boxer unapologetic for reputation as a fighter

[Kadie]

Boxer unapologetic for reputation as a fighter
Carolyn Lochhead, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Monday, September 20, 2010

(09-20) 04:00 PDT Washington - -- This was to be the crowning year of California Sen. Barbara Boxer's career: More than three decades as a liberal environmental crusader had landed her at the helm of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, with lead jurisdiction over climate-change legislation.

It was a chance to make history. But Boxer's legislation to limit carbon emissions died almost the moment it passed her committee on a party-line vote, amid a wall of GOP opposition. The breakdown crystallizes Boxer's vulnerability to the criticism from Carly Fiorina, her Republican challenger in November's general election, that she is a "bitter partisan" who has "little to show for her three terms in Washington."

While that criticism is overblown, it grazes a truth: Boxer tried to move a climate bill that was perceived as being too polarizing for such a heavy legislative lift. She handed the baton to Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., to broaden support, while she staked out the liberal flank. No climate bill ever passed.

Boxer, 69, has built a political persona as a crusader, a self-described fighter for liberal causes, beginning with her first election to the Marin County Board of Supervisors in 1976. She has taken lonely and unpopular stands, from voting against the invasion of Iraq to forcing former Sen. Bob Packwood, R-Ore., to resign amid charges of sexual harassment.

'Vote your conscience'

She was one of only 14 senators who voted against the Defense of Marriage Act, which was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996.

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