Sunday, August 22, 1999
Bell sets sights on Congress
Republican from humble start now in 4th district race
BY PATRICK CROWLEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
BUCKNER, Ky. — The airy, tidy two-story brick home that sits across a narrow road from the Oldham County Country Club is a long way from a Wayne County log cabin that lacked heating, plumbing and electricity.
But those homes, with all their literal and figurative contrasts, provide the bookends in the life of Don Bell, who almost by a process of political elimination has fallen into next year's 4th District congressional race.
“Just about my whole life has been about serving the public through government, and always trying to raise my family and make a good life for them,” said Mr. Bell, 58, a retired Secret Service agent who also worked for the FBI.
“Running for Congress is something I've always thought about doing and always wanted to do. I'm a true conservative, I know the issues and I'll serve the people well.”
With other so-called big name Republicans, most from Northern Kentucky, bowing out of next year's race against first-term Democrat U.S. Rep. Ken Lucas of Richwood, Mr. Bell has emerged as the GOP's shot at winning back a seat the party had held from the Lyndon Johnson administration through 1998.
Standing at the kitchen counter in his home, a bowl of fresh melons and a warm bagel slathered with cream cheese before him, Mr. Bell doesn't seem ruffled or even too concerned with the political maneuvering and posturing being done by both parties on his behalf.
“I'm just a kind of a simple ol' guy who's done some interesting things and who wants to continue to serve his country and stay involved in things,” he said in a quiet drawl that has stayed with him since his southern Kentucky upbringing.
“All this stuff is going on up in Northern Kentucky, and up in Washington. I'll be ready when the time comes. I'm getting organized now and we're going to run a good race.”
Mr. Bell was born in 1940 in a log cabin in Wayne County near Monticello. The son of a Methodist preacher, he was one of 11 kids in a family raised in abject poverty.
“We were poor and we were country,” he recalls, producing some grainy black-and-white photographs of himself as a child sitting on the porch of the family's cabin.
“It was hard, I guess, but we didn't really know any better.”
The family followed their father to church assignments in Lyon and Hickman counties before settling just across the Kentucky border in Union City, Tenn.
One day a recruiter from the FBI came to the community and talked to some of the 22 seniors at the high school.
“It sounded kind of exciting and I was 18, getting out of school and needed to get a job and start a career,” Mr. Bell said. “So I signed up for a clerical job.”
When he left home it was the first time he had ever been on an airplane.
“It was an old DC3, and I was a little scared,” he recalled.
Mr. Bell worked for four years in clerical and other jobs for the FBI in Washington. Among his duties were giving tours of the FBI headquarters and the Justice Department, where he met then-Attorney General Robert Kennedy.
In 1962 Mr. Bell returned to Kentucky, attending and graduating from Murray State University, entering the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves and eventually going back to work for the FBI.
At one point he was assigned to the Memphis, Tenn., field office, where he met a Delta Air Lines flight attendant and part-time model named Stephanie Weber.
She had grown up in Washington but spent a lot of time abroad with her parents, both of whom worked for the Central Intelligence Agency.
Mr. Bell eventually took a job with the Secret Service, where he guarded and worked for Presidents Nixon, Carter, Reagan and Bush. Photo albums from those days look like history books, with Mr. Bell shown with all the presidents he served.
Mr. Bell retired a few years ago, his personal files filled with letters of commendations from federal officials. Since leaving government service, he has operated an investigations firm in Oldham County.
The Bells have lived in their Buckner home for 22 years, raising three children now ages 30, 23 and 19.
The race won't be easy.
Some local Republican Party leaders and activists have been slow to embrace Mr. Bell. Despite having run two unsuccessful statewide races, for Kentucky treasurer in 1991 and auditor in 1995, he suffers a built-in disadvantage from not living in Northern Kentucky, home to about half of the district's voters.
And with the filing deadline for the 2000 race set in late January, some Republicans are holding out hope that another candidate will get into the race. There are even some holdouts for conservative Republican Gex (Jay) Williams, the former Boone County state lawmaker Mr. Lucas upset in last year's race.
Mr. Williams claims he is being courted to run by some Republicans and has made a self-imposed deadline of September for deciding.
But with many GOP leaders believing that Mr. Williams — who suffered political and personal shots as well as some financial hardship during his 1998 congressional campaign — won't enter the race, some support is beginning to coalesce behind Mr. Bell.
“A lot of us in the party believe that Don could actually be a better candidate than he has been given credit for,” said Kentucky Republican Party Vice Chairman Damon Thayer of Grant County.
“He knows how to campaign, he's got a good background as a public servant with his time in the Secret Service, and he's indicated to many of us in Northern Kentucky that he is ready to listen to our advice about what he needs to do up here,” he said.
In his last run for public office, the 1995 state auditor's race, Mr. Bell lost to Democrat Ed Hatchett, who won with 55 percent of the vote.
But Mr. Bell easily won GOP-friendly Northern Kentucky, carrying Boone County (67 percent), Kenton County (61 percent) and Campbell County (58 percent).
Democrats are quick to point out that Mr. Lucas enjoys the benefits of incumbency, being a Northern Kentucky native and resident and having a huge campaign war chest compared with Mr. Bell.
As of June 30 Mr. Lucas had raised $324,208 with $243,782 in the bank, with much of his money coming from some of the area business leaders who generally are more supportive of Republicans.
By contrast, Mr. Bell has yet to begin any formal fund-raising.
“Any Republican running against Ken Lucas is going to have a challenge finding places to raise money,” said Bob Doyle, Mr. Lucas' Washington-based political strategist.
Republicans are also encouraging Mr. Bell to start spending more time in Northern Kentucky. Not so much campaigning, but getting to know the people, the community and its leaders.
“He needs to start spending an inordinate amount of time in Northern Kentucky,” Mr. Thayer suggested. “And not just at political or (Republican) party events.
“Don needs to start hitting the parades, festivals, community events, chamber (of commerce) events and other things so he can get to know people and let them know he is serious about running for Congress next year.”
The Lucas camp is taking Mr. Bell quite seriously, Mr. Doyle said.
“I think it's time for him to put up or shut up as far as campaigning and raising money. But we figure we are in for a tough battle.”
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