The saying often goes something like this: The most dangerous place on Capitol Hill is between Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and a TV camera.
But Schumer also knows when to avoid the spotlight.
This week, as a scandal engulfed his friend and former aide New York Rep. Anthony Weiner, and as his home state’s banking industry lost a high-profile battle over credit card fees, the influential Democrat decided to maintain an extremely low profile. He hasn’t been on cable news or held press conferences in the Capitol, and he didn’t make a single speech on the Senate floor on behalf of the big banks on Wall Street or cajole his colleagues into voting for the controversial plan.
He’s been remarkably un-Schumer like.
“You can tell it’s having an impact on him,” a Schumer friend and fellow Senate Democrat said of the Weiner scandal.
Schumer’s aides deny that he’s intentionally gone dark this week, pointing out he had a teleconference Wednesday with New York reporters and spoke to the national press Monday afternoon before Weiner’s bombshell press conference where he copped to the scandal.
But the senator has hardly been a ubiquitous presence this week, a sharp contrast from May, when he held no fewer than 15 Washington news conferences and TV media interviews.
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Schumer has long been hailed for his media-savvy skills — some say hunger for media attention — which irk some of his colleagues but helped him earn the role as chief messenger for Senate Democrats. On the Hill, Schumer typically is selective with media interviews, usually doing them only when it’s in his political interest.
This week, Schumer has had separate reasons for his quiet approach to the two thorny issues.
Weiner’s scandal affected Schumer on a personal level. Weiner looked up to Schumer as a political mentor of sorts after he spent six years as Schumer’s aide when he served in the House. In 1998, Weiner won the senator’s former House seat that covers parts of Brooklyn and Queens and has held it ever since.
Since the scandal broke Monday afternoon, Schumer has remained largely mum. Instead of making public statements about Weiner, Schumer has referred reporters to a short written statement he issued Monday evening that said he was “deeply pained and saddened” about the news, that Weiner did “the right thing” to disclose his online liaisons with a spate of women and that he remains a “talented and committed” public servant.
While Schumer has not rushed to his defense, he also has not called on Weiner to resign, a move some see as a lifeline of sorts for the embattled congressman.
Before Weiner’s press conference Monday afternoon, the New York congressman reached out to the senator to tell him he would disclose what had occurred, but Schumer didn’t learn about the extent of the scandal until he watched the press conference on TV — during which Weiner admitted to sending sexually suggestive pictures and messages to at least half a dozen women, including when he was married.
A Schumer spokesman declined to comment on the senator’s conversations with Weiner after Monday.
Schumer also saw little political upside in joining the raging debate in the Senate this week over whether to delay a rule capping fees that banks can charge retailers for processing debit card purchases.
If he joined the push, it would be seen as a proxy battle between him and his Capitol Hill housemate and rival in Senate leadership, Majority Whip Dick Durbin, forcing Democratic senators to choose loyalties between the two men.
Democratic senators may have resented a big Schumer role since the vote already pitted them between two powerful interests: retailers and banks. And there was some concern that if he became a vocal proponent, it could take away from the effort by Montana Sen. Jon Tester, who framed the amendment as a way to help small banks rather than the unpopular financial interests on Wall Street that Schumer represents.
Schumer voted for the Tester plan to delay the swipe-fee rules, but it failed 54-45, six short of the 60 needed for its adoption.
His absence was noticed.
“It was sort of an awkward situation,” said Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), referring to Schumer. “If I were to have been in his shoes, I probably would have voted the way I did but not chosen to poke my housemate in my eye with my vote.”
Asked if Schumer could have made a difference if he played a bigger role, Carper said: “He can be a very effective persuader, so I’m sure he could have added votes to our side during the vote.”
But Tester said Schumer’s relative silence didn’t make much difference one way or another.
“What happened is done,” Tester said Thursday. “Chuck was great, we love him for supporting us and it all worked out the way it was going to work out.”
