Editing Jesse Helms (section)

===Weld ambassadorial nomination===
The summer of 1997 saw Helms engage in a protracted, high-profile battle to block the nomination of [[William Weld]], Republican [[Governor of Massachusetts]],<ref name="Controversial Pivot">{{cite book |title=The Controversial Pivot |url=https://archive.org/details/controversialpiv00robe |url-access=registration |last=Ornstein |first=Norman |editor-first=Rafael Fernández |editor-last=de Castro |year=1998 |publisher=Brookings Institution |location=Washington, DC |isbn=978-0-8157-6923-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/controversialpiv00robe/page/97 97] |chapter=The New Congress }}</ref> as [[United States Ambassador to Mexico|Ambassador to Mexico]], refusing to hold a committee meeting to schedule a confirmation hearing. Although he did not make a formal statement of his reason,<ref name="Controversial Pivot" /> Helms did criticize Weld's support for [[Medical cannabis|medical marijuana]],<ref name="Bill and Jesse">{{cite news |first=William F. |last=Buckley |author-link=William F. Buckley, Jr |title=Bill and Jesse |work=[[National Review]] |date=September 1, 1997 }}</ref><ref name="Insulting the Crocodile">{{cite news |first=Maureen |last=Dowd |author-link=Maureen Dowd |title=Insulting the Crocodile |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/30/opinion/insulting-the-crocodile.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 30, 1997 |access-date=July 9, 2009}}</ref> which Senate conservatives saw as incompatible with Mexico's key role in the [[War on Drugs]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Steven Lee |last=Myers |title=Helms to Oppose Weld as Nominee for Ambassador |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/04/us/helms-to-oppose-weld-as-nominee-for-ambassador.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 4, 1997 |access-date=July 9, 2009}}</ref> Weld attacked Helms's politics, saying, "I am not Senator Helms's kind of Republican. I do not pass his litmus test on social policy. Nor do I want to."<ref>Link (2008), p. 447</ref> This opened Helms to counter on Weld's positions on [[abortion]], [[gay rights]], and other issues on which he had a liberal position.<ref name="Bill and Jesse" /> Other factors, such as Weld's noncommittal position on Helms's chairmanship during his [[United States Senate election in Massachusetts, 1996|1996 Senate campaign]] and Weld's wife's donation to the Gantt campaign,<ref>{{cite news |first=Scot |last=Lehigh |title=$199 Gift to Helms's Rival May Cost Weld Lots More |work=[[The Boston Globe]] |date=August 5, 1997 }}</ref> made the nomination personal and less cooperative.<ref>Link (2008), p. 446–7</ref> Held up in the committee by Helms, despite Weld resigning his governorship to concentrate on the nomination and a petition signed by most senators,<ref name="Insulting the Crocodile" /><ref>{{cite news |first=Sara |last=Rimer |title=It's Mexico or Bust as Restless Massachusetts Governor Resigns |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/29/us/it-s-mexico-or-bust-as-restless-massachusetts-governor-resigns.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 29, 1997 |access-date=July 9, 2009}}</ref> his nomination died.